I am a Grammy nominee attending the Grammy's today. AMA

who are you taking to the event? your grammy?

Sitting with my family right now. My moms my date with my one 'gold' ticket for the staples center telecast. Update: They just announced my category. No dice, but still feeling like a million bucks.

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I had a blast. I'm going to answer some questions and hang out and go watch the sunrise.

Do they have awards that they don't televise? How do you already know?

They have a separate pre-Telecast ceremony across the street at the Nokia Theater. It's for those categories that can't make the telecast due to program length.

So did you get tickets to the show across the street as well?

You get to go to the Nominee Reception/Technical Grammys/Spirit Awards on Saturday. The early ceremonies/telecast/after party. Each event had their own flavor and importance to different groups of attendees.

Pretty sure this is after the fact...but if you saw Chris Brown, would you punch him in the face? For all of us?

Honestly I wouldn't know what Chris Brown looked like. Even so, I probably would not, because I came here to let you guys down tonight.

Did you hire an escort?

Nobody tells you to do these things! Missed opportunity.

This is literally the first time I'm hearing that the Grammy's are tonight.

This happens with my and the world series/superbowl/stanley cup every year. Gotta have priorities you know?

Congratulations! Is this your first Grammy nomination? Also, if you win will you give a shout out to this AMA during your acceptance speech!?

Didn't get it, so this AMA is my shout out.

Ah, damn! Well thanks for doing this at least! Can we get an update with a pic from the audience?

http://imgur.com/aqNrm9h me and my family.

So how much side boob are you showing??

Not enough, which is fine, because sometimes you need room for improvement.

How did you get the Tegan and Sara gig?

I was lucky enough to have worked on a great project with the Rentals called Songs About Time. Worked hard, long, and late hours They asked Matt for a rec. Since I was able to be a one man band film crew (filming, dieecting, editing, color, ect.) I was recommended. But I would say hard work and dumb luck has landed me in some great places. I feel a lot like Forrest Gump

I love the Rentals and Matt Sharp, that must've been a fantastic experience

Absolutely. One of the most fun of my professional life.

In direction of a music video, are you at the mercy of the artist's vision for their video, or are you able to have a great deal of creative control?

They basically told me a vibe and trusted me. It was an incredibly free process. Tegan and Sara were total pros. Sweet as it gets.

Don't forget that they make awesome music! Their new album is amazing!

I definitely can't forget that. After editing performances over and over again for a couple months, those songs are a part of me now.

The 2013 Reddit Grammy Meetup goes up a notch! context

Congratulations on your nomination and the recognition of your talent! (sorry you didn't win)

I'll be out to play you a song in a few minutes...

Lets meet up at the after party!

Aw man, my phone died or I would have totally tracked you down there! Our manager was at the hotel before I asked for an invitation...so I snuck in through the catering entrance...

Are you in LA? I'm back for a few days in May, maybe we could grab a beer then.

You can contact me on my site. We'll make that happen.

This doesn't exactly pertain to the Grammy nomination, but oh well.

How long did it take you to shoot the entire music video you were nominated for?

It was two weeks on the road. And a month and a half of post. It was fly on the wall filming, so it was mostly recording what was happening on their tour when I was present. (Update: After a dramatic battle with a bow tie, I'm on my way to the early ceremony right now.)

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Thank you. That means the world to me.

I also saw the (LA) premiere with Tegan and Sara and thought Get Along was wonderful. I own it and I have never seen anything like it. Thank you for making it. (And I'm glad to hear they are as nice as they seem as I am a huge fan of theirs)

Also, GOOD LUCK!!! EDIT: OK, so apparently you didn't win, but I think you should have!

I was in the crowd for both screenings that night. I should also clarify, I directed the opening film "States" The directors Salazar & Elinor Svoboda were also nominated as were the producers (including T&S.) So high fives for them too.

What did you get in your nomination gift basket?

An invitation to the Grammys, and an order form. Probably not the answer you hoped for. There was some swag when leaving the events, but I hear you have to go to gifting suites for the really nice stuff. There's a good chance I missed something though.

What are you most excited about seeing? Not counting your own category.

The thing I was most excited about was seeing synth innovator Dave Smith receive his technical Grammy for inventing midi. He makes the synthesizers that are most aligned with I would want in a synth. We've all heard his instruments a million times, and it's great that he's finally gotten recognized for his work. His impact is unbelievable.

Do you have to go through any crazy security stuff prior to the event(s)?

Some limos/cars were searched quickly. Also metal detectors were at the entrance of the big events.

Do you really care knowing the Grammys aren't very well respected? I mean Taylor Swift has like 10 of them.

A lot of people seem to be asking this and I think it's the most important question I can answer. So I'm going to do my best. My thinking has been changed by this experience. I think the Grammys image is one that is hurt by its broadcasting. I'll explain. (I apologize for the grammar. I've only slept an hour.)

