Camden Art Student Creates Music Video for Favorite Rock Band

Most music lovers look forward to watching their favorite band’s latest video. But how many can say they created it themselves?

Matt Scheuerer, a Camden senior, got the plush assignment after meeting Little Dragon, an electronic pop band from Gothenburg, Sweden, before a performance at the Fire nightclub in Philadelphia. After he told the group about his senior thesis project, a music video featuring marionettes, the members asked him to create a video for a track off their most recent album, Machine Dreams.

“The video for the song "My Step" will use handmade marionettes and accompanying sets to tell the story of a robot travel agent trying to sell adventure get-a-way vacations to humans,” said Scheurer, a Roebling resident.

Little Dragon’s use of puppetry is not a new concept, as a previous video using shadow puppets is what sparked Scheuerer’s initial interest in the band. The studio art major never expected, however, that his personal music video, “Crickets,”  which he created under the advisement of Margery Amdur, associate professor of art in Camden, would lead him to work with one of his favorite bands.

Scheuerer, who has a concentration in painting, says that Amdur gave him the artistic freedom necessary to pursue what was then just an “ambitious vision.” Though his work with Little Dragon is not associated with Rutgers, Scheuerer says his colleagues are still involved in his latest creative endeavor. 

“These videos wouldn't be nearly as successful if it weren't for the community of artists that I have here supporting me,” he says.

Scheuerer is also enrolled in the teacher preparation program at Rutgers–Camden and plans to teach art  upon graduation. He cites Muppets creator Jim Henson as one of his heroes and hopes to eventually work in children’s television.

“Right now I'm just going to be happy I get to work with a group of artists who appreciate my work as much as I do theirs,” he says. “Regardless of a professional future, I'm going to keep telling stories with sight and sound because that's what I love to do.”

Scheuerer is posting the weekly progress of “My Step” on his blog, http://mattpowerhouse.blogspot.com/ which will feature conceptual art, puppets and sets being built, and videos of marionettes being tested. Amanda McDonnell, a Camden film studies major, will handle the post-production aspect of the video, which will be completed by the end of the year. 

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Written by Courtney A. Preston.