Sight + Sound: Cuba [3/31/17-4/6/17]

The Trip

Thanks to a miscalculation, and my inability to realize that Switzerland and Iceland are in the same visa area, I needed to escape Iceland for a bit to extend my legal stay into May to catch the midnight sun.

I caught a last minute trip to Cuba with friends and stayed over a few extra days just to wander Old Havana. Although gouged a few times, the city was incredibly inviting. The plentiful rum aided and took away from the experience. The lush green of the northern part of the island was a beautiful compliment to the buildings in disrepair throughout the city.

The Video

These are simple shots meant to give the viewer a taste of what it's like to walk the streets of Havana, continuing with the idea from Sight + Sound: Switzerland. 

I decided organize the shots from morning to night, and begin and end at the Malecón. Morning traffic and joggers give way to the lively streets and loud car stereos playing mp3's from USB sticks. Everything cycles back to fishermen just off the road with the skyline of Old Havana in the background.

The Music

The music was influenced by the man playing in the bar at the end of the video. The sad D minor progression felt right to introduce the video, but didn't represent the country that I experienced or the footage that I shot. I settled on a simple three chord F major progression to keep the same feel in the notes and improvised a few lead parts to move the piece along.

I used a few filters to give the music a tinny sound of an old radio to match the romanticized antiquity that most Americans think of when imagining Cuba. Although my experience of Cuba was a bunch of old cars blasting "Despacito".

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