The first thing I thought of when I found out I was nominated was the Simpson's B-Sharps episode that jabs at the Grammys. Homer tips the teenage bellhop by giving him a Grammy statue and the bellhop is disappointed that it is a Grammy and drops it off the balcony. You hear a voice say "Hey don't throw your trash down here" and the grammy gets thrown back up and, I think, hits Homer in the head. Now that's probably because the Simpsons shaped my brain growing up, but I understand that reputation. When you see things like Cee Lo and Gwenyth Paltrow's muppet fueled duet version of "Forget you" : / its hard to feel any other way. That's the message that hits most people at home. That is not what I think of when I think of music in 2011, and now its not what I think of when I hear the Grammys.

I always felt I had a handle on great music. Music is what I think about most the time, and my life would be awful without it. I studied music religiously and listened to some albums hundreds of times. I knew that these artists were doing exceptional work, then I'd watch the Grammys and they'd be no where to be found. Sometimes a few years later, their 3rd album would be nominated for Best New Artist. After seeing that year after year, I stopped paying attention. The Grammys seemed hopelessly out of touch.

So, cut to this year in December, I hear I've been nominated for a Grammy. At first, its just confusing. You never expected it, or even wanted it. According to everything I've observed the Grammy award is about the lowest common denominator catering to industry cash cows. Not only that I was nominated for a video category at a music award. You feel like it was a mistake. I always hold myself to a high standard, and I always want to do better, so the idea that something was good enough to be nominated for an award that big just seemed wrong.

People would say things like, "you must be so excited" and they'd look at you like you did something amazing. While that's happening, you know you haven't changed, but people are treating you differently. Not in bad way, a different type of attention. I wouldn't know exactly how to react and felt like I was ungrateful for being honest with myself.

So my view on the whole thing wasn't jaded per say, but there was confusion. I was told to enjoy it and live it up and despite my natural impulses to never have fun, I went for it. I didn't want to be all Eddie Vedder in 1996. I hired a stylist to help me look good and got an expensive haircut. For most of my life this sort of thing seemed superficial to worry about, and if I had my way, we'd wear pajamas all the time. (Seriously why don't we do that?) When working with the stylist I remained open minded, and I began to see how the sausage gets made, and it was very interesting. She knew what worked, and why. She'd make quick and on-point decisions. The kind I'd be doing when working with video. Same goes with the hair. Suddenly, I could see the craft in dressing people for these events, and I ended up respecting it fully after the experience.

Now for the Grammy weekend. Saturday is when I finally understood how I felt about the Grammys. It was at the Spirit Awards and Technical Grammys. The invite was small, there was no confirmation to the RSVP. It felt like an after thought, but I wanted to do it right, so I went with my friend as my plus one. They kept saying that the Saturday ceremonies were the heart and soul of the Grammys, and I agree entirely. There they gave out life time achievement awards to those living and dead, and other honorary Grammys. These were people of legendary levels. Glenn Gould was honored. For those who don't know he was an amazing pianist and a total iconoclast. He loved using technology and the recording studio, which was a very strange idea in classical music. If you listen to him talk, you know how brilliant the man is. Its astounding. He's as good as artists get. They also gave Grammys to Ravi Shankar, Carol King, The Temptations, and more legendary people from the music industry. When the people who make up the recording industry invite you in the room like they did these people. You don't think you're at their level, but dammit its an honor to be a part of the same program as those people. It was an honor being nominated, but seeing those legends get their due made me realize that I have a long way to go. It reminded me of what greatness really means, and showed me something to strive for. I'm really grateful for that, because when jumping project to project/job to job you forget that.

Like I mentioned in another answer I saw Dave Smith and Ikutaro Kakehashi receive their Grammy for creating MIDI. MIDI has been the communication standard for musical instruments to talk with one another for 30 years, and those two never patented it. They changed the way music is made, and didn't cash in because it wouldn't have become a standard. That openness is Saintly to us in the world of the patent trolls. The impact of their work is immeasurable. You don't get the scope of that on TV. Those synthesizers, drum machines, lights at the Grammys use midi, but you just see Justin Timberlake. That's because it makes for better TV. That is why people think the Grammy is a sham, the heart of it can't be packed into a star studded telecast. Its too many small stories that really tell the story of the creative community of musicians.

The stories that you see at home are very different from what I saw. I saw more people that I never heard of thanking their mom for paying for piano lessons yesterday than I saw celebrities. There was a group called Eighth Blackbird who won a Grammy in the pre-telecast ceremony. The member who gave the speech was in the group for 12 years and left to be a teacher. His last recording with that group got him his Grammy. That is what I think Grammys are about and that is what I'll remember. I was in a room full of hard working people who you'll never hear of that make small and large impacts on our world through music, and you can feel that when your in the room. They are lucky to be there, because there are countless ones like them who don't get invited. That doesn't discredit their work though.

