Short Summary

Joe says...

"My name's Joe Kalou. I began to learn music from a young age when I was being homeschooled by another family, the musically renowned "Bells" (see Gladstone Bell). For a brief time I was playing the cello and piano until I began to learn my instrument of choice, the flute. The eldest girl of the Bell family played the flute beautifully and she eventually started to give me lessons. At the age of 18 I had completed all of my AMEB exams and became a qualified professional flautist.

In year 8 it was mandatory for everyone in a music class to learn the guitar, four chords or so. Not long after that I began to sing along with what I was playing which ventured into playing gigs and songwriting. I played my first gig at the age of 14.

Having done a few gigs I decided to try my hand at musical theatre, mainly because Gosford Musical Society was doing "High School Musical" and I looked like one of the dudes who played a lead role in the movie. I got the part I auditioned for. After HSM, the next show was "Aladdin". I got the lead role of "Aladdin" which is where I caught the eye of director Stuart Smith. 

Stuart Smith was working on a show called, "The Rock Show" featuring Australian icon, Jon English. They were working on a song called "California Dreaming" by "The Mamas and the Papas" which has a big flute solo in it. Stuart knowing I could sing and finding out I was a flautist asked me to come along to a rehearsal. After playing the solo they asked me to play a Jimi Hendrix song and that was that. I toured nationally with "The Rock Show" for four years. From the age of 16 to 20.

At 21 I tavelled to Europe and the U.S to play my music. The first stop was Sweden. Jon English was playing at The Sweden Rock Festival I was fortunate enough to share the stage with him. The headline acts of the festival were, "EUROPE", "RUSH" and "KISS". We played to a crowd 33,000 strong, an incredible experience.

I then went on to play a string of solo shows showcasing my original music in England (London and Manchester) and the U.S (L.A). Some of the more notable venues being "The Paradise Experiment" in London and "The Whisky A Go Go" in L.A.

Since returning to Australia in late 2013, I've been in the studio working with producers in Sydney recording a string of demos and my new single. The next step is a music video for that single and that's where you guys come in!

This campaign will fund the music video for my new single, the single I've been working on professionally for quite sometime now. I've spent so much time recording this song, it sounds incredible and the film clip must reflect that. My team and I have come up with the idea, the location... essentially everything.Now we just need the money to complete the vision of what I can assure you will be incredible. Having your help in funding my film clip will mean the absolute world to me!  

Everything I've done, my entire musical career has led to this moment, this was always the plan and the time is finally here. Please help me to pursue my dreams in a very real way! By pledging money towards my film clip, you will be helping me cover the costs of EVERYTHING!"

What We Need & What You Get

We need $4000 to make this music video. That money will be spent on the hire of the studio, camera, lights and all the other equipment needed. A substantial amount of the budget is going towards make up. The success of this music video is totally reliant on the quality of the make up artistry. It's high concept what we are aiming for but we have the best artists working on it and they need the best product to compliment their skill.

Check out the perks YOU get for helping us. We all get something out of this.

If we don't reach our target, we will press on with the original idea for the music video but begin to "pull it back" to fit what we can afford. Of course we don't want to do this but this music video MUST be created.

This music video is being directed by Stuart Smith, shot by Glenn Hanns and produced by Timothy Wilde through the production company Space Gorilla.

Director - Stuart Smith

Director, Lecturer, Painter, Rock Star. Stuart has been involved in all aspects
of the Creative Arts and now turns his head to music video direction. Stuart studied at New South Wales University and University of Newcastle receiving the Deans Award for his achievements in the Creative Arts and is frequently called on to lecturer in Drama, Film, Education and Creative Learning.

His first short film “Bulb” won a local film festival and was selected for screening at the Berlin Short Film Festival , opening doors to many corporate videos including Apple Australia. After directing “Back to the Eighties” and “Paris” , Stuart created and directed “The Rock Show” which successfully toured Australia for three years. Starring Jon English, the show went on to play major venues including Jupiters Casino, The State Theatre Sydney, Queensland Performing Arts Centre and Melbourne's Crown Casino, where it was filmed for DVD, picking up an ARIA nomination. The show won the Australian Theatre Mo Award two years running.

For the past two years he has been filming a documentary with Options Theatre Company (for actors with disabilities) and most recently has been made their Artistic Director.

Cinematographer - Glenn Hanns

Glenn is an Australian Director of Photography, specialising in Drama, TV Series and Music clips. His cinematography has screened at international festivals including the prestigious Plus Camerimage (Poland), Sans Sebastian Film Festival (Spain), Long Island Film Festival and the LA Shorts Festival just to name a few.

He's a member of the Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS), and has had great success with his body of work. He's experienced in all forms of film and high-definition digital production work flows and entirely adaptable in an ever-changing technological landscape.

Academically, Glenn has a Masters in Cinematography from the Australian Film Television & Radio School (AFTRS) with the high achievement award and furthered his abilities with his idols Darius Khondji and Roger Deakins in Poland. He's been shooting since he can remember and has been in the industry for over 20 years. Glenn is highly awarded and loves collaboration through visual creativity on set. He believes in a strong emphasis on story and its representation through the lens.

Producer - Timothy Wilde

A product of comic books, educated through television and film, entertained with role playing games and reared on Oscar Wilde. Timothy began storytelling to be on Star Trek, pursuing acting for ten years while devising and performing theatre restaurant to pay the rent. He fell in love with the art of writing and graduated from AFTRS with a Masters in writing film, television and interactive media. Timothy now gets paid to be a geek.

Timothy has written transmedia dramas and screenplays for popular international films and television series including the Emmy award winning, BAFTA nominated "Primeval Evolved". He has written for renowned Australian TV series, penned and directed numerous short films that have been accepted to international film festivals including Cannes, St Tropez, Palm Springs, Manhattan Short and he's written games for Sony and Nintendo.

Timothy has won an AWGIE award for best interactive and the John Hinde Award for outstanding science fiction. He also lectured in writing screen drama, transmedia and multi-platform. His most recent work has been writing, directing and producing the award winning and SPAA nominated interactive murder mystery “Precinct 13” for 13th Street, NBC/Universal. 

The Impact

Why is this music video valuable to you? If you know Joe Kalou then you know his music and you know how much of a crime it would be to rob the world of experiencing such a gift. Couple that with the visual splendour that director Stuart Smith brings to what he does and you know the world would be a better place with what is produced from this collaboration.

Getting your work out there as an artist is hard. Unfortunately we live in a society that is run by money. Rather than relying on music labels, funding bodies or the other traditional means of gaining (not gaining) money for these endeavours, we have decided to cut all them out and create a relationship from the get go with you. Joe's fans and potential fans.

We'd pay for this ourselves but we are all artists in our own rights and all struggle with the same problem... We have no money! But a little bit financial love from lots of wonderful people goes a long way.

Risks & Challenges

There are many hurdles for us to overcome with this project, both artistically and otherwise. The music video is going to be all done all in one shot. Anyone who knows anything about film making understands how difficult this can be. Combined with the massive amount of make up work going into it, the task at hand is confronting at the very least. But will will overcome. We have assembled the best of the best. A team full of incredibly qualified, well practiced and and immensely passionate and professional people determined to create something that will blow your mind.

Obviously one of greatest challenges with this is raising the money needed to make it, things of this magnitude don't come cheap. Our team of professionals are so into the idea, for what they would normally be paid for, they are willing to do for NOTHING. That radically reduces our budget. The rest is up to you, we believe in you, we love you.

Other Ways You Can Help