Music Video!
Ok, now I have something to show you!
It all started when I was asked to play a role in another bands' music video. It was a horror- themed video where I played the innocent victim, who in the end turns on her pursuer the Baron, and kills him. There was also the evil Baron and his other victims. And band playing, of course. Make up was done by a professional, which was quite nice and the results were nice too. Costumes were picked by each actor him/herself. I was to wear a white dress. I found one in a thrift store and made some minor changes for better fit.
Acting before a camera was different than on stage, which I have more experience on. It was easier in the sense that the camera picks up your tiniest expressions, while on the stage you have to do everything big so it's visible to the audience. On the other hand, there is no time to "get into the character", at least, not months or even hours. It's much more like improvising, just being and reacting. I was surprised on how easy it was. Based on my previous experiences with the camera I thought I would be very awkward and unnatural. I think the biggest factor of success in this case was the fact that I was working with people I trusted. And the camera man was a professional. He had a very gentle but articulate way of instructing the actors.
So the bands' project was to release a video every month, and they had made a number of them already, gaining experience on shooting and editing along the way. In exchange for my service they offered to help in our future video projects. The singer of the band did the directing and most of the editing on their videos, and I really liked the way his work was progressing: He seemed to be developing an eye for good shots and a vision of the whole. I decided to work with him on our first music video.
First, we had to pick the song on which to work on. Second, develop an idea or a story for the video. The story needn't necessarily have to be connected to the song, but it should take the song one step further, enhance it, so to speak. A video with humor content wouldn't necessarily work in a love song. it depends, though. In the end it's just about the first expression you want to give as a band. That's why I felt so insecure about choosing the song.
I had had a ton of ideas for a video for a few songs, but I knew which song it was that I wanted to shoot first. It was the tender song I wrote after realizing I had found the love of my life. You can hear it on Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/hatefulchains/a-night-like-this
How could I develop a story credible enough to a song like this? All my ideas were of grandeur scale and I suspected they wouldn't be doable with our minimal budget and limited resources. But this song was the first expression I wanted to give. So we sat down with the team and started working.
First we watched a bunch of videos that were somehow related to this songs' atmosphere or were in some other way relevant. The director had of course listened to the song and had come up with some ideas of his own. He could really think through the lens. The drummer was also present and he had great ideas about locations. The result of this first meeting was a vague idea about a character walking on rose petals, an exploding angel, shots from a close distance and the band not playing until the chorus begins...
So I developed a storyboard, which is something I've never done before. The general story was that a character dressed in red is on her knees, eyes cast down. She then sees an angel that beckons her to follow. She tries to catch the angel, but it escapes her. There are shadows dancing on the walls. In the chorus the band comes in. The chasing goes on until in the solo-part the red dressed character touches the angel, and the angel blows up, or is consumed by light. The red-dressed is blinded and falls down. In the end there are again close shots of the red-dressed. I presented this story board to the director and he took the lead from there, planning the shots and the final vision. The end result might not be exactly what I just wrote, but it's going to be something along these lines.
Next, was designing and making the costumes. Here are some of the sketches:
I went through several fabric stores until I found something suitable for the red dress. I already had the mask for the angel, it was part of a costume made for another project. But that costume was too large for me, so I had to make one to fit me. I stumbled across the angel costume-fabric in a thrift store: it was a lace curtain. Fitted my philosophy of DIY and recycling everything you can perfectly.
I used the whole preceding week before shooting to make these costumes. I even had to make some minor changes on the very morning of the shoots to the angel costume, because I felt it was too revealing. But, they came out very nice in the end.
We shot the video in an empty hall, that had contained a shit ton of computers. The floor was interesting: panels covering a wide network of sockets and wire that were still there. The original idea of shooting in darkness with just one or two spot lights didn't work, it came out too dark and grainy. So we decided to shoot with full lighting and spots and leave the balancing to the edit. Risky, but there's always something that needs to be changed at the last minute. The hall was interesting enough though, to get good shots.
On the first day, we shot the scenes with the characters. First were the scenes with the red dress, all angles, distant and close-ups. The very close-up sweeps were the most uncomfortable because I didn't really know which way to focus my eyes. I tried not to focus them anywhere, maybe that worked. I had to fall while getting blinded by the light. That took several takes, since it was difficult to make natural but be towards the camera at the same time. I spent a considerable amount of time on my knees, and began to feel it too, after a while.
After this I changed my make-up and costume to shoot the angel scenes. There was beckoning, dancing around, laughing to the camera and raising stones magically and casting them down. The angel turned into some evil creature, luring the innocent red one into a trap...I expect fascinating results of these scenes.
In the end, the evil angel lay on the bed of roses. Finally we took the walking on rose petal- scenes with the red dress.
The next day was time for band shots. It was really simple, we were arranged in a formation that looked good on camera and then we shot the whole song through, first with me then also without me, to get as many different shots as possible. Close ups were taken from every player separately. We decided to go just with instruments, without the PA. My only instruction for the band was to wear black. I wanted a somewhat unified look, but not for it to look like costumes we wouldn't normally wear. I did my make-up fairly simple, something I would wear for a club or on a gig. Or day to day, actually.
Finally, we did the shadows on the wall. Some solo-shadows were taken of me, too. They might be used in the final cut, or not.
On both days everything went smoothly on the set and we managed stay on schedule, although me and Kimmo had some car trouble while getting to the scene on the second day. Anything can happen, always be prepared, but admit that you can't prepare for everything! I brought some snacks and beer to keep the team happy and energized, and at least nobody complained. The atmosphere was once again great, laid back but focused. This is a great team, and I'm sure we'll be working together in the future as well.
Thank you, Video Team Focus: Ville Solkinen, Pasi Kaukonen, and Jani Vilhunen, and Hateful Chains: Kimmo, Toni and Jani! It was fun and refreshing to work with you guys! Hopefully this will turn out to be a great video. Only time and editing will tell.
