Thoughts and Prayers [Music Video]

"About every seven days another child sacrifice."

The story of the worst school shootings from Columbine to Uvalde. Same play each time. A troubled young man finds a gun in his hands and uses it to do the unthinkable. The world is horrified. There's some ineffective political response, if any. Some gun nuts make stupid comments. The cops get praise (sometimes). Aid is sent, along with thoughts and prayers. Then it just repeats.

  • Craig Trumbo
    Director
  • Craig Trumbo
    Writer
  • Craig Trumbo
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Music Video
  • Runtime:
    6 minutes 51 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 6, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    0 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Oregon Short Film Festival
    Portland, OR
    United States
    March 31, 2023
    Official Selection
  • Festival Angaelica
    Pasadena, CA
    United States
    March 31, 2023
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Craig Trumbo

Craig Trumbo operates VuJa de Industries, located in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. In addition to woodworking enterprises in the visual arts, he writes and produces music videos and short films addressing today's pressing social and political issues. Recent projects have included material on climate change, gun violence, and the war against Ukraine. He also composes and plays all musical parts in his films.

Additional works can be seen on his YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/c/DrRetch

Regarding his pathway to this point, Trumbo offered some insight.

"It was actually a bit of a segue, beginning to create original music and accompanying videos, and eventually dramatic shorts. After all, the band folded during the pandemic. While my base motivation may have been to simply maintain some creative outlet, one must first have something to say before bringing pen to paper, lens to CCD. My passions for the environment and social justice therein found an outlet. This collided with my professional background in photography and more recent efforts in music and production. And having worked, studied, and taught in journalism for some 25 years left me a hopeless news addict. So, to quote Chrissie Hynde:

"The phone, the TV and the news of the world got in the house like a pigeon from hell"

Stay tuned, more to come . . .

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I arrived at a new university faculty position in summer 2007, shortly after the Virginia Tech shootings. I was teaching a course on public opinion survey methods, and the shooting was one of the topics we considered with respect to working with sensitive issues. It was also a topic of strong salience on campus generally. Considerable debate was under way concerning weapons bans on campus. Like at most universities, guns could not be kept in the dorms. But to my amazement concealed carry with a permit was allowed anywhere. During a discussion in that class a student offered that she carried, and added that a revolver was best since they're unlikely to jam. That was my first real impression of gun violence. Just yesterday I was out for groceries as metal detectors were being installed at the store.

Since the broader purpose of my work is to react to social issues and events there was no hesitation to compose Thoughts and Prayers. And I decided to focus on this exclusively until completed, in the spirit of Neil Young's composition of "Ohio." My process is often to do some research on the topics I approach. So for this one I first gathered a "fact sheet" on each incident and other material on school shootings. That was a very difficult process. I knew of each shooting, but the details . . . . Somehow I drafted the lyrics in about 90 minutes while waiting on an oil change. The horror, the horror.