Making Anacortes music videos in the 1990s
Artist Clarity Miller on her early Microphones and K Records film projects
Clarity Miller grew up on Guemes Island and attended Anacortes schools. She has worked in art, creative businesses and do-it-yourself projects her whole life and is currently president of the Anacortes Music Project (AMP) organization. Asked to write about her music videos, she provided the following words (photos from the archives of The Business):
In middle and high school, I was a filmmaker. My short films (mostly shot on Super-8 and VHS) were artsy and non-narrative and odd, but creative enough that I was accepted into film programs at several prestigious art schools. My friends were my actors, and many of my friends were musicians.
I was obsessed with music videos, because so much emotion and punch could be conveyed by simply combining a powerful song and striking imagery. Although MTV existed, we didn't have it, so I would order VHS music video compilations from record labels, or have my friends record MTV on their VCRs. I'm pretty sure I wore out the tapes.
By the end of high school and into college, I was making music videos for musicians and bands that I knew, like The Microphones, the Crabs, and Old Time Relijun. By this time I was in college and I had MTV, and I was madly in love with every Bjork music video directed by Michel Gondry and Spike Jones, as well as having Miranda July as a filmmaking idol. A huge part of the process of my videos was the art direction, which I did, including making props, costumes, and sets from scratch for some videos. This included crafting (with Phil Elverum) giant paper clouds, a hand painted cloud suit and tin foil lightning bolts for The Microphones and creating a Dionysian basement debutante dance party for Old Time Relijun. The most personal video I made (and one that is too hard for me to watch now) is "Heart Surgery" by Brownyn. It was partly about our friendship and partly about my being very sick as a teenager. It was a self-portrait except Bronwyn was me.
In 1999, the videos were put into a compilation called Black Eye, which was put out on K Records.
I ended up completing six music videos all of which were filmed on Super-8:
Bronwyn "Not Gonna Be Day Dreams" and "Heart Surgery"
The Microphones "Bass Drum Dream"
