At this year’s inaugural Los Angels Music Video Festival (LAMVF), a very interesting experiment took place. An event titled “Life’s a Pitch” provided aspiring music video directors with the opportunity to pitch their ideas for a video to accompany the new single of Los Angeles rockers Voxhaul Broadcast. The band, named one of LA’s best new indie bands of 2010 by LA Times, plopped on a couch and sipped beer while four participants took turns standing before them and presenting their video concepts for the song, “Leaving On The 5th.” The prize for the winning pitch was the opportunity to produce Voxhaul Broadcast’s new video with the use of a Sony HDW F900 camera, provided courtesy of Alternative Records.

The rules of the game were as follows:

-Ideas had to be inspired by the theme of Voxhaul Broadcast’s new single “Leaving on the 5th” (Hear the song here).

-Presenters had to keep in mind a $1-$5k budget

-Each pitch had to run about 5 minutes max

-Presenters were to arrive prepared with a physical copy of their treatment to provide to the band to follow along with as they presented their concepts

-A brief Q&A with the audience and band followed each presentation

-Presenters were allowed to use any form of media to get their concept across.

After the crowd had formed and the band was seated, the song was played to put everyone in the mood to consider the pitches. Voxhaul Broadcast fixed their gaze on four presenters who each tackled their version of what “Leaving On The 5th” meant to them. There were tales of loss, moving to a new city and leaving things behind, and saying goodbye to loved ones, but the concept that won them over was from Ariana Natale.

Her pitch told the story of a bond between two unlikely companions, old man Bennie and young diner waiter Nacho, who venture out on an urban cowboy journey. The two pals head from New York to Atlantic City to leave behind the sadness of Bennie’s wife’s passing.

“It was such a great feeling to see and hear people reacting to my ideas in real time, and much more rewarding than the usual experience of writing something and sending it blindly out not knowing how it will be received. All in all, the experience was super valuable and I can’t wait to touch base with the band again about the project and get going on making it happen,” said Ariana in regards to Voxhaul Broadcast selecting her pitch as the winning concept.

At the end of the event, Voxhaul Broadcast’s guitar/vocalist David Dennis was asked to tell the story behind the song. Drummer Kurt Allen jumped in, “So there’s this girl. She was cool and she was from New York and it was the 4th and she left on the 5th” to which David replied, “There you go.”

Words by Nicole Pajer. Photos by Dustin Downing