For live images, I want to give a cool perspective. I want to capture every interesting moment. -Andrew Swartz, Photographer, Rolling Stone

The ambiguity of our intentions sort of amplifies the idea that cameras lies – constantly. We want viewers to question everything, even this video. -Brandon Cruz

No Credentials from CRUZ + JACOB on Vimeo.

The Creators Talk About Their Project

WRR: What were you guys goals going into the production of this thing? As far as message and value?

CRUZ: I think our intention with this short film was to introduce audiences to a new side of EDM culture, a side people don’t ever get to see. Most of the videos coming out in this space portray it solely as this poppy, super happy thing, but it also has its darker, sexier, nastier side. That aspect of it is beautiful, too. In fact, a lot of us creatives really only love that side of this whole monster anymore. We thrive in it and we celebrate it. No Credentials is a celebration of electronic music’s darker side. In my opinion…

Alex: Please excuse any typos, I’m currently in some dark neon lit basement deep in Hollywood with pounding music trying to type on my phone. To be honest we didn’t really know what we wanted to shoot at first. We had a few ideas but the clarity didn’t come along until well after our trip to Miami. We went through multiple re-edits and organically found our way to where it is. I wish we had more time, a budget and a crew — then I think we could do something really special.

WRR: What do you hope the result of this video is? full length documentary?

CRUZ: We’d love to turn this conversation into either a web series or a feature length documentary. There are so many incredible artists in this space who have heavy, gritty, incredibly beautiful shit to say about EDM culture. We need to put them in a film. We made this with $0 and 10 nights of no sleep. Luckily, we were able to lock in interviews with some big photographers – but there are still dozens of people who have shaped this culture that didn’t make it into this video. They deserve to be in something bigger.

Alex: I’d love to take this to another level if someone gives us the opportunity.

WRR: Can you speak a little on how the sneaking into Ultra side ties into the exposé of edm photography?

CRUZ: Good Question. We feature these big names like Kirill and Rukes, and they talk about this massive influx of new photographers into the electronic scene – and then we cut to us sneaking into ULTRA, and we are totally the kids they are talking about! We are those vanity photographers who just want to find Skrillex and sneak into the big festival. But the ambiguity of our intentions sort of amplifies the idea that cameras lies – constantly. We want viewers to question everything, even this video. Media makes you feel a certain way about things. Question that. Go out, sneak in to whatever moves you and make your own opinions.

Alex: I’ve been shooting events for a few years now and when I teamed up with Cruz we had a few short film ideas about sneaking into a massive festival as a narrative. We even shot something down in San Diego that ended up being more of a test. We know we didn’t want another recap video, those are getting so old. We wanted to tell a story that keeps you locked in; I think we did that.