Award-winning director meets with OPMS students
Rich Varville, the winner of Best Director at this year’s San Diego Film Awards, paid a visit to Olive Peirce Middle School Thursday to talk to students in Sergio Estrada’s video production classes.
Students listened with rapt attention and asked questions as Varville explained the details behind making a winning music video and showed the video as well as others that he has produced.
Bringing in a professional in the field provides validity, and gives students a chance to hear “how it is out in the real world,” said Estrada.
Varville won the Best Director award March 7 for his music video “Let’s Get Medicated,” featuring his band Head Trip Superstar. Filmed in the Haunted Hotel in San Diego’s Gaslamp shortly after Halloween, the haunting music video is a metaphor for drug and alcohol addiction and how some people self-medicate to escape their problems.
“For me, I love the challenge of a music video,” said Varville, explaining that he takes a cinematic approach. “Your lyrics are the dialogue.”
The challenge, he said, is to tell a story in about four minutes.
“I spent years studying film and technique. I think I have a different angle. It’s a storytelling aspect that I think has gotten lost.”
Not only did the “Let’s Get Medicated” video garner an award for Varville at the San Diego Film Awards, but this year it also earned him the Akademia Music Award for Best Hard Rock Music Video and an IndieFEST Film award, and it has been accepted into the USA Film Festival.
“Just to be recognized at that level is amazing,” Varville said.
While Varville has his own production company, RSV Productions, he didn’t always have that and told students how he shot one music video with a little camcorder.
“It’s not about having a lot of great gear sometimes, but it’s about storytelling,” he said.
He and Estrada ran through the phases of developing a video, including pre-production, storyboarding and marketing. Varville also talked about the importance of camera angles
Students asked about the editing program he used, the props in the video, and how much it cost to produce. One seventh-grader recognized one of the actors in the video, saying he knows the actor’s son.
Varville said he was able to produce the music video for about $600, noting that a lot of the props were purchased in after-Halloween sales.
“You just try to be real resourceful,” he said.
Creating music videos is a step toward making movies, Varville said, and that is something he wants to do.
“When you create a project, create something that’s lasting,” he said.
Estrada said he knew that having Varville speak to the students could show that a dream can become a reality. The two already knew each other through the music industry as outside the classroom Estrada is a guitarist who plays in local bands.
This year Estrada and Varville have also been featured in the Blurt Music News section of San Diego Reader magazine: the Jan. 7 issue for Estrada and March 18 for Varville.