Lucky Ones

Opus Orange - The Lucky Ones (Official Video)

A music video for Santa Monica-based band Opus Orange featuring hand-drawn animation, collage, and stop motion.

Making “The Lucky Ones” music video has been one of the most unique creative experiences I’ve ever had. I began sketching the storyboard on March 13, 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 lockdown in New York, and just filled in the last page of that same journal upon completing the video on July 1st. In a way, the sketches provide a genuine depiction of my inner world during quarantine, constantly oscillating between hopelessness and hopefulness from page to page. The creative process unfolded as an ongoing conversation with the lyrics. Every page presented an opportunity to find new meaning to the same words, if sometimes in stark contrast to the day before.

“…the world is caving in now, collapsing upon itself… shut everything down, silence all around…we’re the lucky ones” When I first heard the song in February, these lyrics resonated with me in particular because I was feeling a similar need to shut everything down. Daily life seemed to move too fast and I yearned for a refuge away from the noise of daily life. Little did I know just how real those words would become for me and almost everyone I knew, when the world actually shut down and collapsed upon itself. 

Eventually, I arrived at the word “silence.” Though it seems like inaction, the act of silence brought meaning back into the words again. Silence allowed the dust to settle. Silence allowed for hidden yearnings too quiet to be heard to gradually reveal themselves. Colorful landscapes emerged from the page as the noise slowly dissipated. Silence provided the backdrop for clarity, bridged the two halves of the song and revealed a path forward. I saw it as a gateway to cross over to a more wondrous place. 

In essence, “The Lucky Ones” is about finding escape through the silence of a journal. "You and I are made in silence."

Interview with Opus Orange on Atwood Magazine

All to Myself

Opus Orange - All To Myself (Official Video)

A music video for Opus Orange featuring digital collage, photography and stop motion animation.

While on an evening stroll around my neighborhood, I visited the community garden. The variety of plants always astonishes me. Thanks to some master gardeners, flowers blossom and decay, giving way to others like rolling waves. One this particular evening, the setting sun cast a gorgeous light on a giant pink flower at the peak of blossom. A day later, it wouldn’t be there. At that moment, I had it all to myself.

Song Credits: Paul Bessenbacher: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Synths Katie Hampton: Vocals James Neil: Drums Alex Strahle: Electric Guitar Carlen Walth: Bass Tucker Martine: Mixing Engineer Doug Van Sloun: Mastering Engineer

Object Lessons: https://ffm.to/opusorange_objectlessons