Mountains, Seth Mountain, and Me
Behind the scenes of an interview with folk singer Seth Mountain
Hey there,
I’ve been deep in the edits of a number of videos as I’m trying to play catchup on my schedule. It’s only February, and I already feel like I’m a little behind this year.
So naturally, another new project is the obvious solution. It’s been quite some time since I wrote something for others to read, but on top of some stories about my work and the local scene, I’ve got a catalogue of links, resources, and advice to share.
If all goes well, this will be coming to you bi-weekly for the year ahead. Let’s get going.
Phil ❤️
On December 21st I shared this interview with American folk singer Seth Mountain. It’s one I struggled with quite a lot, for a variety of reasons.
We first met at the Seoul Culture Club Arts Festival when I filmed a video there at the start of September. It was the first time I’d met up with my old friend Ana for about 5 years, and in turn she introduced me to Seth, who had performed for the event. A number of follow up emails later, and we met to film in the start of November. In total, it took about 4 months from first contact to publishing the video, which is about average for most of these interviews I share.
Given Seth had no social media and no phone, the meetup itself was a challenge. It took me back to my childhood, before phones were everywhere. We set a time and place, and just had to wait until both of us showed up.
We started by visiting the Russian orthodox church he attends, where he intended to play a song outside. Almost instantly, he was scolded by the head of the church and we shut it all down. It left Seth shaken and not in the best state of mind for an interview. It was one of those situations where it was definitely better to ask permission than forgiveness.
We walked through a bunch of old neighborhoods in the area he used to live, and on to Baekusaeng Makgeolli in Ahyeon Market, where the owner, Joe, welcomed us. We picked up a bottle, rearranged some tables to fit lights and tripods, and got talking while Joe continued brewing in the back. We walked and filmed in a few more places, using my phone and an action camera for video and 2 different devices for recording audio, leaving me with a 108GB mountain of files to work through.
The biggest challenge was to come in the edit. Until this point, I’d mostly interviewed visual artists, with the exception of Jina0King. With Jina, I was able to use her improvised guitar jam both as the backing music for the video, and as performance footage to split up the talking heads. With folk music, that’s not quite so easy. The words and the story are so central to the art form that it was a struggle to mix the performance and interview into one video. I’m still not sure if I pulled it off, but I guess you can let me know what you think if you watch the interview. The learning process continues with each and every one of these interviews, which is what keeps it fun for me.
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If you’ve enjoyed any of my videos, or found use in the resources and links I’ve shared, please consider buying me a coffee to help keep this project running. Your support helps cover the basic costs of travel, accomodation, and translation involved in these shoots.