In early 2015, Suttle Films spent two and half weeks in Morehead City, NC serving as Director of Photography and crew on the music video “Hooked Up” featuring country artist James Wesley.

The song is about the beauty of the ocean and the essence of the deep sea fishing culture which Suttle Films wanted to highlight through the imagery in the music video.  Suttle Films found inspiration in the artistry of the boats, the beauty of the barrier islands that dot the eastern North Carolina landscape, and the love and passion that the coastal culture share with all that visit.  When they first began planning and scouting the shoot they knew that aerial cinematography would play a major role in the creation of the video. They also wanted the entire video to feel fluid and natural so they planned the use of dolly, jib, and gimbals to be heavily in play for the entire shoot.

Suttle Films shot the bulk of the music video over 3 days.  They had a full crew along with 2 Red Dragons and a Red Scarlet for the majority of the performance sequences with James and his band including the night live concert portion.  

The live concert was planned heavily by Suttle Films as it was complicated due to it being a live concert, at night, in a somewhat uncontrollable location where they had 3 attempts at capturing everything they needed since it was a live audience the band could not play the same song repeatedly, and the complex camera setup.  The jib moved position 3 times as the dolly track and setup were moved along with an Octocopter flying overhead capturing epic aerials of the Downtown Morehead City streets warming with crowds. Through all the stress the live concert brought, Suttle Films was able to create gorgeous footage with a number of unique perspectives.

Once wrapped on the main portion of the shoot, Suttle Films spent most of the following week and a half filming the lifestyle segments of the video.  They ended up 30-40 miles off-shore with an Octocopter flying a Red Dragon over the open ocean with a landing zone the size of a 6 by 6 blanket spread across the bow of the charter boat.  Neither the tough conditions, nor crew suffering sea sickness would stop Suttle Films from delivering their best. “I believe that a few people on that boat thought we were done for and perhaps even suggested we throw in the towel but I’m proud to say we persevered, captured some of our best aerial work to date in between visits to the stern” James Suttles.