What has happened lately?

OOOOoooo, so much. and I haven't been recording everything here as I should have. But let's do that now.

Let's see, after the succesful trip to Catalunya we kept our quarantine, and after that I started work in a local theater as a seamstress. It's been interesting work, rather tiring as well and time consuming since it's a regular ninetofive-job, and adding to that the work needed in a newly started Co Op, time has been really limited recently. During September and October there was also a construction job done in my apartment, so we had to live elsewhere for a while. That added some stress, to say the least. 

In these three months the Covid situation was at first fairly good, but it turned worse and after a quite relaxed summer some limitations had to be re-instated. That meant bars having to close at an earlier hour and their capacity limited to half. Private parties and gatherings were also limited. The theater has been keeping up with half capacity and masks and regulations, and I've actually been lucky to have my job, when the situation for musicians has worsened every week. Our October was quite a contrast to that, because we seemed to have some kind of gig every weekend, in either a private party or the venues we had previously arranged a gig with. They wouldn't cancel, saying musicians have it hard enough already. All thanks to them!

We also had plans for a Halloween happening, which we started when the situation looked better. Our drummer has been arranging this happening for a number of years now, and it's basically a charity concert where the ticket sales profit goes to a charity purpose. So, the bands do volunteer work here. It's been a more Metal bands-driven thing, but this time around I wanted to make it an actual Goth band gathering. At first we had booked ourselves to play at a small local venue, that fits a hundred people. Then we decided to make it into Monsters of Turku, or rather Monsters of Halloween, since it was planned for the Halloween weekend. 

I was so surprised to get three other bands to play at the event! One of them was a band that played with us at the same time at Lumous, called Agnosia. I also asked Ultra Noir and Murnau's Playhouse to come, and they all agreed! Epic fantasy coming true. When new regulations kicked in, Murnau had to cancel for personal reasons. But instead, Chaos Research agreed to come. Also the local Dj:s agreed to play their lists. In the last minute we actually managed to get a sound engineer to do the live mixing! This was actually a very very good thing, because doing it ourselves for four bands would have been an enormous amount of stress. I'm so grateful still, that all of them came to play and participate, and made this thing happen. There is not much Goth happening in Turku, so this was really important to me and it seems for a lot of people. 

With new regulations the capacity of the venue was just 50 people, so the charity purpose had to be smaller in size. We decided to give the money to a school for a children's home, so they could buy art supplies for their students. I was hoping that some twenty people would show up at both night, but the first night there were fifty people. Fifty sold tickets! And the next night, when we played wasn't worse either. That's a nice sum for art supplies. The thing that really warmed my heart is that people came because they really missed live music and they said it was so lovely that somebody would arrange such a thing when everyone else is canceling events.

 I know how it looks like to have an event during Corona time, but we did everything by the book and within regulations. The audience behaved well too. I haven't heard anybody getting sick after the event and I hope nobody has. Anyway, the situation is actually worse now than a month ago, so I'm happy we were able to do the event when we had the chance. Now is not a good time for events like that: In Helsinki area the audience for live music is now limited to 20 people and theaters and public places are now closed for a few weeks. There has been a bit af a controversy, because the limitations strike mostly the culture and music area, but shopping centers and such are open and free to have their Black Friday events. Seems a bit unfair, shall we say.

So we had gigs in October, and were able to save some money for the eventual printing of our debut album. Which is still almost ready, but not quite. We are not able to release it at the end of this year. But there's another side to that: We contacted a record label and there was a positive answer!! We have now had a few meetings with them and this time the content of the deal seems like something we have been looking for and that would benefit both parties. I have had really positive vibes about the meetings, and it seems we are really going to sign a deal this time. Woop, woop!! I'll tell you more about it, when the time comes. But now, it will take a month or so to finish everything and do the cover art as well. And that's why our album will be released early next year. 

I would love to chat more, but time is limited and I have to continue with that cover art, do some work for the co op and rehearse... There are not enough hours in a day.

Thank you again for Monsters of Turku: 

Agnosia

Ultra Noir

Chaos Research

Hateful Chains

The DJ:s of Club Undead

Jasse, from Aura Audio

She Smiles video comes out at last!

We have finally come to the point where She Smiles is ready and set to be released on August 21st!!! The people involved were pleased and stoked, happy to say. I can give you an explanation, many in fact, as to why we didn't finish it sooner: Firstly, there was this things called Covid19 that fucked up a lot of peoples project and, well, the whole world... But there was also people having babies, work, organizing other music-stuff in between, work, recording, work... You know, life. 

