Oh, Have We Shot A Video?

Yes, we have shot a video!

At last, after too many years, after many false starts, we have finally shot our first ever “proper” video.  Yes, yes, go on YouTube and there are some vids on there to songs but they were caught in the moment kind of affairs, done on the cheap just to have something for people to gawp at.

We first met Johnny Crash a couple of years back at the Metro in London.  He was a famous B-Movie director and, in his drunken state, suggested that he shot a video for us.  We thought no more of it until the autumn of ‘08 when he got back in touch.  “I still want to do that video…” so we had a meeting and a beautiful friendship formed.

Fast forward to January 10th 2009.  Int. Warehouse, Sussex.  Approximately 11am, it is -6 outside, a few degrees colder inside and we are probably all slightly regretting the series of events that lead us to that fucking freezing location!  We have since found out that it was the coldest January day in 10 years, a good 10 degrees colder than is normal for the time of year.  The warehouse was vast and the heaters that we bought along to try and keep warm were the heat equivalent of pissing in the sea to raise the tides.  ie, it made no fucking difference.  I think we could have set fire to ourselves and it would have barely shifted the chill.

But we aren’t complainers and we were there to do a job.  JC was director, along with him was Mike who seemed to do all the bits JC wanted him to (move lights, move camera, film on second camera), Suzie who helped Mike and Victoria who was capturing a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff and helping out with other bits and pieces.

WARNING: Contains spoilers!  From now on, there are descriptions of scenes that will appear in the video so, if you want to remain clueless about it, read no further!!

The first job was to set up the performance area.  There were massive pallets in one corner of the warehouse that made an interesting backdrop so we decided to use them to our advantage.  We set up all our gear like we would at a gig whilst JC etc set up the lights and cameras.  All this took a surprising amount of time but, once it was done, the area in which we were due to perform suddenly looked “hyper-real”.  Somehow it looked more realistic than reality.  And I know that doesn’t make much sense, but you had to be there.

At about 1pm, we started to shoot.  We all took our places and playback was hit for the first time.  We went from standing around in pain in the cold to leaping around like lunatics in a matter of seconds.  It was too cold to warm up so we are suffering now, with aches and pains but, at the time it was nice to generate a bit of warmth.  They shot wide shots at this stage, at different levels, from different angles, using a dolly (the train track thing that the camera moves along).  I think we went through this about 8 times.  Of course, every time you stop for more than a few seconds, everything starts getting freezing again.

Next up, JC was capturing us individually.  Vikki first then Cyndi then Gilez then me.  When this was going on though, anyone that would be in shot had to still perform so it looked like a proper live show.  It was weird and exhausting, especially as I had to be in every run through.  Each person had 4-6 run throughs to capture their performance.  The last part of the “live” bit was a 40 minute free-for-all where we just went for it whilst they captured anything and everything.  Nothing specific, just cool stuff to intercut.

By this time, the sun had set and the warehouse temperature had dropped further.  It was about -10 inside that building and we felt every degree there wasn’t!  Vikki had made the brave, yet foolish, decision to perform with just a vest top thing on.  It was a decision she regretted.  Both her and Cyndi’s fingers suffered as they couldn’t feel them so, take after take they would pound their strings not realising the damage they were doing to themselves.  Vikki ended up with massive blisters and Cyndi’s fingers were cut to shreds.

We have suffered for you guys!

The last order of the day was some green screen action.  The plan was to get shots of me in our car (sleek, black ’80’s Porsche 944) driving along singing.  It took a while to set that up but, thankfully, I had to sit in the car so they could get the lighting right so the engine went on along with the heat.  This was the most pleasant part of day 1 as it meant I got to thaw out a bit.  Did a couple of takes from the side then some from the front.  Never done green screen before and it was quite good fun.

We were done by about 9pm.  Vikki and I left everyone to pack stuff away as we had to come back to SLT HQ to collect the bus to take everything back with us.  This was about an hours’ round-trip and, by the time we returned, Cyndi and the vid crew had left to get food / go to their hotel.  We finished packing the stuff away which wasn’t packed away, loaded up the bus and came home.

