Johnnyfilms: HOMICIDE "ALL I GOT"

		Charlotte based Rap group Homicide's second music video is a series of minuettes combining several tracks from their second CD/LP with classic horror movie iconography creating a creepy gangsta'-crypt short horror film. The video/short consists of parts of 4 tracks with "All I Got" being the title track as well as the longest "chapter" in the lineup. The film stars the usual lineup of Homicide crew, Hyrum Timmons, Shabree Finger, Amanda Russell, Little Bit, and of course, Tugunz and Lil' Dan. Also featured is the rapper Ced who appears on "All I Got" adding a new personality to the Homicide posse. Homicide boasts intensly violent lyrics and gangland style persona but as Lil' Dan declares, "They ain't no gangs up in this bitch!" Their rhymes are hittin' and so are they with Tugunz's quick-attack tempos and Lil' Dan's unique grasp of profanity.
		Shoot Format:DV Run Time: 13:50 View Format: DVD	Clip


	I first met Tugunz and Lil' Dan in 2003. Tugunz's mother had gone to school with my mother way back in the Mid-Sixties and I had been living close to my Mom's house at the time (2003) and meeting them was inevibitable. While hanging out one day they spun me a few of their tunes and asked me if I wanted to shoot a music video for them. I said that would be great because I had been mainly making horror and Action-Figure-Theatre films at the time and wanted to do something different (different for me that is.) They already had a fair fan-base in their area of Eastside Charlotte for guys so young and gave me several of their CDs to take home. I must admit that at the time the thought of being on location in the middle of the night (I assumed) out in a parking lot or graveyard with a crew of no less than 25 big black guys that the majority of which were strangers to me


			was a little intimidating. A series of violent fantasy and scenarios rushed through my mind for about ten minutes and then I moved on. besides, Tugunz, Lil' Dan & the rest their crew that I had already met were cool and laid back and the thought never again crossed my mind in all my association with them. My momentary lapse of inteligence was the product of a white boy's projected cultural fear of the unknown. Thank goodness it only lasted ten minutes.To date I've worked with them over the last three years and Homicide and Johnnyfilms plan to begin production on a new video/short film sometime in 2006. The guys already had some ideas and notes on their second video "All I got". We talked and flushed out their concepts more for a few weeks and finally set a date to begin production.


	Many locations and b-roll footage concepts were planned and the production went off without a hitch. The premise of the film was that of a modern gangsta horror narrative dealing with the demons & devils, ghosts, and the violence in the hood. It would capitalize on parts of four different songs that were on H's new CD. "Kane", "Born To Be A Soldier" and "The City" would prolouge, epilouge, and bridge for the main song, "All I Got". The main locations were graveyards from Harrisburg, Charlotte and Belmont, NC as well as over 35 various streetcorners in and around East Charlotte. The majority of the footage for the verses was shot at the mausaleum at the corner of Sharon Amity and Monroe rd. in Charlotte in the middle of the night without permission. Guerilla is the only way to shoot. Amanda Russell, acted as location manager and Assistant Director for much of the production as well


			as Shabree Finger: Production Assistant & Lighting - Hyrum Timmons: Assistant Location Manager, and Lil' Bit: Production Assistant. We shot 3 and a half hours of footage and ran through each verse about 35 times in over ten locations including the Panthers stadium and a tomb. Several shoots didn't even make it into the final cut such as the Eastland mall shoot due to time and length constraints. I didn't want the film to be any longer than fifteen minutes beacause I had a big project set up to begin in October '04 and I knew editing the horror epic would take a month at least to edit, working on it nightly after I arrive home from my day job. We had shot for 4 nights for 2 weekends and just capturing and logging the 3 and a half tapes would take a week of nights and weekends glued to my monitors.


	Editng the short was maddening as music videos often are with fast cuts, effects exploration, and hundreds of lines of lyrics to sync up. In this production there were no less than 450 lines to sync.needless to say I know these four songs like I wrote them myself. It was alot of fun and I'm looking forward to the next project. As usual Homicide delivered the performances that we knew they would making the film visually intense and heavy on charachter. Tugunz and Lil' Dan's lyrics and tracks lend well to the genre we were attempting to emulate not to mention their agressive style creating a dramatic and resonant mayhem. The camera loves these guys and it only solidifies they're value to any production they are involved with. The appearance of "Ced" in the video is a nice touch with his wicked wordings adding another flavor to the mix.

Complete credits:

All music & lyrics written by Dwayne Russell, Chardan Suggs & Ced.

Concept by: Dwayne Russell, Chardan Suggs & Johnny Butler

Shot, directed, edited, produced, additional sound editing & mixing & graphics: Johnny Butler

Executive producers: William & Dawn Russell

Assistant director, location manager: Amanda Russell

Asssistant location manager: Hyrum Timmons

Production Assistant, Lighting: Shabree Finger

Production Assistant: Lil' Bit

Filmed in Charlotte, Belmont, & Harrisburg North Carolina

All music by written, recorded & produced by Dwayne Russell, Chardan Suggs & Ced on "All I Got".

A Johnny Butler film

Starring Tugunz, Lil' Dan, Ced, Shabree Finger, Hyrum Timmons, Lil' Bit, Amanda Russell, and The Homicide Crew


	© 1997-2006 Johnny Butler / Johnnyfilms / Johnnyfilms.com / Mood Food Art, Press & Music All Rights Reserved