Just ME / Dragos
Just ME (icke)
I won’t become a great artist.
The other day I stumbled across this directory that’s decades old. There were recordings of me in there too. Back then, I simply called myself “ME”. Just me, really. And I didn’t know there was a condition with that abbreviation. I write a lot of these lines whilst I’m at Jonas’s waiting for something, and I make music for maybe 15 minutes a day, on average. For years, not at all. Even if I had all the talent in the world, it wouldn’t be enough to make me an artist. But I just enjoy music. The few artists in the directory also show that I like variety. Just ME suits me and Jonas’s illness. He has nothing “more” than “ME”. In two senses, too. I’m his main carer. If I were to drop out, things would look bleak for him.
And this project is Just ME. Even in countless supporting roles. Dancing dragon, bear, horse: that’s me dancing. Jonas opens his mouth in bed: that was me. Jonas walks down the street to the car: me again. But there are already quite a few artists with the stage name “Just Me”. Hence the addition of “(icke)”. And you’ll realise I’m from Berlin at the latest when I get in a bad mood and start swearing.
–19 April 2026, the morning after publication. ‘Just ME’ isn’t meant to imply that this is all about me. Only now do I realise how easily that could be misunderstood. I’ll be dead soon. But my dear sons – they’re meant to live long lives. In good health. Even though Jonas has ‘Just ME’.
Dragos / Dragoduction
The length of my song was set, all of Bernabé’s parts had been recorded. 5 minutes 55 seconds. Now to make a video for it. The vocals don’t kick in until 46 seconds in. What am I going to do for that long? After 10 seconds of beautiful scenery at the latest, everyone will click on a different video! And I’d fall asleep just editing it. Jonas was always an avid reader of fantasy books. And Imagine Dragons were one of his favourite bands. That’s how I got to know them, the Dragons:
When you make a film using AI, you try to ensure that characters don’t change their appearance from one scene to the next (character consistency). I actually only wanted one dragon and ended up with four. Even though I’d provided the same descriptions and images. But just like that, the dragon family was complete. Just like ours. Dad, Mum, two lovely lads. So much for dragons always being nasty. They don’t breathe fire all the time either. So I wasn’t alone in the production any longer, but part of the Dragoduction team. But not every dragon made it through the casting! Here are a few that didn’t make the cut:
Dragon Casting
The AI Dragonfly casting was a complete flop. No matter what I wrote in the prompt, whether I used motion control or anything else, they wouldn’t flap their wings. Drag-O-Flynn is therefore a real dragonfly, thanks to Jürgen Liebenstein, from this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2pqL2tRAig. I cut out 3 seconds of it in DaVinci Resolve and ‘beamed’ it in. At least the AI managed to make the banner flutter. I then manually added that ‘frame by frame’ in DaVinci Drag-O-Flynn.
You can find out how things usually worked within the crew under Tech/AI. But to wrap things up, one question springs to mind: why don’t they promote their absolutely lovely dragons more on La Palma?
Location La Palma
Almost all the footage featuring the Dragos has La Palma as a stunning scenic backdrop. La Isla Bonita is our favourite island. The many shots of La Palma in the music video were filmed in 2011/2012. La Palma is so popular with film crews because of its extreme scenic diversity within a small area and its good infrastructure, with many picturesque locations. And because of the friendly, helpful people! There is none of the mass tourism found on the larger Canary Islands here; everything is much more harmonious and in tune with the breathtakingly beautiful landscape. The island is still suffering from the aftermath of the violent volcanic eruption in 2021 (Tajogaite). A spectacle for researchers and tourists, but for many residents a traumatic turning point in their lives. The area where we spent our holiday in 2011 was the worst affected. Todoque, the village next door, is now buried under up to 70 metres of lava. The lava flow stopped 5 metres from our flat at the time and flowed around it; see the images in the carousel below. But it was volcanic activity that created the Canary Islands in the first place and makes them so unique.
La Palma – Impressions
