Frankie’s Factory

DC, meet Francisco “Frankie” Campos-Lopez. Frankie, meet DC. You’re in desperate need of a music make-over and Frankie is here to touch you up. You’ve come a long way, but now it’s time go where DC has never gone before…music videos.

After a quick stay in LA where he shot his first music video in the US, Chilean-born Campos-Lopez landed in DC in April 2009.  It was not necessarily an auspicous start. “My first gig was volunteering at the DC Film Festival as a ticket cutter. I had recently won the Best Thriller award at the New York International Independent Film Festival for my film Acassis, and then I found myself doing a volunteer job in DC, saying ‘Enjoy the show’ to directors who were in a position I would kill to be in.”

Fortunately for area directors, no murder was necessary. Luck changed for Campos-Lopez shortly thereafter. After the DC Film Festival, Campos-Lopez found an internship at CityDance Ensemble for the FilmWORKS division in Bethesda, MD. “When I interviewed, I wanted them to see that I was professional and took my work seriously.” The decision to accept Campos-Lopez was up to a man named Paul Emerson, who is the Artistic Director at CityDance. Emerson hired Campos-Lopez, and with that quick decision, the young director had his foot in the door. After months of demonstrating impressive work and proving he was a trustworthy filmmaker and employee, Emerson did something that was, well, right out of a movie.  “Paul changed my life. My tourist Visa was about to expire, and I never felt so panicked. Paul took me under his wing and helped me pursue an O-1 Visa.” To those not familiar with an O-1 Visa, it is a special designation given to those with extraordinary ability in the arts. The visa was granted and Francisco’s star began to shine.

The CityDance  internship had exposed Campos-Lopez to the beauty of dance, which led to  an interest in music videos. Here is where the “right out of a movie” quality to Campos-Lopez’s story continues.  “I found four talented singers/bands that I really wanted to work with via MySpace. My searches uncovered Alexis George, Flo Anito, Practically Einstein and Modern Thieves (formerly Politicks). I saw something unusual and special in each one of these artists.” Alexis George and Flo Anito, who are not just fellow musicians, but also friends, remember their first interaction with Campos-Lopez. “He sent me a message on MySpace about a music video. I was thinking ‘this guy can’t be serious,’” recalls George. “But then I spoke with Flo, who had also been contacted by Francisco, and she encouraged me to drop my skepticism.” Anito, who recently completed a Campos-Lopez video for her song “Uh-Oh” said, “I checked out his electronic press kit and his reels and was blown away. He clearly knows how to capture light and color in a way that flatters the subject. How could I say ‘no’?”
 
This melding of dance and music gives Francisco’s videos a dynamic energy that reflects the director’s personal style.  In the Alexis George video for “Gimme the Mic,” George performs amongst a back drop of up-and-coming dancers like Delphina Parenti and Megan Adelsberger, while in the Practically Einstein video for “Soldier Girl,” Adelsberger portrays a choreographing cheerleading captain with an attitude. “Francisco has a rough idea of what he wants for a music video, but things change at the last minute. His open mind and flexibility is what sets him apart from everyone else,” says Adelsberger of her experiences filming with Campos-Lopez.
 
Adelsberger isn’t the only one speaking praises of Campos-Lopez. Both Greg Hess and Stu Haight, who have worked with the director on some recent video shoots, know how stressful these shoots can be. “He conducts himself very professionally on set and is always calm and focused, even in time-crunching situations,” says Haight. Stress doesn’t always make for a bad time, though. “He comes up with nicknames for everybody on set,” recalls Hess. “Mine is ‘Dawson’ because apparently I resemble James Van Der Beek. Stu is ‘Sturbo’ because on set he hauls a jib, which requires almost super-human strength.” Add a thick Chilean accent to the mix and the shoots can get downright comical. Another on-set comrade of Campos-Lopez, John Hallberg, shares a funny example of how the accent makes for a fun time. “His ‘I will cue you’ sounds eerily similar to ‘I will keeeel you.”

Joking aside, Campos-Lopez has an eye for the gifted and chooses to work with the best, whether it’s crew or artist. As CityDance Artistic Director Paul Emerson puts it, “He’s got good taste in music. If the music sucks it doesn’t matter how good the video is. It’s  not just for the sake of the song but for the sake of the visual. Frankie can sense that. It’s not just a gig for him; it’s in his blood.”

Since July, Campos-Lopez has successfully wrapped shooting for the aforementioned DC artists. “It’s an insane amount of work,” says Campos-Lopez. “It’s not just the actual shoot. There’s planning, pre-production, editing, post-production, and the final touch.  Besides this, I have my day job as Director/Editor for CityDance FilmWORKS.”

When Campos-Lopez isn’t making music videos and working a full-time job, he is also creating  a website, www.freesomeday.com, which allows people to view videos for free.  He’s currently in the process of using this site to showcase his 9-minute film Aftershock, which he made after witnessing the earthquake that devastated Chile in February 2010 while he was visiting his family. “I’m trying to get back to basic human principles, like sharing. This website could be a vehicle for a new way to think about filmmaking,” says Campos-Lopez.
 
Campos-Lopez uses a combination of his dance background and his everyday life when he begins the process of music video creation. It all starts with  his daily Metro commute from his home in DC to his CityDance job in Bethesda, MD. “I use this idle time to listen to and explore the songs on my iPhone. Most of my video concepts are created on these Metro rides,” says Campos-Lopez. Once the idea has been developed and the video shoot completed, he then edits the video to follow the rhythm of the song. Pulling from his CityDance experience, he maps the body to the music. “I’ve observed  choreographers and dancers from all over the world, and all of them count the movements with numbers; I’ve learned to apply that to my editing,” says Campos-Lopez. As Paul Emerson puts it, “Frankie has a musician’s eye. You can’t make the kind of work he creates without getting it musically. And that’s unique to him and his process.”

An exciting result of his fervor for filmmaking came this past September when Sony picked him up for their worldwide marketing campaign. “A few months ago I sent my portfolio to Videon, which is a subset of Sony (www.sony.com/videon). It’s a site for professionals by professionals. They feature a reel every month, and mine was the September feature,” says Campos-Lopez. This is a huge break for the talented director, as this means all of his work that is shot with Sony gear will be permanently featured on Sony’s website. “It is a great honor for my visuals to be associated with one of the most powerful brands in the world,” says Campos-Lopez.

With a Warhol-like charisma, Campos-Lopez is fostering his own “factory” in the DC/MD/VA community. This union of filmmakers, photographers, musicians and dancers grows with each music video. An example of this camaraderie is seen in Anito’s video for “Uh Oh.” Modern Thieves’ front man, Ryan Murphy plays a vain diner customer, while Brad Pugh, singer from Practically Einstein, channels a brute dude ordering a T-Bone steak. “I stay true to my passions and desire to create solid videos. DC has so much untapped talent. It’s like a gold mine,” says Campos-Lopez. “More importantly, the DC talent is very receptive to the video medium.”

DC has earned respect in the political realm, but it’s not regarded as having a thriving music scene. Well, the times they are a changing. “NYC is the capital of plays. LA is film. Chicago has advertising. Nashville is country music. I want DC to be the capital of music videos,” exclaims the passionate director. “I’m working hard to make this happen and to build a community where everybody helps each other. At the end of the day, we are colleagues and in this together.”

View Frankie’s work here: www.vimeo.com/camposlopez
Follow him on Twitter: www.twitter.com/camposlopez