<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re watching country music singer and \u201cVoice\u201d winner Chevel Shepherd\u2019s latest videos and you think you see a bunch of familiar-looking landmarks and people, you\u2019d be right.<\/p>\n
Durango filmmaker David Dibble has directed Shepherd\u2019s three latest videos: \u201cThe Letter,\u201d \u201cJust Like the Circus\u201d and \u201cGood Boy,\u201d which was released March 26.<\/p>\n
Dibble said he began working with Shepherd, who lives in Farmington, when she was looking for a director who would be able to do more with her videos than just the basics.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a small world. I work with Jeff Johnson (D&SNG general manager) at the railroad, he\u2019s a friend of mine and he\u2019s also the banjo player and fiddle player for Chevel,\u201d he said. \u201cThey had a music video come up, and he thought, \u2018Wow, we should get a hold of a filmmaker since it\u2019s an actual story,\u2019 so he put us in touch.\u201d<\/p>\n
The timing of the projects was both challenging because of the pandemic and all the public health and safety protocols that went along with that, but it was also a good chance to get back to work, Dibble said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a nice surprise because I wasn\u2019t really doing that much, nobody was, during that time,\u201d he said. \u201cSo to pull it off it definitely had a lot more stress trying to be safe and so forth. We\u2019re lucky we got to make these during that time.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s cool to pick out familiar places in the videos \u2013 in \u201cJust Like the Circus,\u201d for example, while Shepherd is the star, local landmarks \u2013 and residents \u2013 especially the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and Durango Arts Center theater share top billing. And be sure to catch Oscar\u2019s Cafe\u2019s cameo in \u201cGood Boy,\u201d which stars Shepherd and actor and singer Charlie Gillespie.<\/p>\n
Dibble, who\u2019s originally from Hanford, California, and has lived in Durango for the last seven years, said he has been making films since he was 12. According to his website, his parents brought home a video camera and he was hooked, creating a Lego stop-motion movie, a \u201cStar Trek\u201d film and even a Florida Citrus music video in high school that earned him and other students a trip to Walt Disney World. He went to the University of Southern California\u2019s film school and then went to work on independent films and commercials. He moved to Durango from Los Angeles: \u201cI was living there way too long, so I wanted something just the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dibble said his approach to music videos is a lot different than videos we\u2019ve seen in the past, focusing more on telling a story than relying on gimmicks or performance footage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s funny is I wasn\u2019t paying attention to the country music videos until this came along, but I would say back in those days, you could be as easy as just videotaping people singing and performing or doing weird things like walking on the beach,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think the way I approach it, it becomes more like filmmaking, more storytelling and certainly more advanced. \u2026 I personally like the direction to make them more like films, like stories rather than just sort of abstract images and singing at a concert.\u201d<\/p>\n