Jarrod Gipson: "Complicated" Music Video
When we asked Jarrod Gipson to talk about some of the design choices that went into creating the lighting looks throughout the music video he stated the following, “I wanted to create something that felt like a completely immersive world, moving at a fast and chaotic pace, where things weren’t as easy to make out, whether it be facial expressions, my own body, etc. because that’s what life felt like and resembled at the time I wrote Complicated.”
Gipson is an emerging indie-electronic musician based out of Colorado Springs. Eddy Sound has been a close friend with him for some time now. But when owner, Matthew Stoneback, approached Jarrod about an idea for a music video, we had no idea what was going to come from it. It started out as a concept, with the main draw being Gipson surrounded by lasers that would be mounted to a circular piece of truss suspended overhead. The inspiration for this idea came from Justin Timberlake’s Man of the Woods Tour, where Strictly FX projected lasers around Timberlake on a small circular stage in the center of the arena. From that initial thought and concept as well as some guidance from our friends at X-Laser, the music video for “Complicated” was created.
Matthew Stoneback stepped up as lighting designer with McKenley Hoelmer taking on the role as programmer. Together they modified the truss structure, selected laser and lighting fixture placement, and discussed the vision for the end product. An evening was spent demoing different looks with our X-Laser Skywriter HPX laser projectors (all programmed with Mercury). It was immediately clear the concept was quickly becoming a reality. Gipson stopped by the lighting lab for two nights of programming; working alongside Hoelmer for a little over 20 hours, watching his vision for the music video come to life.
Gipson added, “Once McKenley showed me a lot of the looks between lasers and the rest of the rig, I based everything off that; creating the pace and chaos of the birthplace of Complicated, and mirroring that creatively. That’s why I love the end of the video that it pans out to family, friends, and crew. [It] takes you out of my experience and the world I’m trapped in (which is also why I wanted a square look), and puts you back in reality.”
Gipson released his album, “Heart Eyes. Cycles. Clear Mind.” in late 2019, and the Complicated music video debuted on June 18 via 303 Magazine’s Facebook page followed by a live stream concert. The music video was directed and filmed by Gabriel Jacobson of Storyteller Creative.
