Over the last few weeks, I’ve been fortunate enough to produce a number of new projects. Two of these were music videos for some incredibly talented artists. ECG Productions receives many offers to produce music videos, and we only choose the ones that speak to us, and inspire us to create the art. I’d like to tell you 5 lessons I’ve learned while producing the music videos for Vitaly K’s “Universe” and The Bodega Brovas “The Freshest Facade.”
1. Delegation Is Key
On the shoot for Vitaly K’s “Universe” video, we were shooting in two rooms, just down the hall from each other. The director, Jason Sirotin, described to me the look he wanted in one of the rooms and told me to make it happen. Then he left to go work in the other room. I had to drape plastic sheeting from floor to ceiling and keep it taut, then get a bunch of props to put behind the sheeting to make it look interesting. This wasn’t something I could do alone, so I grabbed two PAs and we hung the plastic. Then, I told them the goal for behind the sheeting and they went to work on getting the props. I checked in with them once they finished, and what they created is what you see in the video. This type of delegation allowed us to finish on time, and also allowed everyone to truly contribute to the video. Delegation only works when there is trust, so make sure you have a crew you don’t mind leaving alone to get their jobs done. Luckily at ECG, that’s a standard, which is why from the music video director down to the production assistants, nobody is afraid to delegate a task.
The set for Vitaly K’s “Universe” video
2. Run Tests Before The Day of the Shoot
On both “Universe” and “The Freshest Facade,” we had a number of shots which were overcranked. This is when the camera films at a faster frame rate, so when played back, the recorded action is in slow motion. On “The Freshest Facade” one of the members of The Bodega Brovas had to learn his verse at two times it’s normal speed. This is difficult to pull off, both for the artist and for the camera operator, and sometimes, even when done right it just doesn’t have the effect you want. These are all things you want to find out before the shoot. So, we brought the artist in, and ran some tests. We did it exactly as we would on set, checked the footage, synced it up and watched it in slow motion. It worked, so we knew we were good! On the “Universe” shoot, we wanted to do something similar, but weren’t sure which creative choice would be best: overcranked or normal speed. We brought in the dancer we’d be filming and ran tests for both. Finding out what choice is going to work best for you, and working out any kinks beforehand is going to save you stress, time and money on the day of the shoot!
Check out the Behind The Scenes Video for “The Freshest Facade” by The Bodega Brovas.
3. A Good Schedule Makes Everything Easier
Anyone who has worked on a shoot without a schedule can tell you, it’s a mess. Even shoots with schedules can be as tough if the schedule isn’t planned out properly. Trey Gregory (1st Assistant Director) created the schedules for both “The Freshest Facade” and “Universe” and there’s no doubt it’s the main reason the shoots ran smoothly. On the “Universe” shoot, we were dealing with a lot of paint, which was being applied to the cyc wall by a dancer during the song. It was essentially a performance piece that we had to capture in real time. When your talent is covering themselves with more and more paint as the shoot continues, there’s no going back for take two. Trey brilliantly scheduled the shoot so that we were able to capture the complete performance, as well as pickups and inserts, without our performer having to get cleaned up to redo anything. (Not to mention, scheduling the makeup that went into painting her in the first place.) On “The Freshest Facade” we had to balance a multitude of subjects and locations in all the shots. Having a clear and well thought out schedule is what makes it clear who needs to be where and when. The last thing you want to be doing on the day of the shoot is calling someone who didn’t know they were needed!
Jenna N. Williams, our talented dancer for Vitaly K’s “Universe” in full body painting by Neon Armor.
4. One Take? Use Multiple Cameras
In addition to a brilliant schedule, we knew we had to capture the dance/painting performance with more than one camera. Some things you just get one chance to do, and when that’s the case, you want to make sure you cover all the angles. I was lucky enough to operate one of the cameras for this sequence, and I quickly realized how important this was. There were times that I got a close up of the paint dripping and was thinking to myself that if I hadn’t been on this camera, we wouldn’t have this shot. The other cameras were on other things, and the way the dancer and the paint were moving, it would be impossible to recreate. Thankfully we shot with multiple rigs, so we have it and it’s in the can, ready for the edit. And when it comes to music videos, particularly with the style of fast cutting most employ, having more footage and more angles can never be a bad thing.
5. There’s Always A Solution
During the “Universe” shoot, when I was attaching the plastic sheeting, the two PAs and I ran into a problem: It wouldn’t stick to the white cyc wall. None of the tape we had would work. We knew the team was coming in behind us in about 45 minutes and we had to do the entire room. Our solution: lean a ladder up against the wall on the outside of the sheeting and tape it to that. Sure, it’ll show up in the shot, but once we put some paint cans on it, it looked completely natural within the world of the video. Once we got that working, we grabbed some extra c-stands and used those to attach the plastic on the other ends and with some clever framing of the camera, you’d never know the plastic sheeting is not actually attached to any point on the wall. Whatever problem you run into during a shoot, don’t take no for an answer. There’s always a solution, you just have to find it!
Keep an eye out for “The Freshest Facade” and “Universe” coming soon!
At ECG Productions, we’re always looking for new talent to work with on music videos. Whether you’ve got a concept in mind or you need us to help you develop one from scratch, we’d love to put our years of experience and skill with the moving image to work for you. Reach out to a member of our team today and get the conversation started!
3 Responses
GO DAVID!