Great Caesar, a chamber rock band from New York City, is partnering with filmmaker Alex Colby to create an emotionally-packed, narrative music video to their single, Don't Ask Me Why, aimed at fighting homophobia and inspiring equality. These young artists have built a powerful team -- bringing together industry leaders like Emmy Award-Winning Casting Director Kimberly Graham and stylist Sam Brocato -- and gained the support of spokesmen Brendon Ayanbadejo, Super Bowl Champion, and Wade Davis, former NFL-player. With just under a week left in the Kickstarter campaign to fund this creative project (ending Wednesday, July 3), Great Caesar is asking you to take a few minutes to check out their page and consider joining the team.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/289033959/dont-ask-me-why-a-music-video-by-great-caesar
Great Caesar formed when John-Michael Parker, Adam Glaser, Sean Andrew, Mike Farrell, Tom Sikes, and Stephen Chen were freshman in high school; ten years later, all six band members have found their way to New York where they have pursued careers outside of music -- Glaser runs a dumpling restaurant, Sikes is in advertising, and Parker is a Dream Director with The Future Project (his colleagues have been contributors to The Creativity Post), working in a public high school to empower young people to put their dreams in action through projects that change their school and community.
Don't Ask Me Why, the song behind this video, was written, in fact, as an exploration of what it means to dream and to make those dreams a reality. The two main characters of the song, McGill and Marie, represent two opposite ends of a spectrum: McGill is the stereotypical "dreamer" who imagines a world outside his window that is filled with beauty and wonder, but who never leaves to explore it; Marie, on the other hand, is a drifter, filled with wanderlust, who runs from place to place without a purpose. As the two fall in love and confront death in the face of an epic flood, they see that only in bringing their two philosophies together -- the dream and the action -- can they find the courage to jump out into the unknown with the faith that they can create the world they imagine.
In early April of 2013, Alex Colby, a longtime friend of the band, got to work creating a film that would take the inspiration and possibility in the song and turn it toward a social issue confronting society -- especially young people -- today. His one constraint was that the video must change the world. Only days later, Colby had crafted an intricate narrative weaving together the stories of an interracial couple growing up in the sixties with two same-sex couples today in high school -- including two boys on the football team -- following their struggles and their triumphs, inspiring viewers to challenge their notions of love and equality and human rights. By May, Great Caesar and Colby had assembled a team to put their dream into action; today, they are just a week from clearing their major fundraising hurdle.
Great Caesar and Colby have already been speaking with leading equality organizations and pop-culture influencers to create a campaign that will position their video to truly make an impact this summer and beyond. For now, however, they are focusing on completing the creative process and finishing this ambitious short film with complete artistic integrity, an endeavor for which your support would be greatly appreciated. Going forward, they are eager to make this music video a force for good, and are continuing to look for partners in the campaign -- contact johnmichael.parker@gmail.com if you're interested in getting involved.
