Inching Forward

January 17, 2005

Howdy Folks,

Fresh from my victorious airing by NBC of my New York aerials on New Years Eve :D

Here are quite a few of my shots in this "real" music video by Lisa Brokop.

Click on "Do You Know Me."

All of the shots that don't show her in them are mine. Yes they put some kind of effect on them. This is a pretty decent video and the song has a nice message. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Watch for it on the country music channels in the USA and Canada.

Production notes:

The first shot and the last shot where shot with a Russian K3 on 16mm! (With intervolometer installed) I don't know why they used those, they are not the best shots. The last shot of the traffic I just took out the shutter and let it run on two second exposures. With no shutter it gave it that streaking look. Kind of a neat effect.

The rest of the stuff....all the people shots, traffic, etc, are 35mm 5245.

Any way, I'm slowly getting my stuff out there and on the air more and more.

Frank

Mike Panczenko · January 17, 2005

Great job, Frank! I have to say, I really liked that last shot with the no-shutter K3. I thought it looked fantastic. Congratulations!

andrewbuchanan · January 27, 2005

Frank,

Very nice stuff- congrats. I'd love to hear more about it (filters, lenses, camera, processing, etc.) if you'd care to indulge us.

Jon Allen · January 27, 2005

Looks nice, a bit random in the editing, but I know that's not you.

Has anyone else been told that music video is pretty much the ass-end of filmmaking?

This isn't a rip though, it pays the bills, and NBC on new year's is a lot better than "ROADance"

Leon Rodriguez · January 28, 2005

Well done Frank. Looks really good. I'm going to have to pull out my K3 and have a look at that shutter removal job. Where did you get the intervalometer for the K3?

January 28, 2005

You took the time to watch, I have the time to answer any questions :D

All of my shots as stated above where Kodak 5245.

Transfers done at Deluxe Toronto under my supervision.

Lenses run a wide variety:

The shot of all the traffic in chaos was a 250mm lens, even though the traffic was just 20 ft away. I like that "look" don't know why. I grabbed shot upon exiting Central Park, just set up on the sidewalk and waited for the light to change.

The rest of the stuff is a 30mm and 65mm.

And as I mentioned, the video opens and closes with shots from the $600.00 Russian K3 on 16mm.

As for the other posts....

"Has anyone else been told that music video is pretty much the ass-end of filmmaking?"

I'm not a huge music fan that's for sure, but I'm not sure about your comment noted above. I can think of a lot of things lower than a music video that is actually airing on TV.

As for Roadance, I can't believe it!! I actually had that idea! Amazing some one actually did it.

I have the biggest stack of rejection letters from Sundance in the history of the world. Now I know there's a way to get my work shown in Park City, thanks for that.

Frank

Jon Allen · January 28, 2005

As for Roadance, I can't believe it!! I actually had that idea! Amazing some one actually did it.

I have the biggest stack of rejection letters from Sundance in the history of the world. Now I know there's a way to get my work shown in Park City, thanks for that.

That isn't exactly the reaction I was expecting- keep up the good work. lol

Phil Rhodes · January 28, 2005

Hi,

Speaking as someone who's obviously never going to get anything shown at Sundance, I can say I'd be quite happy to spend my life shooting music videos!

Phil

January 29, 2005

Phil, this was your big chance to slam my work...what happened? :D

Sorry Leon I missed your question earlier, you can get the K3 intervolometer right here...

K3 Intervolometer

It's a good little unit easy to use. I've done a whole stack of shots with it using the K3 with no shutter. I also use a card as the shutter and do it by hand.

Set for a three second intervol, expose for two seconds, then cover the lens with the card. The frame advances, then repeat. Yes it's a bit of work, but in the absence of expensive gear it will do the job. You can get the streaking car lights at night shot using this method. I've also done fair grounds at night with the method and that's kinda neat as well.

I can post these to the web if any one really has any interest.

To remove the K3 shutter, un-screw the silver ring that holds the lens first. Then one by one the small screws that hold the shutter. Be careful not to allow a screw to fall into the camera mechanism.

Now you can go nuts. Mount the camera to your car at night and drive around the city, use a three and four second intervol, cool stuff.

You can use 50ASA for these shots to keep down the grain, as three and four second intervols is more than enough to expose 50ASA even at night.

Frank

andrewbuchanan · February 2, 2005

Music videos bad??? I get to play A LOT more on music videos than anything else (besides commercials). Yes, the artists can be a pain, and the schedule sucks, and sometime you run too fast to get perfect stuff, but you also get a chance to try things that you would NEVER get to do on a movie. Why would anyone consider that to be the ass-end of filmmaking?

I treat music videos the way car companies treat their racing teams. They are where I develope practices that work their way into my normal, practical, everyday filmmaking. AND I get paid.

Why would that be the bad?

Jon Allen · February 2, 2005

Why would anyone consider that to be the ass-end of filmmaking?

I treat music videos the way car companies treat their racing teams. They are where I develope practices that work their way into my normal, practical, everyday filmmaking. AND I get paid.

Why would that be the bad?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Again, you yourself said that music videos are more practice than actual "real" filmmaking.

I'm not arguing one way or the other, I had just heard that and was curious what other people thought of that.

I personally feel that any work is great, and if you get paid so much the better.

On the other hand I also feel that if you're given the option to make music videos for no-talent over-hyped over-produced pop artists, why would that be your first choice? Of course, you could say that about a lot of things- and most everything whose first outlet is television.

Wendell_Greene · February 2, 2005

Has anyone else been told that music video is pretty much the ass-end of filmmaking?

People use perjorative terms towards music videos and the people who make them, but many of them are in my opinion works of art, created by filmmakers who have chose to work on a smaller canvas and with a different styles of brushes . Gondry, Fincher, Tarsem, Glazer, Romanek, Sigismondi and Sophie Muller have all made music videos that have influenced commercials and films.

Yes, the schedules are insane, the budgets low and the artists, labels not always pleasant to work with, but you are shooting FILM, you can try new techinques and equipment. If you're professional in how you work on music videos, always trying to deliver your very best and not using the inherent limitations of the genre as an excuse to do sub par work, people will see your work ethic and attention to detail and you'll be rewarded for your effort by being able to move into other avenues of filmmaking such as commercials and features. The unparalled freedom of expression and experimentation in music videos can be seen by the fact that many top directors, cinematographers and editors continued to be involved in their creation long after they've established themselves in the top echeleons of feature film production.

I just directed a music video for an artist who was a pleasure to work with. Teh video was shot on 35mm film. I worked with a top colorist, edited on an Avid and did my online in Flame. The artist, label and management were extremely happy at the results. I didn't approach any aspect of that production as if it were "practice" or if it wasn't real filmmaking. Nor did I ever have the attitude that something was "just good enough" because it was "only a music video" .

Personally, I'd stay as far away as possible from having anyone on my crew who has the aforementioned attitude toward music video because it will show in how they do their job, regardless of whether it's a $1000 dollar video or a 11 million dollar feature.