Los Angeles-based director Brandon Dermer (brandondermer.com) has worked on all of the visual projects connected to “Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley Chapter 1: Snake Oil”, an album by DJ/artist/producer Diplo (Thomas Wesley Pentz). Most recently, he completed the music video for the track “Do Si Do”, featuring Blanco Brown. The video dropped in late June and has a Western aesthetic, with Brown performing the lyrics in some shots, and Diplo and Sara Biv dancing in others.
Diplo’s sequences were captured in Joshua Tree, CA. Brown was filmed separately by a crew in Atlanta. According to Dermer, these visual projects start with an initial talk with Diplo and the team at Columbia Records. They determine what track will be used from the "Snake Oil" album, and discuss concepts. Dermer has a ‘go-to’ crew that he will work with regularly, as was the case on Do Si Do.
Wojciech Kielar has been his DP since 2015, including on the comedic TV series What Would Diplo Do, starring James Van Der Beek. Editor Shannon Griffin has worked with the director on Diplo’s Heartless and Dance With Me videos. And colorist Ryan McNeal of RKM Studios collaborates with the director on all of his music-video work.
Do Si Do was shot using Red cameras. All of the dance sequences were captured in one day. Dermer and DP Kielar had a FaceTime session with the crew in Atlanta to direct the lighting and camera angles for Blanco Brown’s performance.
The video was cut by Griffin using Adobe Premiere, and Dermer says his admiration for Beyonce’s Countdown video inspired him to use the multi-window storytelling format. He collaborated on the edit with Griffin and then had three rounds of revisions with the Diplo team to finalize the cut. Colorist Ryan McNeal played an essential role in grading the footage and giving it its uniform look.