Mac Premo via production house Supply & Demand directed, shot, edited, and served as a musician for this short depicting the Dust Bowl and the people who persevered and survived in it, hearkening back to an era (the 1930s) in which severe drought and wind erosion across the Great Plains tested the resourcefulness and character of American farmers. These men and women of the land were particularly plagued by “black blizzards” that darkened the sky and destroyed farming soil.
Titled Grit, this short features rich imagery that flows in flip book fashion, revisiting the Dust Bowl through photographs, animation and live-action footage shot on location Oklahoma. A voiceover recounts the times, words punctuated on screen as the sound of a distant harmonica saturates the work with an old-school Americana feel. Premo also plays the harmonica and performs voiceover in the piece.
Premo shot footage on location in Oklahoma using Sony digital cameras and old glass lenses along with Super8mm chrome reversal film. Footage was then processed and projected against a blank wall and reshot, racking focus and shooting at various angles to add a rich, organic feel to the final piece. Animation was shot on a Canon 5D Mk III.
The short promotes Shinola’s new watch, the Black Blizzard Chronograph. Everything created by Shinola is made by hand at the company’s headquarters in downtown Detroit, from building watch movement to final assembly. Each Shinola Black Blizzard will also include a leather-bound coffee table book detailing the Dust Bowl, a time signifying the strength of the American spirit and the raison d’etre behind the creation of the watch.
