Mary-Louise Parker, best known for her leading role in Showtime’s “Weeds,” stars in “Disco Ghetto,” the new music video for Jesse Malin and The St. Marks Social. Directed by Abigail Honor of Persona Films and Harry Greenberger, the video premiered on RollingStone.com.
Parker plays a down-on-her-luck waitress who — after a trying day on the job — dreams of nothing more than a night of escape and frivolity at the disco. Paul Bearer of “Sheer Terror” appears as a mean diner; Paul’s scenes with Mary-Louise Parker include her spitting in his coffee and him drinking it (all in one shot, no VFX), as well as Paul being strangled by hosiery. With disco being the theme of the song, it also became the leitmotif of the video’s production design, from flashy gems on guitarist Johnny Martin’s cap to Jesse Malin’s disco ball necklace.
The video was shot over two days in February 2011; production took place on location in New York City’s East Village at vegetarian restaurant Kate’s Joint and the famous club, The Bowery Electric. The video was shot on RED One, the hi-end digital cinema camera, with Yan Vizinberg serving as Director of Photography.
Twitch Post, a New York-based post-production boutique, handled all post work from editorial to visual effects to color-grading. Camera moves and zooms were added in post-production to create a frenzied, exciting look. Pervasive rotoscoping was needed to track the movement of the actors, extras, and band members in order to cast reflections of a nonexistent disco ball’s mirrored panels onto the venue’s walls.
Credits
Client: Jesse Malin and The St. Marks Social Band
Video Title: Disco Ghetto
Produced by: Persona Films
Director: Abigail Honor, Harry Greenberger
Director of Photography: Yan Vizinberg
Editor: Bruce Chilton, Abigail Honor
Special FX and 3D Animation: Bruce Chilton
Producer: Marissa Price
Costumes by: John Varvatos
Editorial, Special FX and Finishing: Twitch Post
Postproduction coordinator: Lauren Conoscenti
Actors: Mary-Louise Parker, Paul Bearer-Ski, Mike Cohen
About PERSONA FILMS
Persona is a New York-based award-winning film and commercial production company formed in 2001 by Abigail Honor and Yan Vizinberg. Since its inception the company has produced hundreds of TV spots for major international brands, such as Lufthansa, DirecTV and Bulova. www.personafilms.com
