Reel Eyez

I remember seeing the call for extras come from David Wept’s story. David and his sister used to ride my bus to and from Hillside High School.

Since he had graduated from Hillside, he had developed quite a reputation as a videographer, producer, and creative director. He went to UNCG for short stint, and my first and only year there we ran into each other. Around that time, he was gearing up to go on tour and was doing work with Denzel Curry, JK the Reaper.

Some years later, I had been seeing his calls, and this one in particular was one I could be a part of. I reached out and he sent the address and details. We were to have blue jeans and white tees.

It wound up being the biggest set I had been a part of, and it was in the middle of nowhere of North Carolina. There was a truck that pulled up with all of the camera equipment. I had never seen that before.

All of the necessary tools needed to get the shots executed were present. At one point, the camera operator was on a ladder, and David would bring a monitor for Mez- who was the director and lead character of the video- to see how things looked.

There must have been over 40 of us extras standing around. I ran into a ton of artists I had met around the way! One of the homies from Wreck-N-Crew was there, as well as some other artists from Durham. We chopped it up.

I recall one point where, for some reason I became adamant about throwing the Bull in one of the scenes where we were grouped together. I wound up asking Mez if I could and he was a little hesitant. I don’t think he wanted me to.

I did. I think it got me cut out of that particular scene haha!

However, there came a point where we were gearing up for another scene. I stood near the front of the line while the scene was being set. I’m cold natured, so it started to get a little frigid in that white tee.

To warm myself up, I dropped to the ground and started to do some push ups. When it wasn’t just ten, a few people started to pay attention. Someone started counting, so I went to 50.

When I got up, I was a little warmer. It wasn’t long after, Mez had turned around and was looking for a “preacher” for the scene. He wanted someone to put on a black shirt and baptize someone from the line. I was near the front of the line and wound up having a cross on my necklace; somehow it wound up being me.

Ironically, my grandfather was a pastor.

Once all the scenes for this location had been shot, it was time to disperse. Some people stood around and talked for a little while, other people walked to their cars and began to leave.

I walked to my car, but I was curious. What was being shot next? What kind of techniques would be used at the next location?

On my walk to the car, not too far ahead of me I noticed someone that looked familiar. I spoke to him. I asked him if he was the younger brother of David and their sister, and he said that he was.

I asked if he had gone to Hillside or rode the bus with us, but he hadn’t. For a while we stood there stumped… then he mentioned my dad.

He had remembered me because dad would sometimes pull me out of school to accompany him when he did his self-help workshops at other schools. I was actually shocked that that was how he remembered me, but that made the connection kind of cool.

The younger brother goes by Haziel. I began to ask Haziel about the next location, and he wound up getting me permission to help out at the next location.

We walked to a Mercedes Sprinter and piled in. I wound up sitting beside Mez on the way to the next scene. I probably asked a few too many questions, but I’m a curious guy. The location wound up being a spot in the cut. It was a dead end that gave a view of the highway.

When it was time to get set up, I hopped out to help. We began to take things out to the set.

Did I mention that I’m cold natured? I kept getting back into the sprinter. Mez was in there chilling. I wasn’t trying to bother him, but I was literally chilling in that tee shirt.

He hopped out to shoot the scene where the car was on fire. There was really a particular guy that had been called for a look he had developed with his lighting.

Shortly after the scene was shot, there was another location to go to, but it was time for me and some others that had been on set to go home. We got taken to a parking lot, but it wasn’t where I had parked.

The sprinter wasn’t going to take me back to my car though. Luckily, Mez’s old barber was one of the people that got dropped off. He was cool enough to give me a ride and listen to some of my songs on the ride. If I can remember him the next time I run into him, I’ll have to thank him.

-Watty