Video premiere: Harrison Fjord go live on Mogollon Rim

Ed Masley | The Republic | azcentral.com

Director Freddie Paull had the members of Harrison Fjord haul their gear to the edge of the Mogollon Rim about an hour off the highway to capture a haunting live performance of "Approximately 906 Miles" with that breathtaking view as a backdrop. The nine-minute clip does a beautiful job of underscoring the epic sense of grandeur they bring to the music.

The first time Paull heard this particular song, he says, it struck him as Harrison Fjord at their most Pink Floyd-esque. And "Pink Floyd: Live in Pompeii" is among his favorite music films.

"I love that idea of playing a show in an extremely remote location for only a handful of people, most of them crew," the director explains. "It's very authentic and intimate. A lot of the rim is heavily forested, but when I found the open area near the power lines that stretch as far as the eye could see, I knew it would be a good fit."

Paull leans toward narrative in his music videos. But he wanted to do this one live, he says, "to show people the power of their performance. I was completely floored the first time I saw them on stage. Especially for their age. And I wanted to bring that energy to a space that both challenged them and stayed true to the vibe of the song."

He filtered that performance through special effects that could give fans of psychedelic music acid flashbacks.

"I did some research," Paull says, "into '60s psychedelic photography to see what they used to achieve that prismatic effect. Some good examples are the credits sequence from the Beatles 'Help!' film and the cover of Pink Floyd's first album, 'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.' I was able to track down some late 60's/early '70s prisms to shoot through. I think there's a certain psychedelic quality or influence to their music, especially that song, that I wanted to emphasize."

With setup and production, the shoot lasted about six hours.

"We went up there the day before to secure a campsite nearby and to scout the angles with the shooters," the director says. "It was incredibly rainy that night, though, so we were very concerned we'd have to cancel the shoot. Luckily, around noon on the day of production, things started to clear up and we were able to film for about an hour without rain or heavy wind."

And they did it all on Paull's birthday, which he thought was perfect.

"Doing the thing I love most, with my favorite local band and some of my favorite people in the world, made for a really special birthday. I am so thankful to my whole team for their work on this," he says. "They really went above and beyond for the shots, audio and support in general."

His next project will be shooting the final sequences of a Captain Squeegee music video in a mine shaft in Tucson in January — "which I'm equally stoked and terrified about," he says.

After that, he's moving to Los Angeles to work with bands there and finish up a few short films.

"I'll always work with Arizona musicians, though," he says. "There is so much amazing music here that deserves to be heard by the world."