Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Filmload of Nothing

Filmmaker Craig Rian found a lot of “great music” shooting Nothing.
Filmmaker Craig Rian found a lot of “great music” shooting Nothing.
Place

Whistle Stop Bar

2236 Fern Street, San Diego

“It took five years for me to finish this up after we shot the first show,” said Craig Rian, director of the local independent film There Is Nothing Out Here, which premieres Thursday, November 7, at the Whistle Stop in South Park.

The project, which this reporter had the privilege of providing commentary on, began in 2008 and wrapped filming in 2011. Twenty bands are featured in performance and interview clips, including Transfer, Silent Comedy, the Soft Pack, and Lady Dottie & the Diamonds. “It took a little over two years to film the bands,” Rian tells the Reader. “That was expected, because I wanted to film each band a couple times and get a wide swath of rock music styles and varieties of bands.” The project took two years to edit and a year to complete the DVD packaging. “Besides the filming, all the rest took way longer than it should have because I worked somewhere else full-time that had nothing to do with video or music. Since I paid everyone and bought my own gear, I had to keep the income flowing....”

Sponsored
Sponsored

The initial inspiration for this film was Rian’s love of live-music documentaries, such as U2’s Rattle & Hum and the Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense, but he says that his vision for the film evolved as he worked on it. “Originally, I wanted to video and follow just one band,” he recalled. “However, on my search for a standout, I found so many great bands and musicians here in San Diego that I couldn’t decide on just one.”

While he was able to get most of the performers he wanted, he wasn’t able to get all the music he hoped for.

“There were some studio versions of songs that I liked a lot, but the bands didn’t play them,” he said. Rian estimates he shot over 400 songs for the DVD, with much unused interview footage in the vaults as well.

Rian acknowledges that the film’s title could be misconstrued as “negative” rather than his intended “ironic.”

“I had three titles that I was considering and, surprisingly, that was the one that had the most positive response,” he said. “It comes from a public art piece that I went out to shoot, by local artist Nina Karavasiles, that reads, ‘This is the desert. There is nothing out here. Nothing.’ At the time I went out there, not only was I in the middle of shooting great music in San Diego, but I was also shooting all kinds of scenic shots from all over San Diego. So, I think it was kind of ironic that, true, standing in the desert where I was there was nothing out there, but I was in the middle of experiencing, musically and visually, San Diego.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Seals hook up with Beaver

Salty’s Escape is a Mexican-Style cerveza brewed with corn and puffed Jasmine rice
Next Article

Didja know I did the first American feature on Jimi Hendrix?

Richard Meltzer goes through the Germs, Blue Oyster Cult, Ray Charles, Elvis, Lavender Hill Mob
Filmmaker Craig Rian found a lot of “great music” shooting Nothing.
Filmmaker Craig Rian found a lot of “great music” shooting Nothing.
Place

Whistle Stop Bar

2236 Fern Street, San Diego

“It took five years for me to finish this up after we shot the first show,” said Craig Rian, director of the local independent film There Is Nothing Out Here, which premieres Thursday, November 7, at the Whistle Stop in South Park.

The project, which this reporter had the privilege of providing commentary on, began in 2008 and wrapped filming in 2011. Twenty bands are featured in performance and interview clips, including Transfer, Silent Comedy, the Soft Pack, and Lady Dottie & the Diamonds. “It took a little over two years to film the bands,” Rian tells the Reader. “That was expected, because I wanted to film each band a couple times and get a wide swath of rock music styles and varieties of bands.” The project took two years to edit and a year to complete the DVD packaging. “Besides the filming, all the rest took way longer than it should have because I worked somewhere else full-time that had nothing to do with video or music. Since I paid everyone and bought my own gear, I had to keep the income flowing....”

Sponsored
Sponsored

The initial inspiration for this film was Rian’s love of live-music documentaries, such as U2’s Rattle & Hum and the Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense, but he says that his vision for the film evolved as he worked on it. “Originally, I wanted to video and follow just one band,” he recalled. “However, on my search for a standout, I found so many great bands and musicians here in San Diego that I couldn’t decide on just one.”

While he was able to get most of the performers he wanted, he wasn’t able to get all the music he hoped for.

“There were some studio versions of songs that I liked a lot, but the bands didn’t play them,” he said. Rian estimates he shot over 400 songs for the DVD, with much unused interview footage in the vaults as well.

Rian acknowledges that the film’s title could be misconstrued as “negative” rather than his intended “ironic.”

“I had three titles that I was considering and, surprisingly, that was the one that had the most positive response,” he said. “It comes from a public art piece that I went out to shoot, by local artist Nina Karavasiles, that reads, ‘This is the desert. There is nothing out here. Nothing.’ At the time I went out there, not only was I in the middle of shooting great music in San Diego, but I was also shooting all kinds of scenic shots from all over San Diego. So, I think it was kind of ironic that, true, standing in the desert where I was there was nothing out there, but I was in the middle of experiencing, musically and visually, San Diego.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Making Love to Goats, Rachmaninoff, and Elgar

Next Article

Reader 1st place writing contest winner gets kudos

2nd place winner not so much
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.