East Pleasant’s Bradonio Brings Boombox Man to Latest Zombie Nation Video

East Pleasant Director Bradonio, an idea factory and creative talent with a uniquely absurdist vision, has launched his latest inventive masterpiece in collaboration with Scion AV: Boombox Man, a celebrate-the-rhythms-of-life freak of nature who walks around with a speaker built into his belly. Bradonio puts the quirky character at the center of Level, a video he directs for Zombie Nation (who wrote the stadium anthem-favorite Kernkraft 400).

Awoken by the pulsations of Zombie Nation, Boombox Man embarks on the nonstop urban dance party that is his life. He moves through the streets of New York with a cool groove all his own, transforms a coffee shop full of incredulous skeptics into a dance club, and joins a renegade team of fellow musical mutants of Bradonio’s creation: a girl with a disco ball head, a man with lights for hands, and a fumy firebrand known as smoke machine girl. Neon-laced straight-from-the-‘80s dance sequences complement the action.

“When I was first approached with the track, I asked if we could include musical body parts, like a beer belly that played some tunes. They said yes, I rejoiced, and we made this video,” exclaimed Bradonio, whose contagious enthusiasm and endless creative output have made him a favorite of the push-the-boundaries creative set. “There’s nothing more exciting than bringing a character-based, awkward, happy, rhythmic and fantastical story to life.”

Bradonio carefully measured the alternatives between creating a practical and a CG speaker, eventually working with a team that crafted a prop belly out of a vest, silicone and a car stereo speaker. He coordinated with the visual effects team EP*Vision to add movement to the speaker during a few choice moments.

“Having a practical prop, versus solely tracking marks where the speaker would have been added in post, was a huge benefit,” explained Bradonio. “In fact, it helped drive the entire production, upping the energy on set and giving us something very genuine to work with. Random people would stop and laugh at this anomaly, and often join in, something that would not have happened if the speaker belly itself wasn’t actually present.”

The unforgettable Boombox Man is just the latest freakishly weird and wacky character to emerge from Bradonio’s bottomless imagination and seamlessly carry a production with deadpan humor. The recent ADC Young Guns honoree also brought to life an army of shadow monsters for Gramatik’s Solidified music video and created an epic adventure using action figures in RJD2’s The Glow.

Touch Points:

• Bradonio, ceaseless creative superstar director for East Pleasant, invents Boombox Man for Zombie Nation’s Level video.
• Deadpan video showcases Bradonio’s command of the freakishly weird and absurd.
• Boombox Man follows similar Bradonio creative efforts for Gramatik and RJD2.

Downloads:

Credits:

Artist: Zombie Nation
Song: “Level”
Writer/Producer: Florian Senfter
Publisher: UKW Publishing (GEMA)

Production Company: East Pleasant
Director: Bradonio
Executive Producer: David Weinstein
Producers: Daniel Gross, Stefanie Walmsley

Cinematographer: Clint Byrne
Associate Producers: Tere Villonco, Van Nguyen
Production Office Coordinator: Devon Irete
Gaffer / Assistant Camera: Andrea Boglioli
Digital Imaging Technician: Jason DeSimone
Red camera package provided by: Cut Rush Corporation

Post Production: Pleasant Post
Editor: Bradonio
Assistant Editor: Bill Saunders
Colorist: Tristan Kneschke (Exit Editorial)

Special Effects: Ruby Ann Muro, Lauren Palmer
Special Effects Assistant: Tammie Castagna

Visual Effects: EP*Vision
Creative Director: Maryam Parwana
Lead Designer: Brian Walsh

Interns: Derek DeMarc, Raphael Gibbs

Featuring
Boombox Man: Edward Rafter Jr.
Disco Ball Head: Danielle Cardona
Smoke Machine Ears: Kay Trinidad
Light Hands: Elliott Timmons

Café Patrons: Jordan Hall, Melody Joy, Nick Pezzillo, Tere Villonco, Stefanie Walmsley, Erik Yazdani

Sidewalk Dancers: Kendra Blondell, Malcolm Blondell, Noura Khoury, Swami Nikhilananda, George Olive, Calvin Teixeira, Mcferraine Villanueva, Laura Viner

Featured Artwork by Drakaso

About East Pleasant:

East Pleasant, an Emmy Award-winning production company founded in 2004, is a group of creative individuals layered in years of expertise on both the agency and production sides of the advertising industry. The studio is a highly flexible entity, able to handle traditional or nontraditional TV commercials, films, web projects, episodic TV, music videos and documentaries of any scope, perfectly tailored to its clients’ needs.

Company principals – which include EP Sarah Roebuck and Directors/Founders Xander Strohm, Damien Drake, Stash Slionski and David Weinstein – oversee a diverse, globetrotting team of producers, directors and editors who focus on shooting beautiful imagery that tells relevant stories. This group has produced work for some of the most recognizable brands in the world – Nissan, Nokia, Nike, Kenmore, Clinique – while teaming with top agencies Wieden + Kennedy, TBWA, JWT, Time Inc., and Skinny to name a few.