Another problem is that it is an award, you think of it being an authority on what's best. You think of a winner. You want your picks to win. If you focus on that, you'll be upset that your band that's better didn't win, or that the guy everyone hates won. When you focus on that, you miss the stories about the band you never heard of who slept in parents basements for their 10 year career, or Chess records which released records of blues, R&B, soul, and gospel artists who are now legendary. Getting to see those people get rewarded after their hard work and sacrifice didn't make me think they were the best. It made me feel like they were someone who worked hard was lucky enough to be noticed and appreciated. It's a shame not everyone who makes those sacrifices get that treatment. Because when you're a band scrunched up in a touring van 10 years into your career, it must be great to have the recording industry say, "Your hard work. We noticed."

When I got to the televised ceremony that was gone. We were in a big stadium and everything was very flashy. The intimacy from the early awards felt non-existent. It felt like it was done for the cameras. The categories seem like they are designed just to get more cash cow artists on the bill for the TV audience. Honestly, I will forget most of what happened in that part of the award show. I view it as that blockbuster movie that allows a studio to fund smaller more interesting movies. The thing I took away from this experience is that most Grammys are given to people who work really hard and are great at what they do.

So, when I think back to working on "States," did I deserve an nomination? Does it mean something? I don't know. I generally don't like showing the man behind the curtain because that's tacky and I know there are people who have worked harder, but I think this the best way to use my experience to answer this question. Looking back on the tour I alone ran four cameras at every show, sometimes two shows a day. Stayed up late in the back of the bus copying footage to drives. I edited 30+ camera angles from 10 different concerts into a single performance. There was one point in the project where I was finishing a rough cut on a documentary, working full time on a tv show, and finishing up this project. Because of that, I spent two weeks working after work until 3am in my underwear (because it was too hot in my room with the computer running.) So what does a Grammy nomination mean? I don't know. I do know making the film was hard and tiring. It feels great to have someone notice.

TL;DR - My experiences with the Grammys taught me that many hard working people get much deserved due at the Grammys. It really is an honor. People at home mostly watch the telecast, which is not a complete sampling of the awards.

I'm going to sleep now.

To be honest, I don't even know who you are, but can I have your autograph?

Send me something to sign?

Are you going to any after-parties?

I heard Adam Levine is having one.

I went to the Grammy after party, there were lots of Indian dancers and free drinks. The B-52s played. I danced like an idiot to Love Shack. That's saying something because there needs to be a small revolution to get me dancing.

Do you have an epic acceptance speech?

I didn't have one ready. I was going to wing it if it happened.

How many years of experience do you have in directing? And how much did the production cost?

I've been directing various things since film school which was almost a decade ago. The production was pretty much the cost of my time and hard drives. In my experience you don't film bands for the money, you do it because you love it.

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I was familiar with their work before I started the project. I was less familiar with their videos.

Favorite video is tough, there is one I did in college called "An Artist" which is on my website. That seemed to be a really good representation of what I like. It's far from perfect, but it has a special place in my heart.

I got to film The Decemberists which was a great experience. It was a live webcast of Music Fest North West in Portland. Got to walk around on stage and film the whole thing. That one I had to absorb.

I've seen a bunch of Minecraft posts on Reddit and never looked into it a bit just now. Seems interesting.

Condiment, not sure. I do always get things as spicy as possible, but most ubiquitous hot sauces aren't hot enough. Usually habeñero sauces are at a good level.

If there was a zombie outbreak, what would be your zombie plan?

Direct them towards the free catering. It would fail, and I'd likely be dead.

Do you plan on directing a feature-length film some time in the future?

I'm always planning to do a bunch of things, I definitely have wanted to do this.

edit: cause I wrote it like an idiot.

When they announce your name for your category, how do you feel? Is it a hold-your-breath and wait kind of deal?

I felt really nervous when my name was announced, part of me felt like it must have been a mistake. When they didn't say my name I actually let out a big sigh of relief and felt great the rest of the night.

Want to make another music video?

Sure

Whats the song in the video on your website? U da man man, congratulations!

Broken Bells - Meyrin Fields http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCYzsrI3VyU

Hey Danny, I'm relatively new to LA and am working as an editor and cinematographer right now, but would love to get into music videos. They've always been a passion of mine and I love the idea of blending two art forms into one. Any tips on how to break into that industry? I don't see much of it out here, it seems to be a (sadly) dying art form.

For me it was being around music, venues, bands. Piano lessons actually were the first step towards working on this project. So, surround yourself with what fascinates you, and it will eventually creep into your life.

Also, say yes. People will ask you to work for free, and in the beginning you do. The more work you do, the more work will start coming to you. Eventually that stuff will pay more. If you believe in your friend's band and have nothing else to do that weekend, shoot a video for them. If people aren't paying you to do what you do, don't let it stop you from making videos. Eventually you need to secure paying gigs, but

This is what worked for me, and I'm still breaking into this world, so there's more that I don't even know yet.

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She won one. So apparently, I won't do this.

She won one. So apparently, it's not going to happen..