I love it when people think our job is easy. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. And they're not, so that's a good thing. Keeps us in business. We just make it look easy. We're visionaries, reinventing the wheel in hopes of one day competing with the big leagues, and we're almost there. Quality is the virtue we strive for, and with the Painted Lady, it's all about quality.
Visual Effects Supervisor, Brandon Dostie (seen above, trying to show Neyney how to interact with objects that aren't real) and I often talk about the local film community. Yea, there is one, didn't you know? Neither did I. Since the big DSLR blow up a couple years ago, more and more people are realizing that they can make a high quality product without spending a lot of money. Back in the day, good quality video cameras ranged in the 50,000$+ range, but now for less than a grand, you can get a Canon T4i and a lens or two and go at it. Assuming you know what you're doing.
This revolution in film making has spurred many amateurs and wannabe George Romeros' into making some of the most mediocre, and some of the most impressive, pieces of work ever to glaze your computer screen. Sundance is now filmed with DSLR films. Hundreds are added everyday on Youtube. They can be shot, edited, graded and uploaded in days. (See Brandon Michaels' I'm Gone video. We did the whole thing in less than a week, on a Nikon DSLR) So why did we take the longer alternative route?
And the answer is Quality. DSLRs' are great and have their place in a film makers tool bag. Hell, even some shots from last summers' the Avengers were done on the Canon 5D Mark II. But they have their limitations. Terrible compression codecs, lack of high color space, noise, grain, and other limitations made us realize early on that we were not going to be able to get away with using even a high end DSLR for this one.
Meet the Sony FS700. This baby is a beast, with outputs for two stereo XLR's (which, sadly, we didn't have the opportunity to use.) up to 480fps overcranking (in 1080pHD. It goes up to 960 in lower res.) a Pandoras box of bells and whistles, and to top it off, it has a 4k sensor! Sweet jesus! Sadly, it requires a firmware update and external recorder (sold separately because Sony is an asshat) to be able to get to 4k. But this music video is ultimately for youtube and the interwebs, not a film festival, so 4K probably would have been overkill anyway.
We came across this camera after we were denied the only RED camera in the area, but still knew we needed something top of the line. While many would argue that this isn't top of the line at all (coming in approx. 50th after all the REDs', Alexxas', Canon C-series, Sony's Cinema F series, etc.) it does the job quite nicely, though. And the overcranking was absolutely necessary for some of the shots we wanted to get. For those more interested in this beast, I suggest checking out Phillip Blooms' Review of the camera, including some sweet overcranking tests! Even cleaning windows looks awesome in slow motion! Also, if you are a cameraphile at all, or even remotely interested in getting into the film game, Phillips' website is an amazing resource for staying up to date on the latest tech talk and equipment reviews. He even has an after effects tutorial or two.
Our total budget for the Painted Lady was about $3500, and getting this camera for just a week cut a grand off that, but wow was it worth it. When I had to pack it back up and send it back to lensrental.com, I nearly shed a tear. I'm really a softie at heart.
A ton of new equipment was also required for this shoot to take place. New tripods, lighting rigs, dollys, and cranes were required. Usually I would take the guerrilla film tactic and make the rigs out of parts from my local home depot, but for this one, I didn't want to take any chances. Visual Effects Supervisor supplied us with a new camera jib and tripod system, and the rest came straight from Amazon. If you ever want to get into film seriously, an Amazon Prime account is a must.
Principal photography was scheduled for the last week in January. Depending on the day and what we were shooting, the crew varied from 5 to 8 people. A week and a half before principal began, we did a quickie photo shoot with Neyney that resulted in the creation of two high quality canvas prints, which were then stretched to provide the tangible prop of the painting.
To add to our list of concerns was the fact that, early on, we began to have problems with our makeup artist. By the time principal wrapped, we had gone through six of them. Evidently there is an unwritten rule about makeup artists being sketchy and unreliable. Or at least the ones in the central New York area. Luckily, our painted starlet happened to be a cosmetologist, so much of the makeup was actually done by her. She's a trooper, that one.