But after all, between the time we shot the video's material and now, a lot of things got done. The video was edited and sent to us for comments. We wanted some changes and video was re-edited. We also did some re-mastering to the song it self and recorded new bass lines with Ikke, our bassist. This version will also be on the album. After finishing this the audio was sent to the video editor, who attached it to the now-ready video. So phew! We haven't been idle. And, oh, if you've been following our social media, you might have noticed that we also took new band photos. 

It was really long over due, because the former bassist left ages ago, and those pictures were no longer valid. We went to an old villa with a photographer friend and took a bunch of funny and serious band photos, to be used in covers, media-releases, socials. etc. I've been posting some of them on our instagram and facebook lately. I also wanted to make it into a project where I kind of introduce each band member and in a way declare our current line-up. Now all have been introduced except the bassist. So keep your eyes peeled for the last introduction!!

We had also booked a trip already in december, our every other year-visit to Catalunya, where we get the chance to focus on music and composing for a whole month. It's a place I've really grown attached to, and it means much to me. This time we had to wait until the very last week before the flight there departed, before we knew if we could go. Spain had already lifted quarantine regulations there, but Finland had not, so two weeks home bound would be expected when returning. But this opportunity seemed too narrow to pass by, we might not get another chance any time soon. So when the plane did fly, we took it. 

The month spent in Catalunya was basically like being in quarantine: We didn't meet anyone and avoided big crowds and cities. Seeing small villages was enough, especially after the news that covid- cases had soared again in Barcelona and it's surroundings. A face mask was obligatory in public transports and later outside in general as well. Only when eating and when doing sports were you allowed to take it off. Hand sanitizer was used in stores and you weren't allowed to touch vegetables with bare hands. So the rules were quite strict but it seemed to me, that some part of the population, mostly teenagers and middle-aged men, interpreted them quite loosely. Social distancing is hard, so the masks were really a good thing.

We spent the time mostly composing and practicing. I finished a number of songs for Hateful Chains, that of course yet remain to be tried at rehearsals. I also wrote some goofy songs just for practice, don't know what I'll make of them, really. In addition, also artsy and contemporary classical music was composed and many other ideas put onto paper and brain. We're now back home, quarantined and finishing the stuff we started in the residence. She Smiles- video has gotten end credits and thus is now ready to be launched. And media releases have been written. And I'll go through my list now and send it everywhere. 

We hope that we'll remain healthy, so that on August 21st we'll be able to celebrate the release of She Smiles-video with the people who participated in it's making!! From a SAFE distance, of course.

Thank you, and good health to you

Love, Hypnosis

Influence

I've been talking about our influences here for a couple of times, but never really gone trough them in depth, or analyzed, what it is in them that has such a great impact on my music making. It should be known by now, that I'm the one coming up with the songs and lyrics, while we all participate in arranging in some way. Everybody's musical history and influences has an effect and leaves it's mark on the end result. But the effect of those influences on the song writer and composer is much more direct and immediate. That's why I'll take a moment to reflect on those, maybe do a whole bunch of writing about that, as I've seemed to promise before, at some point.

So, what is actually my first influential band? What got me into the Goth subculture in the first place? It's a long story. When I was a teenager in Finland there were some bands that were becoming huge locally, and actually worldwide too. I got my share of those bands too, because I listened to the radio pretty often. The biggest at the time for me were HIM and Sentenced. These were actually considered more metal, but yeah, there you have it: I used to be more of a metalhead. (Still like some of them bands) Then there was also 69 Eyes, who still tour today. 

HIM's red album, Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666 was the thing. The melancholy, the atmosphere, the voice, it was really something unheard of for me. My friend recorded a cassette for me from her cd. I listened to it all the time, in secret, because at the time my parents were strict about any music that had some kind of reference to the occult or things like that. I got so used to their cover versions of Don't Fear the Reaper and Wicked Game that the originals sounded weird to me. I loved the whole album, but my favorite song was definitely For You. No other like that. Then the pink album came out and the heartagram and the great music business machine brought them to the attention of the whole world, and somehow, I just lost taste. Maybe the heartagram was too much for me, and with my fourteen-year-old brain I though it was a stupid idea, while in fact, let's face it: it's a brilliant logo, very memorable and somehow outrageous because of it's simplicity. 

Sentenced was the band I poured my sadness and suicidal thoughts into. What band could be more appropriate? Their lyrics are all about dying and suicide. When I wasn't listening to HIM, Sentenced was the way to go. Maybe this was the time I also started writing down some of my own ideas too, reflecting on those dying wishes and dreams of being somewhere else. With the album Frozen, it was about atmosphere as well. I didn't think about song structures or things like that back then. What appealed to me in HIM and Sentenced was sound, really, and also song melodies, I would say. The whole atmosphere… What I later found out, when reading about them, was that many of their influences were actually Goth Rock bands. Maybe that's where their sound came from, partially at least?

