A rhythmic rock&roll single, newly released by Hello Telephone. Set against South Texas landmark cities, Houston and Galveston. Nostalgia flowing through every hollow-body strum and sweeping across the historic cityscapes.

Director Bryce Saucier spoke with us about the process, finding inspiration in the music, and battling the sun.

“I met Brad back in 2017 when he was playing with the band Mind Shrine, and instantly resonated with their music. He has a magnetic voice as a musician that I had mostly heard through his guitar parts, and when he released Bowl as the first song for his solo project, I couldn’t get it out of my head. I listened to it on repeat for the first few days that it was out and naturally started to see scenes in my head of downtown Houston and old Galveston. I knew I’d be in Houston for the holidays so I brought up the idea of collaborating and he was really open to the initial ideas I saw for it.

It was important to me to showcase his process because I was inspired by some of his short form videos that he’d made in his small recording studio, playing all the instruments and tracking them himself, so the idea was to show that process in an almost documentary style and then combine it with some more scenic performances at landmarks in Houston and Galveston that both Brad and I appreciated. As a director and cinematographer, I’m used to relying heavily on my collaborators but seeing Brad make this music himself inspired me to see what I could accomplish doing the entire process myself from conceptualizing to shooting, editing and coloring.

We had to be very minimal with equipment since Brad had his guitar on him and we didn’t have any production assistants or extra hands, so we really just drove around to each location and timed the sunlight to be where we wanted when we pulled up, but ended up having to scramble to get everywhere before the sun went down. On top of the chaos of chasing the sun, Brad was performing the song at 2x speed with no practice so that we could shoot in slow motion for the performance scenes to have the environment slow down around him. I knew he knew every aspect of that song by memory so the fact that he could do his guitar solo at double speed doesn’t surprise me.”

Follow along with Hello Telephone: @hello.telephone on Instagram

Follow along with Bryce: brycesaucier.com

We connected across the pond with Anna Maria about her Tolkien-inspired Youtube series, Makers of Middle Earth.

Anna Maria hails from Houston, Texas and is an accomplished actor, artist, and human rights activist who’s been traversing lore and London for the past few years.

We discussed her budding yet popular Youtube series, Makers of Middle-Earth where she pulls back the curtain on the famed Lord of the Rings films and their creators and aficionados, what prompted her move from the States to London, and what a luxury it can be to create art from a place of relative ease and comfort, and ultimately, softness.

Interview & edit by SARAH ONTIVEROS, guest ANNA MARIA

Take a look inside the first day of shooting for the short film, Cloud Maker. We spoke with the writer, directors, and crew members about their process, and how shooting in Houston’s East End was crucial to the story.

Follow along with the film on Instagram at: @thecloudmakerfilm.

Directed & edited by SARAH ONTIVEROS, production manager & camera operator ASHA CARABALLO.