On a bitter cold Wednesday in January, my crew and I piled into my salt-stained SUV bound for Brooklyn. “I Want My Future Back,” a music video we produced and directed for Astronauts of Antiquity, was being featured in the 2018 Silver Sound Showdown Music and Video Festival. Our music video was released a little over a year ago featuring a post-apocalyptic love story between robots.
We were excited to skip our daily routines to watch our video on the big screen, along with twenty other talented filmmakers and directors. Hundreds of music videos from all over the world were submitted to this year’s festival and we were honored to be one of the few finalists featured in the showdown.
There was a lot on the line, so we decided to fuel up at the nearest brewery before the show. The greasy burgers, fries, and frothy beer helped prepare us for the competition. Tonight’s showdown would be at a bowling alley, after all. We ate our fill, then waddled through the security line to check out the scene.
Bowling is right up my alley (no pun intended) but as a child my family and I were religious about our Sunday afternoon bowling outings. It’s funny how some talents just fade away. I threw mostly gutter balls while watching this year’s music video nominees on the surrounding screens. Joe, on the other hand, is a natural born athlete; he tended to score higher than me. But nobody, not even Josh, could touch Evan’s flawless form. Strike after strike, Evan rolled thunder from his fingertips. I’ve only seen the kind of concentration and natural instinct Evan displayed during 
Olympic curling events. He was a hunter and the pins were his prey. But, the rest of us were too distracted to notice his game winning score of 126. We were fixated on the screens showing the music videos of this year’s finalists, each one better than the last.
Some of my favorites still stand out weeks later. “Paprika,” directed by Gwen Francois was so well shot I thought I was watching a feature film, and Adam Khans’ video, “Stairwell My Love” would give a skydiver vertigo…in a good way.
When all of the dust settled and the showdown was over, the grand prize winner was “RHODORA,” directed by Ace Salisbury. Ace’s music video blew my mind and showed what can be done with just a little bit of cardboard and imagination.
As the night wound down, we reluctantly returned our bowling shoes and left Brooklyn Bowl. But, we didn’t leave empty handed. As a runner up, our video, “Future Back,” directed by Josh Coyne and Yours Truly, won Tailor Made Media a special recognition for the coveted Robot Award.
Joe, Josh, Evan, and I left Brooklyn feeling inspired by all of the other filmmakers and directors we met while at the Silver Sound Showdown and we were honored to have been selected to be part of this prestigious music and video festival.
Watch our the collection of awesome Silver Sound Showdown nominees here. http://silversoundshowdown.com
