Jeff Kessel had a vision. On Saturday, July 28, he, his friends, and 30 or so mostly college-aged strangers, helped contribute to his unusual art project.
The project began when, a few weeks ago, an enigmatic event invitation surfaced on the online networking site Facebook.com.
The invitation asked that people come to Rivendell School in Arlington on a Saturday night for a "Sufjan Stevens video shoot" hosted by "Asthmatic Kitty Records," the independent musician's record label.
In fact, Sufjan Stevens, the quirky singer/songwriter who has been the darling of music critics and fans alike since the 2005 release of his lyrically and musically eclectic album "Illinois," was in no way affiliated with the video shoot. Asthmatic Kitty Records also had no involvement.
The event was concocted by Kessel, a 21-year-old local musician who is taking classes at Northern Virginia Community College. Kessel's intent was to create a music video for Stevens' song "Wolverine," as his own, personal art project.
"I interpreted the song as a story about a character that always wears a wolverine mask and has claws that can't retract," said Kessel, comparing the character he imagined to the titular protagonist of the film "Edward Scissorhands."
The wolverine character, according to Kessel, dreams of being the homecoming queen, despite his gender and status as an outsider.
"I think ultimately it sort of brings out a dimension of the song that is there but wasn't really being addressed with just the song alone," he said.
KESSEL'S PROJECT also got by with a little help from his friends.
"He sent me an e-mail about a year ago saying, 'I have this amazing idea, we have to do it!' said Laura Gamse, one of Kessel's co-conspirators in the staging of the video shoot. "And so today it comes to fruition."
Josh Vaile, a friend of Kessel's who also provided video equipment, spoke to Jenny Cromartie, a Rivendell teacher with whom he was close, in order to get permission for filming.
"I love it when people use the arts to give themselves a better window into a person's life," said Cromartie. "I'm thrilled when they do these things."
Rivendell School is a Christian school for kindergarten through eighth grade that, according to Cromartie, "likes to find venues for supporting [its] alumni." "[I]t's easier to make ourselves available during the summer," she said.
FOR THE VIDEO SHOOT, the school gymnasium was set up with balloons inflated and strewn all over the floor, soft multicolored lights, and a disco ball. Up until the scene featuring the wolverine, Kessel's "directing" consisted mostly of playing upbeat music over a stereo and filming the attendees, who were strongly urged to dress up in formal attire and dance.
"I kind of intentionally misled people," admitted Kessel, "but I don't think anyone regrets getting dressed up and dancing." Kessel said he was not confronted at the event by any disappointed parties.
What are Kessel's plans for the video?
"I definitely want to send it to Sufjan," he said. With permission from the artist, he's "thinking of releasing it on the Internet, have it be a YouTube thing, [and] see if people like it."
Kessel said that, while he may use the film for a portfolio for the future, for now, he is just glad he was able to pull off the feat of filming it.
"For this specific project I don't really have any ambition but to make it, have it come out the way I envisioned it, and have people enjoy it," he said.
"We don’t pursue anything if it’s just going to be on YouTube. People do that all the time," said Lowell Brams, President of Asthmatic Kitty Records. "If someone was selling it, that’s another matter."
Asthmatic Kitty plans to put out a DVD of videos with music from their artists, some of which are fan-made, but it is already in production.