December 5th 2013

Story originally written and experienced: July 11th 2013

RoLLiNg camera.

Action.

 The day was here.

It was finally.

Here.

6am sharp and I was wide awake in my cousin’s California home. Anxiously awaiting David’s phone call to tell me that he was waiting outside.

And that he was ready.

The story goes like is this:

In a relentless pursuit of dream chasing this past year, I began writing more and writing more and writing more and writing more. Getting carried away with ambition and reveling in the throws of

 A new site.

 5 social media outlets.

 More posts.

 Etc.

 But.

 It still didn’t feel like        enough.

“People don’t know you, Olive. They don’t know you as a real person. Just as words and just as a persona. Make a video. Show them something. Show them you’re serious. Show yourself you’re serious. And that you want something real.”

 And I remember telling this all to David on the phone one night. What people had said and what I was thinking. That I was saving up to make a video. Or maybe some t-shirts. Anything really to keep making this work. This whole thing was exhausting, you see.

 But giving up didn’t seem worth the consequence. 

 “Let me do it.” he said.

 “Do what?”

 “The video.”

 “What do you mean?”

 “I do it professionally out in LA anyway. You’ve always been a good friend to me Olive. I’d love to help you out.”

 “…You mean it?”

 “Absolutely.”

 “Well. I’m coming out to LA in a few months for my cousin’s wedding….what about then?”

 “Sounds perfect. I’ll mock up a storyboard and get back to you.”

 And he did.

And multiple brainstorms, a thrown together cast and a leap of faith later? I found myself in Los Angeles, California. Waiting for David’s phone call. Waiting to see if this was real. If this was all that real.

 And alas it was.

Now if you haven’t seen the video before, you’ll see it below. But I wanted to give my favorite people a little insight and a little fun behind the scenes of this dream-building project. Might as well…I tell you everything anyway.

Olive and David present:

14 Fun Facts About The Olive The People Video Shoot

 1. The audio in the beginning is from an authentic 1950’s educational video. David sifted through multiple VHS archives in the library to pull the sound!

2. I’ve never met this actress before!

Not a clue.

We were so cramped for time on the day of the shoot (rushing to film as much as we could before my cousin’s rehearsal dinner) That David hired her a month later to film this scene completely separately. The first time I saw her? Was the first time you saw her.

3. We bought 2 wooden planks – Just in case we messed up. 

This was all a lie.

I was too scared to break the board myself so David broke the wood in half beforehand so that it would be a clean break in filming

Let’s break up.

4.  This walking segment was filmed in 2 separate alleys in downtown LA. This 3 second scene? Was filmed 40 times…in each alley…

Alley 1 (smelled like pizza)

Alley 2 (smelled like shit)

Probably walking on broken glass

5. David put a dramatic color filter from one scene to the next to alter the mood of each half of the video. 

Legit.

6. This chick is my cousin

what up.

7. The handwriting was a last minute decision. My cousin (pictured above for your reference) ^^  saw the rough draft video and said she had an interesting idea. So. I called David. Told him the idea. Told him what to write on a sheet of paper. And then he worked his magic like this: 

8. This is my little sister, Silvia, and David’s intern Ian. They met 15 minutes before this  shot was taken.

Love at first demand.

9. This is my little sister’s best friend from college – Ramzi –  who drove 45 minutes from Laguna Beach to get to my 6 am shoot with a backseat full of costumes –  strictly out of the kickassness of his heart

I like him. I like him a lot.

10. We shot each of these scanning scenes using intern Ian’s truck in a random parking lot

Take 3497

11. This is also my cousin. 

His name is Diego.

12. I was planning on wearing olive green but because we used a green screen, I was forced to change into grey.

Forced fashion.

13. The last scene of this video was filmed in David’s kitchen. Thanks to the green screen, you’d just never know.

Surprise.

14.  The producer, visionary and artist behind this film is my dear friend David. I met him in Spain and we ended up traveling the continent of Europe and a little bit of Africa together. We even climbed the Italian Swiss Alps. Here are some unattractive pictures for proof of our vintage friendship:

Not okay in 2009. And not okay now. #morocco

David’s first time eating sushi in the slums of Spain. Good thing he went with a veteran.

It’s not easy being this good looking. #europeancrackhouses

  And there you have it. A small insight into my dream-pursuing endeavor and a personal thank you from me to you – for reading my blog – believing in my dream – and being my damn friend.

 Want to see more behind the scenes pics from the shoot? Cool. Check them out here!

 Want to see more of David’s incredible work? Click here!

 Plus – View the youtube video here and share with your friends.

 The more people that read. The more ridiculous I get.

 And that’s a promise.