We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cole Barnhill a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Cole, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s talk about innovation. What’s the most innovative thing you’ve done in your career?

The most innovative thing I have done so far is my most recent music video, “Crash My Car,” which I directed and Produced for The Band Light. With help of producer Max Hsu and an incredible crew, we were able to pull off the impossible. With weeks of preperation and some amazing shoot days, we created a video I can confidently say I am very proud of.

When I brought the concept for the video to the band, it was already incredibly ambitious, but the idea continued to develop. With a song title of “Crash My Car,” it was clear what the video needed to be about. When researching other music videos and films with car crashes, I noticed one thing, almost all of them didn’t actually show the crash or found some way to cut around it. My goal was set. I wanted to create a music video that embraces the difficulty of pulling off a car crash on film.

After more research and an astronomical amount of planning, Max, myself, the crew and the band were ready to shoot. The first shoot day consisted of all of the set up shots before the crash, this was our easy day. After a successful shoot with a great cast and crew, we felt confident going into day two. Day two is where things get complicated…this was the day we were going to film the crash (as well as an awesome guitar solo on the flipped car). After lots of test shoots and planning, Max and I figured out how to get our hero shot. From the start I was eager to get a shot of lead singer, Konnor, in the flipping car with glass and objects moving around him. After going through a series of ideas and multiple test shoots, we discovered if we suspend our stunt car on its side, giving tension on both sides to hold it steady, but enough to let it still rock back and forth, then we will be able to harness Konnor into the drivers seat, rotate the camera, throw props (including prop glass) and give Konnor some room to move with the camera…then we should be able to pull it off. And we did. After a series of other ambitious shots, shoot day 2 was behind us.

On to day 3. These were the performance shots. But of course these had to be just ambitious and visually intriguing to keep up with the rest of the video. With the band performing in front of the crashed, flaming car from day 2, it was quite the scene. We were even able to set Trevor’s drumsticks on fire as well as Jack’s bass, which allowed us to get some incredible performance shots to match Garrett’s guitar solo from day 2.

After our 3 main days, we had a few more shoot days to get the rest of the shots we needed to fill in the blanks, but the bulk of the filming was completed. After lots of time spent editing, color grading and many many small adjustments, the video was done. We released on Friday November 18, with a premiere held on the Thursday night before. With incredible feedback, everyone seems to be asking the same question… “so what’s next?”

Cole, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Cole Barnhill, I am a director and producer based out of Nashville, TN. I create content for all sorts of brands, businesses, musicians and restaurants including Virgin Hotels, Copper Branch, Daru Jones, The Band Light and so many more. I love what I do and I am so excited to continue to grow in an industry I have such a deep affection for.

I got started with a love for photography while on a trip to New York City in 2018, this love gradually grew into an even greater love for video. A video is like a living picture, it is able to catch a moment and never let it go. I developed a deep passion for doing just that, capturing moments.

To get started, I created free ads for a few local businesses and my client list began to grow from there, eventually working up through the Nashville film industry. With my foot in the door, I am now continually eager to keep learning, growing and working with more amazing people.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of what I do is getting to see how the videos myself and my colleagues are able to create from essentially nothing can affect people on a deep and personal level. Watching a concept that is simply an idea, turn into a tangible piece of work that can be universally shared is a beautiful thing. Watching other people enjoy and connect with my art is the highlight of the whole process. As people, we are fundamentally created to connect and I believe, to make art. To have the privilege to pursue that level of connection as a career path is one I do not take lightly.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

As a director, it is your job to keep the entire project on track and moving forward in the right direction. One of the many things I love about directing is that I am a part of the entire process, from the drawing board, to shooting, to editing, I’m there helping to ensure that the project has a consistent tone, style, and that the narrative is clearly portrayed on film.

I have three tips for aspiring directors:

1. Know Your Project

This one may seem a little obvious, but as a director, it is critically important that you know all of the in’s and out’s of your project. You are the creative lead, meaning it is your job to know character motivation, tone and the “why” for everything. People are going to come to you with questions and you should be ready with an answer. When you have confidence, your crew, cast and clients will also have confidence. You want everyone to believe in your project just as much as you do.

2. Maintain Good Set Culture

I am a firm believer that set culture directly affects the final product. It is critically important for everyone to maintain a level of respect and to come with a good attitude. As a director people are looking up to you, if you let your attitude slip, the tension will build among everyone on set. It is important to maintain a level of productivity, but also to leave room for laughs and good times. Everyone on set is there to connect and create something beautiful, this common interest is what allows for deep connection in our industry.

3. Learn Everything About Everyone

This one is 3rd, but may be the most important. A director works will all departments involved in pre-production, production and post production. The more you know about every role on and off a set, the more successful you will be as a director. I am continually amazed on each production how much I learn about each individual department. The more you learn, the more respect you will gain for each department and the better you will be able to communicate and work with each person involved.

I am still growing and learning on every production I work on (I think this will always be the case), but those 3 points are some that I have picked up along the way and have helped make my videos the best they can be.

Contact Info:

• Website: rcolebarnhill.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rcolebarnhill/
• Youtube: LINK TO WATCH CRASH MY CAR: https://youtu.be/FzQdHQ-NuCw

Image Credits
Dayo Ayewale- BTS Photos Cole Barnhill- Video Stills