69 Eyes remained somehow obscure for me, although they played on the radio a lot. I always thought they were the epitome of a Goth band, because the media kept informing me that they were. At the time I thought "Gothic Girl" was a typical Goth song. But I didn't get the hang of the whole Goth subculture and didn't actually know there was such a thing, let alone that it was based on very different and a wider variety of music than what the 69 Eyes represented. Their music is cool, Dark Rock or Gothic Rock, with maybe the emphasis on Rock, which is cool. They use a lot of Goth imagery and you can definitely hear some Sisters of Mercy influences in the music as well. Some people might be of the opinion that they're not a Goth band, but I think they can be added under the very wide umbrella of Gothic. At least to me, at a time, they seemed to represent "Goth".

As I said before, my access to "worldly" music, let alone anything with a certain kind of darkness in it, was limited. In the Nineties, there were these scandals and waves of propaganda going on in the  Finnish Church circles, due to some church burnings and murders related to the Black Metal scenes of Scandinavia. It was an absolute no-no to listen to such direct blasphemous and Satan worshiping music, but I did manage to get a hold on some in secret. Cradle of Filth, Children of Bodom, Dimmu Borgir, all appealed to me because of that neo-classical dramaticism, aggression and the sound of danger. Some of that might still sometimes pop up in my songs, but it's there less and less, as I'm turning more to the roots of Goth. 

When, due to my circumstances, I couldn't listen to these horrible Black Metal bands anymore, I turned to their Christian alternatives, which were on the rise back then. Similar music, but Christian lyrics. These I often found at Christian festivals, which I used to attend in my teen age summers, at a stall of an underground christian record store. It was there that I found something that I really consider the roots and cause of my being into Goth music, and a creator of that music today, the starting point of a journey, if you will: it was Saviour Machine, and their first album.

Saviour Machine's sound was something unheard of for me. The over- the- top reverb in the guitars, the rhythms in drums, Eric Clayton's booming baritone, his mysterious and symbolic lyrics, his goth make-up on the album cover, the whole visual imagery, all of this opened a completely new world for me. Yet, they are not even considered a Goth band. Saviour Machine is an ideologically Christian band, so they are not a huge success world wide. But they were a success in Germany, for example, and managed to seal a record deal with Massacre Records. After two more Rock-albums they set to form a trilogy album about the book of Revelation, with big orchestral sounds and a choir. That too, left it's mark on me music-wise.

After finding this gem I always kept looking for stuff with something similar to Saviour Machine. I think the biggest thing for me in it was the vocals. Eric Clayton has an operatic baritone-voice which he tended to use in a quite heavy way, un-like, say Ville Valo or one of my later favorites, Ashton Nyte of The Awakening. That darkening of an already dark voice had it's appeal to me and I soon started mimicing it, thus finding my own low register, always going as low as I could. The other thing was drums. Although this band was considered a metal band of some kind, I though the drummer did something different than what you had the typical Metal bands. No double kick, but a lot of toms and beats taken from other music styles. Many times the beat had almost a dancing drive to it. Really good examples of this are Carnival Of Souls and The Mask, from Saviour Machine I.

I once spoke to another Goth about our Christian up-bringing and how it affected our Goth path, and he said that he listened to Saviour Machine a lot back in the day, because it was the darkest music he could find. In the Christian circles, that is. Well, I happened to stumble upon another gem, that was in some ways similar to Saviour Machine, in the aesthetics  at least, but it was wayyy darker. The sound of the band was more metal-like, but they had a very artistic way of constructing songs, which struck a chord with me because of my back ground in classical music. The band was from Australia and it was called Virgin Black. 

It was shivers down my spine when I first heard the start of their album Sombre Romantic, a solitary vocal line, repeated and followed by cello. Ach, my favorite instrument! Then I had to listen to all the beginnings of every song and decided to buy the album from the underground music stall I was standing in. I'd say I've never felt such a yearning to listen to this, to have this, as with this album. It's still one of my favorites, and every time I listen to it, it just satisfies me so much to hear the thoughtfully arranged songs and all the pauses and dynamics, that are not so typical in rock music in general. 

