Oct. 31 is your chance to be in a viral Dayton music video

Credit: Ashley Bethard

Credit: Ashley Bethard

Credit: Ashley Bethard

Credit: Ashley Bethard

By: Vivienne Machi, Staff Writer

Come Halloween, the folks over at Nucleus Co-Share will be hard at work filming the final scene of a music video that in most professional circles would cost about $80,000.

Thanks to some serious downtown Dayton lovers, the actual budget is coming out to less than $1,000.

Several of the co-work space's founders, including Lauren and Andrew White of Indigo Life Media and Jay Nigro of Liftoff Entertainment, have brought together many of the region's resources to create a downtown Dayton-centric parody video, playing off a certain popular music video that recently dropped, featuring some of Dayton's biggest names and most popular sites.

And no, we won’t tell you the name of the song: If you want to know sooner than November, you’ll have to take part in the video’s final shoot and biggest scene on Halloween.

“We’re going to have a huge parade down Fifth Street before Hauntfest,” Lauren White said. They’re hoping hundreds of people will show up — residents, businesses, kids, families — to the Oregon District and march and party their way down the closed-off street. Rep your Halloween costume, rep your company, and wear your Dayton love on your sleeve.

“The idea started brewing about four weeks ago, when we were at (Artstreet Director) Brian LaDuca’s house, and the kids had this music video on and we had a full family dance party,” Lauren White continued. “Then I remember hearing the song on the radio and thinking it was so catchy; what if we remade it for Dayton?”

“Part of the Nucleus’ vision is to get out and either promote Dayton, or be that little spark to kind of bring people together, and that’s what this is,” Nigro said.

As the small team started to reach out to people who could make the vision reality, more and more of those friends started offering whatever resources they could provide — for free.

“There is not one person walking away from this making money,” Andrew White said.

Credit: Ashley Bethard

Credit: Ashley Bethard

For example, Cincinnati-based film and entertainment company Focus Peak Media offered to bring in a full crew and professional equipment for four days of shooting.

Focus Peak co-owner Patrick Johnston said he and Andrew White had been trying to find a project to collaborate on for a while, and when Andrew came to him for feedback on the video idea, it was hard not to jump right on board.

“When they came to us with the idea for the video…it was way outside the box, and he had so much support going into it, it was hard to say that we wouldn’t want to support it,” he said. Johnston is serving as the storyboard artist and first assistant director for the music video. “We see the bigger picture; we want to showcase Dayton, and just the energy of everyone involved is why we wanted to be a part of it.”

Local band Juxtapoze stepped up to rewrite all of the lyrics to be Dayton-centric, and record the track. Local resident Paul Moody is offering up his drone skills to get aerial footage to replicate the original videos' shots. Joshua Ladner and his team from Salon J. Ladner and Spa are providing hair and makeup for all four days of shooting, completely free.

“I love that Dayton people are excited about downtown and the Oregon District,” said the salon’s owner, Joshua Ladner. “We love being part of the buzz, and we know that the video is going to get a lot of attention. We love to help out whenever and however we can!”

Credit: Ashley Bethard

Credit: Ashley Bethard

Link Dayton Bike Share will be featured prominently in the music video, along with artists and performers from the Dayton Ballet, the Rubi Girls, K12 Gallery & TEJAS, and brewers from five downtown breweries including Warped Wing Brewing Company, Toxic Brew Company, Carillon Brewing Company, Dayton Beer Company, and Fifth Street Brewpub. Even Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley will be featured. It's the story of artists, of families,of public servants, and of all of the people who make up Dayton's tapestry.

Support also came from the Downtown Dayton Partnership and the Oregon District Business Association, who let Nucleus set up the parade shoot during the Fifth Street closure ahead of the annual Hauntfest festivities.

“We’re happy to support their project and add to the groundswell of Dayton-positive campaigns we’ve been seeing of late,” said Val Beerbower, PR and communication manager for the Downtown Dayton Partnership. “The DDP made our own promotional videos we debuted about this time last year, and we think what Nucleus is producing will hit a completely different demographic.”

And ODBA President Michael Martin said the association was “thrilled” to support the video, adding that it “exemplifies ways in which diverse groups of people can come together to create something that is energetic exciting and uniquely Dayton.”

“It is yet another way to showcase Dayton and the Oregon District as a hub of creativity, enthusiasm and entrepreneurship,” he said.

The Nucleus family is hoping to capitalize on the popularity of the original video to help theirs go viral, ultimately showing the world what there is to love about life in Dayton.

Whether you participate on Oct. 31 or not, you can still check out the end result at the music video’s release party, Nov. 17, 5: 30 p.m. at the Top of the Market, 32 Webster St. The event is free with a cash bar, and expect to participate.

“We’ll show everyone the video before it’s up online, then we’re going to do a live upload so that everyone there can instantly share,” Andrew White said. It’s a call to action for everyone to contribute to making it go viral.

Credit: Ashley Bethard

Credit: Ashley Bethard

Now about halfway through production, the Nucleus crew is still a bit overwhelmed by the speed with which this idea came together, and the incredible support from their neighbors, friends and fellow businesses in Dayton.

“I told one of my mentors in Los Angeles about the project — and she knows what kind of money goes into this kind of production — and she couldn’t believe that the budget was virtually nothing,” Andrew White said. “She said, ‘You’re putting together an almost $100,000 budget on almost nothing, with four days of filming, in less than two weeks?”

“It speaks very highly of the city and the community,” Nigro said. “It’s going to be an awesome video, but the story behind getting the video together is almost more telling than the video itself.”

“What other city could you do that in, though? That’s what makes Dayton so powerful,” Lauren White said.

About the Author