Scopitone VidBox is a powerhouse audio/visual collaboration and philanthropic organization geared toward providing a media launch pad for musicians and artists. Scopitone VidBox simultaneously fosters connections within the Grand Rapids community while also seeking to connect the local arts scene to a national and international audience.
The face of Scopitone VidBox is comprised of four men who have fused their overlapping talents and love for music to form a notable project with commendable goals. Michael Cook, Sean Stearns, Trevor Ditmar and Dan Climie have made the growth of the local music scene their mission and use their combined skill sets of videography, photography and writing (as well as a penchant for sound) to provide an incredible platform for local artists.
The overall mission begins with a local band or solo artist and takes them to various locations where they are filmed and photographed while performing live and often includes a written interview. Put simply, these artists will receive valuable and slick public relations tools -- for free.
A Meeting of the Minds
The men of Scopitone VidBox were working visual artists with similar interests who separately knew avid music lover Dan Climie, who is Public Relations and Event Coordinator at Dinderbeck Studios, a server at Stella’s Lounge and Pyramid Scheme and Co-Founder of Litribune, a Grand Rapids-based online arts and activist magazine. “I kind of got these guys together,” says Climie, who now handles the audio recording with Scopitone VidBox. He also coordinates with bands and maintains contact with publicists to keep an eye on touring acts passing through town who may be interested in participating in the project.
Climie had previously worked with Michael Cook, freelance photographer and videographer who moonlights with
StellaFly Social Media and works as a railroad communications maintainer. “I was going to switch over and start playing with video as well. It was kind of a natural next step for me,” says Cook. “I like to play with new media and alternate presentations.”
After spending years focused on photography and working with audio, Cook is co-owner of Scopitone VidBox. He is one of three “camera shooters,” capturing still images as well as video footage. He also handles the audio elements and is an editor. Cook also does a lot of the legwork. “I am the front end for our business clients and I do the scheduling and created the website,” he says.
Trevor Ditmar, a freelance photographer who frequently covers live music shows at the Pyramid Scheme, also knew Climie. “Within Scopitone, I shoot, I manage most of the social media stuff, I help Mike with the website and do a little bit of booking and front end stuff too.” Ditmar also creates written interviews the bands, which ads a comprehensive element to the project.
“It was kind of serendipitous,” said Sean Sterns, who has a B.A. in filmmaking and works at the Pyramid Scheme. “I had just moved back from Chicago and I was looking for something film related to work on.” Stearns was influenced by
La Blogothéque, a website featuring the work of French filmmaker Vincent Moon, which focuses on intimate, single take recordings of well known and underground musicians filmed in unique ways. “I actually had talked to some bands [about doing a similar project] and I met Dan [who was familiar with La Blogothéque]. He was like, ‘I know Mikey who has the audio set up and he’s also been thinking about the same thing,’” says Stearns. “Dan knew Trevor…so we sat down and all of the sudden have this thing now.” Stearns is the creative director with Scopitone VidBox, a videographer and is co-Editor with Cook.
From Real to Reel
“It was amazing that we were all working on this thing on our own,” says Cook. “Initially. it was a project. We had no idea of taking it past that.” Yet, Scopitone VidBox will reach the one-year mark in May and the company is just beginning to hit a stride. The original concept, shooting stripped down bands in notable locations, unplugged, has shifted. As the venture grew, “the bands wanted to do the whole band electric,” says Sterns. “Which evolved into a music video [feel], but live, too.”
“The way our company works and the way it’s very unique is that we are very on location. Everything can be battery powered. We’ve brought full bands out into the woods… doing a full session. We’re fully mobile and we can go anywhere,” says Cook. Many of the locations are familiar to Grand Rapids residents and serve to dually promote the artist and businesses or simply, the city itself. “We’re trying to be involved in the community as much as possible and use every resource possible to make that happen,” says Cook. As a result, Scopitone VidBox has filmed sessions at local bars and venues, like Brewery Vivant and Pyramid Scheme, art spaces like Mexicains Sans Frontieres and even the Modern Skate & Surf Skate Park formerly located in Centerpointe Mall. Quirkier locations enter the mix, too. The band Radiator Hospital played in front of their namesake, an auto shop just outside of Downtown Grand Rapids.
More than highlighting Grand Rapids and utilizing their talents to make nifty videos, the Scopitone VidBox guys are dedicated to the local music scene. “Before now, I really didn’t have a stake in staying in the city,” says Cook. “And now I do, because everything is so booming now. The idea is that we are trying to build the music scene and we thought by doing these sessions and bringing awareness to all these bands, we could even facilitate a conversation between our bands and other cities.”
Already, the project has served traveling groups from across the U.S. as well as Canada. And one goal is that through Scopitone VidBox, acts will seek out Grand Rapids not just as a worthwhile city to play in, but also as an opportunity to come away with a fully formed PR kit. “You can take it and do whatever you want with it,” says Stearns. “We started out doing the band sessions -- that’s always gonna be free. [But], if a band approaches us about a full production music video, we will start talking money.”
The Vision
Scopitone VidBox is for hire and the project had grown into a viable LLC, capable of producing professional work for corporations, small businesses and nonprofits alike. “Even this morning I’ve had two people call me. People are giving us word of mouth and we’ve had jobs falling in our lap,” says Cook. Currently, the group is working on a video for Goodwill Industries and has worked locally with other companies.
The next step is to foster the polished, commercial side of the company while simultaneously continuing to serve musicians as the philanthropic, enthusiastic visual artists they are. “We’re looking at sometime later this year, literally just buying a van and packing up all of our equipment and going on tour to other cities to shoot bands in their hometowns,” says Ditmar. “Kind of like a reverse tour.”
You can book a session, view band videos and hire the Scopitone VidBox crew
here.
Audria Larsen is a freelance writer, entrepreneur and professional entertainer. Her work has appeared in Rapid Growth Media, Revue Magazine and Michigan Blue Magazine. She is the founder of Audacious Hoops, Grand Rapids’ original “hula” hoop company and produces a myriad of art and entertainment ventures.
PHOTOS:
First photo: From left to right, Trevor Ditmar, Sean Sterns, Michael Cook, and Dan Climie, the partners of Scopitone Vidbox at the Masonic Auditorium in the downtown Temple.
Second photo: Michael Cook
Third photo: Dan Climie
Fourth pPhoto: Trevor Ditmar
Fifth photo: Sean Sterns
Sixth photo: Scopitone Vidbox look into the light.
Photography by
ADAM BIRD