The morning after a night of protest in downtown Nashville, Matt Stell snuck into the Fleet Street Pub in the city’s Printer’s Alley, occupying the space for 12 hours as he portrayed 13 different characters for the video to “If I Was a Bar.” In the end, the project had Stell interacting with different versions of himself, a clever, humorous way to build a story and create online content at a time when plenty of consumers are isolated and searching for entertainment.
It’s also a victory over creative limitations, given that social-distancing practices related to the coronavirus forced him to do the shoot as the lone on-camera actor, captured by a skeletal three-person crew. “My mind was geared on ‘What can I do without bar extras or all