The Power of One Single Person.

We all possess powers. The abilities and talents we naturally receive throughout our lives. But sometimes, we have to look within, sit with ourselves, be alone, reflect, to find those powers again, and along the way, find new ones.

Isaiah Gattas, my right hand, my creative comrade, a friend, a mentor, a brother has been on the journey of the SLUG since its inception. Through years and years of research, development, conversation, dreaming, IG and I have formed the basis and understanding of what SLUG represents. So when it was time to finally present SLUG in the visual form, it was a no brainer for him to be one of the first Sluggers.

We hopped on a call, very late at night as we normally do when the magic of ideas strike, and got right to it. “Alright, what are we gonna do?”. What followed next came the questions we always ask ourselves “What do we feel? And why?”. Presence. “Why?”. At this point in our lives, IG specifically, he was experiencing a big transition. If you know IG you know he is always on the go and always with the ones he loves. But during this time, he expressed to me, he needed time to be still, time to be on his own. Naturally, he ventured to the luscious parks of Staten Island to do so. Perfect. We would create the film at my neighborhood park: Silver Lake.

A Familiar Crew and Few New.

The crew for this shoot was a special one as it brought together two very talented filmmakers and friends, Alex and Tristan Demic, and my girlfriend, creative force, Julia Bauso. Julia, the Demics, IG, and I met at my house and walked to the park to begin the shoot. The mood was very peculiar. It wasn’t happy, but it wasn’t sad. We were in this zone in which we were all aware of the moment. We had storyboarded the shoot around this poem IG had written, much of it surrounding the topics of change, achievement, loss, internal battle. That combined with a cloudy afternoon and sonic tranquilities of Frank Ocean, we shot very carefully. Every breath felt important. Every shot was in pen. From location to location, we walked and exchanged conversation. Our friend FurCoat joined the shoot and lightened the mood, and I think it allowed us a second to breathe. The shots progressed and the afternoon turned into night.

The End.

As we landed on the last shot, I had spoken with IG the night prior, expressing to him that a tear in the last frame would really end the video with the emotion that we wanted. We set up the shot, camera inches away from Isaiah’s face. As he sat there, we waited. And waited. And waited. No tear came out of Isaiah’s eye this day. And that’s just how it is.

Isaiah

Power in Reflection. SLUG.