Mark James wants you to rock the vote.
The 27-year-old from Wrigleyville is in third place in Jim Beam’s “The Remake” video contest, and as one of five finalists he has a shot at winning $25,000 and a trip to Las Vegas.
His video, “The Eco-Tragedy” (pictured), plays off one of the contest’s three themes — the girlfriend, the tragedy and the party — and features a girl modifying her boyfriend’s car to run on alcohol.
“I thought, what would be a tragic situation for Jim Beam?” James said. “Wasting a bottle of Jim Beam would be a tragedy.”
It took about eight hours to film what became the 31-second video outside his apartment on Cornelia Avenue last month, James said.
“I’ve been on a lot of shoots,” said James, a freelance director of photography. “There’s always something that goes wrong, but that was one of the only shoots I’ve been on where everything is pretty seamless. It wasn’t grueling, and the sun was shining bright for us. I don’t know what we would’ve done if it would’ve rained.”
Though James frequents many bars, there’s one you’re more likely to run into him at.
“One of my favorite bars is called Cullen’s, which is an Irish place on Southport,” he said. “My drink is just whiskey on the rocks — Maker’s, although maybe I should lie and say Jim Beam.”
Vote for James through May 7 at jimbeam.com.