The first three days of shooting were almost exclusively shot in the green screen studio. Shooting on green screen, especially for the level of information we were going to need in Post, was challenging. In fact, if I could do it all over again, there's only about a bazillion things I would have done differently, as well as kept much much more in the way of note taking. But that is the process, every new project is a learning exercise.
The first day involved Tom, being a war hero, and later, his 50's incarnation. Day two involved Neyney, and her actions inside the painting, where she had to interact with an environment and props that didn't exist at all. For these shots, a lot of conversations were had in preproduction to determine just how physics might work in a painted world. Does gravity exist? Do the laws of physics even apply at all? You'd think these would be easy to answer questions, but when you're dealing with actually creating this reality, it's a little harder to come to grips with "oh, yea, no, we're going to completely ignore physics. It doesn't exist in our world, that we're creating."
Day three involved Neyney, again on green screen, while she is leaving the painting. Even more thought went into this sequence during pre-production. How, exactly, does an element of a painting leave the painting? What would that look like? It's not something you see everyday. Or, ya know, at all. So we had to imagine what it might look like, and create the look, and I think we nailed it. But getting the necessary footage to get that look perfect was a painstaking process. Our shoots with neyney on green screen days were slow going because of this, and we averaged about 6-8 shots in our 6 hour shoots. Lots of late nights.
And then there was Albany. On every production, there's always that one element, that one day, where for some reason, Murphy's Law goes out of control and starts eating everything. That was Albany. The grand caravan we had planned to set out with dwindled down to two very cramped cars, only half the crew made it, it was a potential disaster. But, with everything we do, we met the challenge head on and got some of the best footage of the entire shoot, in freezing cold conditions.
Working with actors is always a two way street. Some times you get actors who understand the challenges of the everyday shoot and work with the directors and crew to make everyone's lives easier, and sometimes you end up with amateur primadonnas that whine and gripe and make the whole process miserable. We were extremely fortunate to not have any of the later on this shoot, or else Albany would have been a disaster.
Working with Neyney Light was one of the new, uncharted waters of this experience that could have gone bad. For those unfamiliar with her work, Neyney is a bit of an avante garde/inked model who is local to Utica, New York. Before working with us, her portfolio was limited to still photography, as is the prerogative of her profession. So it was a bit of a risk taking her on. But a risk that paid off.
That's another thing most music videos don't have to worry about. Since a majority focus on the band, they don't often have to worry about casting. I have always, and possibly magically, had the luxury of people who were there at the right place, at the right time. If I'm shooting a video and I need a cameo, or a small role, there's always someone around to fit the bill. That's how I came to cast Tom Liles in Reoccuring Nightmares, and I'm very glad that I did. The mans' a natural actor.
When we began talking about the Painted Lady concept back in October, I knew that casting would be a problem. I had a very specific look I wanted for the role, and didn't have anyone immediately available to do it. Most of my models and actors were back in Massachusetts from my days with MindFunk Studios. So I was challenged with finding new talent.
We ended up interviewing six other candidates before we finally rested on Neyney, who was introduced to me through Tom. There's a bit of a funny story there, but for the sake of making myself not look like a chump, I'm going to leave it out. But it is funny. I Swear.
Neyney proved to be a risk worth taking, in at least a dozen ways. Her boyfriend helped make props, she gave unique input on makeup effects and costuming, and when it came to Albany, which was a make or break day for any actor, she pulled it off with flying colors. It was so cold, that the day after, she came down with a fever and missed an important state exam. I feel terrible about that, but the performance she gave was impeccable. You would never know she was freezing to death. I really hope we have an opportunity to work with her again, she's another natural talent.
Production wrapped after Albany, with Brandon, myself and an actor who wishes to remain anonymous portraying Vermeer. Currently, we have planned pick up shoots, which will be filmed on DSLR, due to budget restrictions. In the next blog, we will be talking about Post Production and finally answering your question, "So just how long does it take to make a music video?"
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