Best Richmond Video Ever
Sam Abouhasira (left) and Blaine Lay (right).
Everyone loves a YouTube video ... and why shouldn’t we? I could spend whole days trolling through clips, just to find those one or two videos that become instant classics.
You know the ones. Those videos you come back to month after month, like "JK Wedding Entrance Dance," "Leprechaun in Mobile, Alabama" and "Reporter turns ghetto in 3 seconds," to name a few of my favorites.
But recently I came across a video that I can now claim is my favorite YouTube video ever. Why? Because it’s all about the city I love and call home.
I’m talking about River City (Richmond, VA) and once you see it it’ll be a favorite of yours too.
Contrary to the rumors on the web, this video is 100 percent home grown. The production, music, writing, acting, rapping and shooting all came from a team of six Richmonders, two of whom are certain to become local celebrities.
It all started with YRichmond, a local "talent and retention program powered by C3 to attract and retain top talent in the Richmond area," said Katie Coleman, recruiting manager for First Market Bank and committee member at YRichmond.
"Jim Ukrop, Chairman of First Market Bank, approached me with the idea of adding to this internship program by creating some sort of advertisement for recruiters, such as myself, to take with us on campuses and advertise the city of Richmond," Coleman said.
Members of the YRichmond steering committee came up with the idea of doing a video; Coleman took it to fellow YRichmonder Dana Bolfing from Park Group, who drafted her coworkers Nathan Burns and Stuart Holt to help with the project.
The only thing missing? Some on-air talent and that’s where Sam Abouhasira and Blaine Lay, two financial services advisors from First Market Bank branches, come in. That’s right, those guys are not actors, they’re not singers, they’re not dancers. They’re financial service advisors, which sounds like a job that doesn’t usually involve a lot of singing or dancing.
And it doesn’t.
"I [don’t] officially [have any training] but I do some of that in my own in my own time … I write some poetry and rhymes," Abouhasira said.
Aside of a theater class in college, Lay is novice too, but neither man’s lack of experience is evident in the video, thanks to the entire crew of six.
"All the music and videography was developed through Park Group and First Market Bank," Coleman said. "Lyrics and ideas were developed by the six of us."
Most of the shooting took place over the course of 10 to 12 hours on a Sunday. The folks from the Park Group did another few hours of shooting as well. Of course the folks behind the River City video had seen Arlington: The Rap, a similar video, but they wanted to do something different for Richmond.
"We just all got together and said, let’s see what’s already good in this city," Lay said.
The video, which you just have to see for yourself, hits all of the high notes of living, working and playing in Richmond proper.
"We got in a room and brainstormed the main hotspots. The things that separate Richmond from the rest," Abouhasira said.
Lay is hoping that the video inspires Richmonders who are thinking of moving to bigger cities to stay.
"It’s a call to come back to the city and we can all forge a new way forward," he said.
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