Thursday, December 22, 2011

You Really Got Me - Music Video



I'm beyond excited to finally show you guys the music video that I have been slaving over for the past two months.  The video is for the band Michael Donner and the Southern Renaissance.  I was introduced to the band by a friend of mine, Jake Gentry, with whom I had worked on his short Kiss From Calcutta and the feature Biodead.  He and his partner Bryan Reugebrink wanted to create a music video and press package over a few days in November when the band would be in town for some shows.  We worked out the treatment over the phone and sent over scouting pictures and sample videos.

The video was shot in a single day up at the ranch in the Angeles National Forrest.  Interesting fact: I had planned a major element of the video to be the play between sun flares and actors, and to make the video feel like it was shot during sunset.  On the day we shot, it was overcast and it even rained for a bit.  So I had to get a little creative with After Effects and color timing to get it to look closer to the way I had envisioned and how I had pitched it.

The video took several weeks to edit and color time.  I pretty much used every good frame that we had shot that day.  If it wasn't in the video, there was something wrong with the shot.  I got a lot of creative leeway with both the band and the managers, and there was very little in the way of notes.  I think this was due in part to the planning and correspondence we had with the band in the period leading up to the shoot,

I'm super proud of this video, an ultra low budget affair and couldn't be happier about it.  Thanks to Jake and Bryan for helping organize the band.  Thanks to Matt Mangs and Mike Miller for helping on the shoot.  Thanks to Allison, our beautiful actress for dealing with my "non-directing."

1 comment:

Miller said...

Really excellent! The look you achieved is spot-on for the sound and the personalities. Nice work Kevbo