postPerspective Update

Traveling the world to make
Playing For Change’s The Weight
By Randi Altman

If you have any sort of social media presence, it’s likely that you have seen Playing For Change’s The Weight video, featuring The Band’s Robbie Robertson, Ringo Starr, Lukas Nelson and musicians from all over the world. It’s amazing.

The Weight was produced by Mark Johnson and Sebastian Robertson, Robbie’s son. It was a celebration of the 50th anniversary of The Band’s first studio album, Music From Big Pink, where the song “The Weight” first appeared. Raan Williams and Robin Moxey were also producers on the project.

Playing For Change (PFC) was co-founded by Johnson and Whitney Kroenke in 2002, with the goal to share the music of street musicians worldwide. And it seems the seed of the idea involved the younger Robertson and Johnson. “Mark Johnson is an old friend of mine,” explains Robertson. “I was sitting around in his apartment when he initially conceived the idea of Playing For Change. At first, it was a vehicle that brought street musicians into the spotlight, then it became world musicians, and then it evolved into a big musical celebration.”

Johnson explains further: “Playing For Change was born out of the idea that no matter how many things in life divide us, they will never be as strong as the power of music to bring us all together. We record and film songs around the world to reconnect all of us to our shared humanity and to show the world through the lens of music and art.” Pretty profound words considering current events.

The Weight is beautifully shot and edited, featuring amazingly talented musicians, interesting locales and one of my favorite songs to sing along to. I reached out to Robertson and Johnson to talk through the production, post and audio post.

What did you shoot on? Did you have one DP/crew or use some from all over the world? Were you on set?
Johnson: Most of the PFC videos are recorded and filmed by one crew (Guigo Foggiatto and Joe Miller), including myself, an additional audio person and two camera operators. We work with a local guide to help us find both musicians and locations. We filmed The Weight around the world on 4K with Sony A7 cameras — one side angle, one zoom and a Ronin for more motion.