"Good Times" | Music Video
Synopsis
An exploration of Black Existence and Racial Reckonings, through the found footage and photos of Paul Notice.
Directed & Edited by
Paul A. Notice II
Music by
Mike Bankhead
Featuring: Featuring: Katrina Reid, Danny Notice, Jade Notice, Robin Holmes, Miranda Rice, Jordie Vasquez, Chris Vasquez, Elliot Guilbe, Glenn Quentin George, Azure Osbourne Lee, Kirrin Tubo, Ashley Noel Jones, Sultan Ali, Stephan Joseph, Nathaniel White, Kamilah Bryant, Suswana Chowdhury, Cameisha Cotton, Suzanne Darrell, Justin Thomas, JP Campbell, Paul Notice Sr., and more.
Direktor’s Note
For “Good Times,” I wanted to use a quick dip into my personal life, as a framework to examine the complexities of Black Existence. I’d wager one of the biggest commonalities we have in the Black Experience is reconciling what the world sees/expects of us, and who we really are. We’re haunted by the racialized toxic positivity alluded to in the lyrics “Shut Me Up for the Good Times,” the anti-Black intentions behind mass incarceration in “Lock Me Up for the Good Times,” and cognitive dissonance from a litany of Double Consciousness byproducts.
So, I repurposed found footage into a gallery of memories, demonstrating all of the joy, grief, play, and resilience of Black life portrayed in the song. Rather than essentializing us down to oppression, or offering apologist rhetoric for colorblind racism, we follow Mike’s lyrics as they weave through multitudes of Black experiences. Because people are more than just one thing at one given point in time. Trayvon Martin isn’t just a murdered unarmed Black teenager. He was a son, a weekend snowboarder, a science camp geek, a jokester, a human being. Robbing Black folx of that existential complexity dehumanizes us. So, I intended to restore that which was lost in frenetic montages of family, life, love, and everything in Black in between.
Pay attention to the final part, at the end of the "Good Times" (5:02). You can hear my family singing the Stevie Wonder version of "Happy Birthday" to Granddad on his 101st birthday, but played in reverse. I really like it, because it sounds like ya'll are saying: "Together, we Black. Together, we back."
