Back again: La Conner alum releases local video

La Conner is often the subject of film lenses, from car commercials, to state ads, to documentaries on March’s Point, to Elvis-impersonator mysteries — but one filmmaker keeps coming back to film in his hometown.

Griffin Johnston, who graduated in La Conner in 2002, has recently released a new music video that takes place in and around La Conner. He has filmed in the region for his music created as “Griff J,” but Johnston’s new film was for his newest musical project, “Maxchalant.”

This project features a duo — Johnston and Beau Weiss, who is a musical producer from Seattle. After collaborating on the Griff J album, “After the Starting Gun,” the two hit it off and started their new project in early 2014.

“We started working on this new stuff almost right away,” said Johnston. “However, it took us a long time to figure out the new sound.”

Released on Oct. 27, the recent music video “Light the Match” was actually filmed a year ago, on the weekend of Nov. 20 and 21, 2015.

“We were really lucky with the weather. It was really the perfect mood for the video’s story,” explained Johnston.

The music video is about a man who discovers a dead body and other weird goings-on in town after a day of fishing.

“The idea for the video came along as the same time I was writing the song, so they really inspired each other,” said Johnston. “I really wanted the video to have some 1980s nostalgia, some thriller and sci-fi — I was thinking of ‘Twin Peaks’ and ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers.’”

For the visuals he had in mind, Johnston knew it was going to be a production that was a little more involved than others he had done.

“I knew I needed help, I knew I needed a partner,” he said.

He tapped his friend Mike Folden to lead on cinematography and help with the production. At the same time, Johnston was able to take a directorial role and line up talent for the shoot.

“I like La Conner a lot for the variety. You can shoot a lot of types of scenes in a small area. Downtown La Conner really has a timeless feel to it,” said Johnston. “But there is also a great band of support and community; it’s why I keep coming back here. About 90 percent of the people involved were from Skagit.”

Johnston was able to reach out to old friends and local residents for the talent he wanted, even tapping his parents Sally and Wayne Johnston, who play “Log Lady” and a police officer, respectively. Others include middle school teacher Vince Cicotte, who portrays another police officer, La Conner alum Rachael Stover as the missing woman, and her father Brian Young as the fisherman.

“We hit up people with Facebook and got people interested. Due to some scheduling conflicts, one of the actors couldn’t make it, but Rachael was able to talk her dad into it,” said Johnston. “So many things could have gone wrong, but it went perfectly, and everything aligned that weekend.”

One scene in particular jumped to Johnston’s mind.

“We reached out to Gordon’s and asked if we could dig a hole in their field. They were actually really excited and let us do it! We bought some hazmat suits and went to town digging. That was Beau and I digging, we were going to do it ourselves,” recounted Johnston.

Aside from Gordon’s Skagit Farms, the music video features locations in Similk Bay, on La Conner’s First Street, and Dodge Valley.

Check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6bBRQF15r4&feature=youtu.be to see and hear Maxchalant – Light the Match on YouTube.