While they were considered a Christian band they had some shocking, even disturbing songs which I wondered about, but of course never told my parents. There was especially this one piece, called Museum of Iscariot, quite ballad like, but the lyrics described the protagonist beating and killing Jesus. No wonder they had to explain in the album cover, that the Jesus in the song describes one's faith. The meaning of the lyrics opened to me through out the years to come, the line: "He's never really lived" perhaps being the most striking and true for me, as I was going through the loss of my own faith. It's still one of the saddest songs I know.

Musically, Virgin Black has had an impact on me particularly in thinking song structure. It doesn't always have to be A, A, B, A, C, B,B, like in a typical pop-song. You can always break the usual pattern somehow. You can always bring out something of your own in a song, and abstain from the typical ways. Virgin Black might be one of the reasons I tend to put more than the usual parts in songs, and why there are some quite guitar-heavy tracks on the up coming album. But Saviour Machine is the other big factor. In fact I've been told that some of our demos sounded like them. Of course demos change, but the original influence can still be heard, if you know them well enough. 

I've written a lot about my earlier influences but there's still a lot to cover. When I realised there was a separate music genre called Goth, I of course set out to find out what it is. And that's where I found Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, Joy Division, The Sisters of Mercy, all the oldies but goldies, and then there were the classics of the Nineties Goth genres, Fields of the Nephilim, London After Midnight etc. I could write about them but you'll just get bored, 'cause of course you know about them already. But I'll write a little something about how they have influenced this band. Hopefully you'll enjoy that, and have enjoyed this part too!

Lot of love, Flora/HC

Statement

So many things have happened and escalated in the past few months, that I can't even keep track. The Corona-situation and how different countries have handled it, The on-going and still not solved! Climate Change and the sixth wave of extinction that seem to have been buried underneath other bad news, all the human rights violations and other bad news all the time... But what I've seen just recently on the news and media has made me think. Such things are now escalating that make it necessary to make a stand and speak out.

What I have seen on the news and various media platforms has made me really worried and upset. I'm talking about the news about George Floyd's murder by police officers in Minneapolis, and the shit storm that has ensued after, which some could argue, was bound to happen anyway at some point, judging by the state of things in modern USA. Of course, America is not the only place where white supremacy and ugly ideologies like that raise their monstrous heads, no. In my country a politician was just ousted for making a sick joke about George Floyd's death, and rightly so. (However, the party that kicked him out is still problematic...) This problem is still unsolved, and it is everywhere.  

There has also been discussion on Twitter recently, about whether or not Goth music is a-political, and about some bands, whose members have/have had racist affiliations. There is discussion about how the  Goth scene is not racist, but still not all people of color feel welcome in the scene, and there are things about some bands related to racism, or misuse of that imagery, that we still have to come to terms with as a subculture. (We know some of the early bands' members used the Swastica-symbols to piss off their parent's generation)

I came across someone who said that it is not enough to not be racist. You have to be anti-racist. I agree with this and I want to make it perfectly clear that I, and we as a band, are against racism. We do not accept the idea that white people are superior to others. That idea is bullshit and based on nothing but imbecile fantasies. That idea has caused immense suffering and cost countless lives. We will not have anything to do with such bullshit. 

Just to make it clear.

Love, Hypnosis

Some Updates

Things are going crazy everywhere and social distancing is the thing right now. So it would seem that we have a lot more time in our hands for making music. But in reality, working from home eats up your time just as well, or even worse than going somewhere else to do it. Starting the work gets harder, and all the undone chores and things catch your attention. And when you finish, you can't really let go of the work stuff. Home life and free time get mixed up with work. This is the reality in many homes right now. 

For me, this was the norm when working part time and doing the music stuff at home, before I started working at the manufacturing place. I'm slipping into my old habits as the covid-situation prolongs...The up-side to this is that you can gets the things done when ever you feel like it. The downside is those things mentioned above. 

Anyway, we've made some progress with our debut album, which we hope will be finished and available in summer 2020. After releasing Good People in December 2019, we have recorded and produced two tracks that will be included on the album. That is, mixing drums, recording bases, guitars and vocals, mixing, re-editing, adding some details and final touches etc... They're now mixed and ready to be mastered!

Invite Me In is a song you can definitely dance to. It's the one the record company we tried working with wanted to produce. I'm actually happy we didn't choose that one to do with them. It turned out quite nice, if I may say so myself. Still gives me the prickles in my neck. Siouxsie and the Banshees was once again a great inspiration in this one. 

Drifting Leaves is the sad, slow track of the album. I don't know about you, but I enjoy those ones. This one gave me the chance to do something unconventional for a goth song, and I ended up using a vibraphone. But the whole song is quite heavily influenced by The Awakening and, curiously, Radiohead.

