Imagine waking up before the crack of dawn in the summer of 2022. 

Not to hike. 

Not to go to work [well not conventional work anyways]. 

Not even to watch the sunrise [although, when the sun did rise, it was truly a worthy event]. 

Nope, not one of these things. 

Why did a videographer, an artist, and a co-founder of Pure Artist Music LLC, all wake up at the crack of dawn

one dewy summer morning? 

To break into a pool. 

Let me stop you there–break in sounds a bit harsh. 

More like, visited an old friendly neighborhood pool that one of us used to have access to in our childhood years

… all before opening hours. 

The plan was to be in and out before anyone was awake. 

We gathered all our supplies the night before, and agreed to meet at the studio, 6am sharp. 

Driving the squad, I thought about turning around, but a part of me was so excited to finally get the chance to

bring our ideas to life! 

When we reached our destination–I will admit,

I was the one to vault myself over the fence and open the door.

This is what happens when you have a low budget, but big ideas;

you have to be creative and be able to hop a fence. 

We targeted this pool for very specific reasons: 

1.- It had no lifeguard. 

2.- It was outside, so the colors would be much better than your average indoor pool. 

3.- It was nestled in a place with no cameras, in a quaint quiet neighborhood. 

Once we were in the door, we set up cameras quickly and got to work. 

I was the test dummy for the pool fall shot, to make sure it was safe, and that Rachel’s dress wouldn't be soiled

on a bad shot. 

We had to get it right the first take. 

When the angles were right, and we had the underwater camera in the right position, 

Rachel stood at the edge of the pool, arms widespread,

surrendering herself to the waters like you see in the video. 

She completed the task like a champ on the 1st try! 

However, quickly after getting the shot, Aaron Butwinick–our videographer for the shoot,

had a mini heart attack trying to figure out where the take had gone when we wanted to watch it. 

Crap, Crap, Crap, Shoot, Crap!

After a rush of going through all the settings on the camera, he thankfully figured out it was tucked away in a

special folder meant specifically for the frame rate he shot it at. 

PHEW. 

We were SOOO thankful it was simply new camera jitters. 

Ha! 

Post freak out mini trauma–we started having the real fun with underwater camera time! 

Getting shots of Rachel floating,

her falling back in from the underwater perspective,

and capturing the sleepy serene shot,

all of us were feeling like we were pros. 

Once we had our golden takes, fit with memories that’ll last for a lifetime, 

we packed up quickly and went home. 

PSYCH!

We were definitely guilty of taking a bit of time to play and splash around post work mode.

Shh, don’t tell anyone XD! 

Long story short: 

Breaking into a pool at the crack of dawn, 100% worth it. 

We got out just in time; waltzed out the door entrance as if we had belonged there all along, 

hopped in the car

and were on our way to a celebratory breakfast. Smooth ;)

All in a day's work indeed! 

We're glad to say we carried out our goal of being true to the ideas we storyboarded. 

Lesson learned? Prep, faith and bit of luck are all necessary when aiming to shoot a music video that defies the impossible.

Check out Rachel Winnick’s Alarm Music Video here!