Director Johanna Block teamed up with NYC-based indie rock/pop musician/actor Rivkah Reyes to create her new Debt Collector music video. Set on the boardwalk of Coney Island, the video was shot using a vintage camcorder, giving it a low-fi, unscripted look.
"I've always thought Coney Island was one of the most romantic places in the world," shares Reyes. "It's relentlessly corny, full of characters and dripping with old American charm. It felt like the perfect backdrop for my sweet and sad song."I think New York has this way of making every breakup feel cinematic, like it's somehow okay to have your heart broken if you're doing it in the greatest city in the world. We shot the entire video on a vintage camcorder because I wanted it to feel like a memory that's already slipping away while you're still living it."
According to Block, the pair have a built-in comfortability and workflow, which is helpful when shooting a lower-budget project.
"It's my mission to make sure the artist feels comfortable," says Block. "Camcorder was the perfect medium for this because I wanted it to feel like a video message to an ex. Rivkah actually went to Coney Island post-breakup and rode the Wonder Wheel, and we wanted to pay tribute to that. You can’t film in Coney Island - like at all. Security is really strict, but the camcorder allowed us to have a low profile and sneak on the rides to film. I also didn't want this to just be another camcorder video, so I shot at a slower speed and sped it up in post. It created such an amazing, vintage effect."
Born in Chicago, Reyes is known for her role as Katie in the 2003 comedy School of Rock. Since then, she has continued to act, with roles in SZA and Keke Palmer's buddy comedy One of Them Days, Netflix's
The Merry Gentleman, the 2023 queer horror comedy short film,
Gianna, written by and starring Reyes with Margaret Cho,
Onyx the Fortuitous and
The Talisman of Souls, which premiered at Sundance 2023,
"It's so fun making art with friends because you get to have fun and feel fully creative," shares Block. "Editing was so much fun because there was so much material to choose from. We couldn't stop filming for hours. Every take was better than the next, and we had so much fun running around Coney Island and the boardwalk, so weaving it together was a blast."