January 11th 2009.  Int. Mansion, Surrey.  Approximately 10.45am, we all arrive at the second location.  Thankfully this is inside a large, very warm Georgian mansion.  So much nicer than a freezing cold warehouse!  We got changed into slightly posher gear, did our make-up and waited around for the first shot to be set up.  Today was all about capturing the narrative part of the video so lots more waiting around and much more specific shots.  The first one was me walking up the stairs singing a line or two from the verses.  Did that in a few takes.

Next up was a shot involving all four of us all having specific parts to do at specific times through the shot.  It took ages to properly dress the set and rehearse, but it was all good fun.  We ran through the bit a few times (again, another line from a verse) and then did it again and again to capture us individually and various pick-up shots.  I won’t say what we did as it will ruin the surprise!  This was probably the longest we spent on any individual line though.

Just me again, this time walking down some stairs (sounds dull but wait til you see the stairs!) and out of a door singing a line from the chorus.  We pick me up again walking down a corridor singing entering another door.  The idea is that I am walking through the mansion finding the other band members.  We then went downstairs into one of the magnificent rooms and did individual bits sitting on the sofas.  Cyndi first playing guitar then Vikki doing her BV’s.  Gilez did a combination of air drums, singing bits and generally going mental and I did some moody staring into the camera looking sexy / scary stuff.  Quite difficult to do these bits as you feel very self-conscious: lights glaring, crew and band buddies watching, but we got through it absolutely no problem.  Each of us did 2-5 takes each.  The longer ones (Cyn and Vikki) were because we did some extra stuff which, if it works and ends up in the video, will be hilarious!

Dining room next.  Us around the big table, me walking in and interacting with everyone.  Won’t say what we were doing (again, don’t want to spoil anything) but we had to rehearse a specific scene.  I guess it was almost like filming a musical, doing a combination of acting and performing, something none of us have ever done.  I think we adapted to it really well though.  This scene took a while as we went through it several times.

I then had to walk into the house from the inside.  This will be the first time I am seen looking all slick rather than in my rock n’ roll gear.  I look damn sexy though!  I walk in, walk up the stairs to the camera.  This didn’t take long at all.

It was dark by now so it was time to do outside stuff which basically consisted of me arriving at the house for the first time in the car.  I drive through smoke, pull-up, get out and enter the house.  Did this a few times and then we moved to a different part of the drive to capture what will be the opening shots of the video.  This bit felt like proper acting!

9pm and we were done at the mansion.  We moved to SLT HQ to get the last few shots (car shots, drive-bys etc) and, by 10pm, it was all done.  JC had captured more footage than he had ever shot for a music video, we had all suffered in the cold and we had all put in long hours.  It was the first time we, as a band, had heard such things as “Action!” and “It’s a wrap” directed at us and it was the first time we had done a video in such a pro manner.  But it felt good.  Hell, after the first day, before we moved to green screen I concurred that, if the vid was just edited out of the live stuff, it would still totally rock.  I cannot begin to imagine how fucking awesome it is going to be when it is all put together.

We are approx 7-10 days away from seeing the first edit of it and we are all excited.  We know that what we have done is phenomenal and we know that, yet again, SLT will be at the forefront of what we do putting other, much bigger bands, to shame.  Cannot wait for you all to see it!

Check out our myspace page for behind-the-scenes photos from the weekend.

UPDATE 25th Jan ‘09
We have seen the video in 99% complete state.  It is mind-blowing!  I have uploaded some stills from it here

One Response to 'Oh, Have We Shot A Video?'

1. GLITZINE » Blog Archive » News Update: 19th March 2009 - March 19th, 2009 at 21:56 pm

   […] waiting for the right time to release the video to TV channels nationwide, but here’s a little teaser blog with a couple of low res screen […]

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