I promise I’m not going to start bombarding you with blog posts about that band; despite superficial appearances, this one’s about me. The video that I made with Didi Bergman and Driver a couple of weeks ago was actually my second. The first was shot at the end of April and took a little longer to put together while I got to grips with iMovie.
I was down in Rochester with Mr Crook, working on the website. Later in the day we went along to Ranscombe Studios, where he’d decided to record the vocals for Impossible Loss Brigade, a track that would feature on the band’s new EP, The Lost Belongings (released 4 July). I offered to video it as part of the ongoing band documentation.
It’s weird standing in the recording booth with someone, listening to them sing. They’re wearing headphones and can hear the music. You can’t. You get to watch an unintentional a cappella performance. The video came out fairly well, given the low light conditions. Mr Crook suggested that the band should use it to support the release.
Fair enough, I said, but it’s a bit brown and murky. It’d look better with some sunny street footage mixed in. A walk down Rochester High Street, maybe. He handed me a can of Stella. “Come on then.” What… now? “Yeah.” So off we went. Two hours later, we had thirty minutes of material – mostly opportunistic, with only one “staged” scene.
After a few weeks of learning and experimentation, this was the end result:
Hollywood won’t be quaking in its boots, but I’m happy with it – especially given that it’s the first time I’ve ever done anything like this. It’s shot on a mobile phone, the same one I’ve been using for gig recordings for the last two years. It’s lo-fi, Jim, but not as we know it. Most importantly, it’s got me thinking about what else I might do next.
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I liked the vid. Don’t know about “lo-fi”, it looked pretty good. Good steady hand (the Stella must’ve worked!). The style and genre suited the song it was intended to promote and the band. Well done. you’d never know it was your first attempt.
Cheers
Thanks Phill. I guess I’ve practiced my steady hand over the past couple of years with the numerous gigs I’ve shot. The camera and mic on that phone (Nokia N95) never cease to amaze me. Extreme volume or light conditions can cause havoc with recordings, but in the mid-range it’s astonishingly good. I keep thinking about getting a “proper” video camera, but I’m wary of buying something that turns out to be not much better.
This footage was filmed mid-to-late afternoon and the low sun made great shadows, but also meant that occasionally everything got a bit overloaded. I decided to do that thing of accentuating flaws rather than trying to hide them. The studio footage is raw, but the outdoors stuff is treated with iMovie’s “Heat Wave” effect, which seems to simultaneously bleach out the colours a bit but also make them more intense.
I like!
Excellent, thanks Clare. I reckon it’s a track that’s fairly “accessible” to people who don’t already know the band. A summery, “military ska” vibe coupled with a tale of lost love and the invention of a fourth emergency service. But also, hints of darkness and the Faustian cost of the call revealed at the song’s close…