If you happened to run into any zombies, possessed children or voodoo tribesman on the North Fork this weekend, don’t fret; Halloween is still a few months away and the apocalypse is not upon us.
Greenport native and rising hip-hop star, was in town shooting his latest video for the track, “Beastly.”
“Today in hip hop, when someone is referred to as a beast, it means that they're extremely talented,” explained Mike. “We wanted to play around and take the word beast back to its literal sense in this video, and that's what you'll see throughout.”
Mike Check is no stranger to making music videos, but this one is perhaps his most complicated effort to date. Throughout the weekend, Mike and his crew worked for more than 30 hours, shooting at six different locations across the North Fork. In addition to three videographers, a director, and a producer, the video shoot featured more than 25 cast members, most of whom call this area home.
“That’s why I choose to do some of my videos back home,” Mike said. “Everything is so much easier because friends and family are always willing to help out, and the community is always gracious.”
According to Mike, it took about three weeks to set up the weekend-long shoot and much of that time was spent securing locations, rounding up props and getting cast members on board.
“Logistics are so important,” he said. “I was lucky enough to have Marilyn Corwin as a very efficient producer to help out with everything.”
Throughout the filming, Mike wasn’t just in front of the camera, he was behind it too, making sure that the lights are just right, the make-up is perfect and that everyone understands exactly what’s expected of them.
“It's hard to imagine not having control over the original vision that you see at concept,” Mike said. “You can't always explain your vision to someone else, so you really have to be hands on.”
After a final shoot in Manhattan, Mike says that he and the crew will wrap it up and begin editing immediately. He hopes to have the project finished by the second week in August.
Although the weather may not have cooperated all weekend, Mike called the project a success.
“Since we do this independently, I'm definitely proud of the degree of difficulty that we were able to pull off with this one.”