There are three more songs that still need some serious work. One of them doesn't have vocals so to speak of, only speech and some backing vocals, but needs a lot of drum editing. The other two need to be recorded and produced except for the drums, which we did already two years ago. Two years! Time flies...

But I'm having my hopes up right now, and have started checking and re-recording the synths for Acid Rain. Hopefully I'll get them done this week, and then some more!

best of luck everyone, and keep yourselves safe!

Hypnosis

Day in a Life

Here's something about life in general, pre-covid19-situation of course. Right now I'm laid off from work and mostly confined home. But I'll write this anyway, now that there's time, and so you'll know what's going on.

Each morning I wake up, drink my coffee with caffeine, find something for lunch, to wear and then hop on the bus to work... Then I work. But after that I'm free to do what ever tf I want, because I quit my job as a vocal coach! And it pays off. We have made some progress with the up coming album. It won't be out ahead of schedule, but I dare guess, that we will be able to keep our promise. That is, album out next summer.

Now I need to vent. I really thought that I would be able to handle a day job and a side job as a vocal coach. Turns out, I can't. I was just too spent after a day of coaching at the manufacturing place, and besides that, also cutting fabrics and sewing as well. Not to mention being in charge when supervisors were on their paid leave. There was much more social burden in the manufacturing job than I expected and I quickly noticed I had much less energy for teaching, which is also a very social activity. Paying continuous attention, being positive, noting the problems and coming up with solutions for them, being motivational... Yeah it's a lot.

Not to mention preparing. Not to mention all the pop-songs I hated, that stuck in my head afterwards. Not to mention all the schedule changes. A lot of things. The thing is though, that it was sometimes rewarding too. To see real motivation and people ready to do the work it takes to be a better singer. To see and hear the results of that motivation. To see the light come up in their eyes when they suddenly notice something new about their voices. But what I'm sad about as a teacher, is that most of the time this is not the case, even with people who pay.

The real energy eater is a student who expects the teacher to do all the work and nothing really seems to sink in. But then you can't really say much, because the student is also a paying customer. And the customer's always right, right? Towards the end I didn't have those ones around that much anymore, only the quite motivated ones, but they were unfortunately too few to continue. It was just too few customers, but still felt like too much after a day of manufacturing.

Besides paid work there is also the unpaid hours that I put into this band and other music projects. These are something that require time. It takes some quiet time with no other distractions to come up with melodies or write lyrics, or just sit at the computer and go through the ideas to see if anything new pops up in your brain. The best part of the day for me would be mornings, when there's now rush to go anywhere. But now I didn't have that luxury. I even struggled to find enough time to practice my instruments.

So, the situation was that I quickly became exhausted. And I had that nagging feeling that it's not worthwhile. That something has to go and that after all, the most important thing in this situation was my survival. Having had that awful burn out a few times in my life I know how much I can take. And with burn out there's this unlucky side to it, that next time it comes more easily and from less stress than before. So I made that decision. It was financially logical for me to keep the manufacturing job and let go the teaching job. But I also decided this way because the manufacturing doesn't follow me home.

So I arranged my quitting before Christmas and told all my students. Most of them understood me, and I hope they'll find someone to continue with. I believe they will, if they really want to. For me, things have been way easier now. I'm in manufacturing until summer, and after that I might have some related plans. But that is still very unclear.

Right now, during this confinement I hope I'll be able to produce many new songs that we'll get to try with Hateful Chains when we're able to rehearse again. I actually have many in my head, or on paper already. But it will take some time to have them recorded etc. Meanwhile we'll also continue our work to get the album out by the time we have promised.

I hope you are all well and safe. I'll keep you posted, now probably some what more than usual.

Love, Hypnosis

She Smiles Video Shoot Part Two!

This is where we brought in the boys.

One tuesday evening we gathered to our friend's apartment, that is me, the rest of the band, director/shooter, two dancers and the make-up artist, and we shot the band scenes for She Smiles music video. Before that I spent the morning by getting some snacks for everyone and doing my hair in somewhat fifties' style. About noonish the make-up artist showed up and started experimenting with latex and my face...

The idea was to create a mask to cover my mouth, so that I couldn't speak, and it would look like I had no mouth. I would rip it off in the final scene, exposing a smiling mouth. It was supposed to be taken with one shot. First the eyes and lips were done and I ate something before a thin film of latex was glued onto my mouth. We realized the one shot wasn't gonna happen, because the lipstick went off right away... But we decided it could be ripped off, fixed and then take the final smile, and maybe there would be something that could be used in the video. After the latex some scar gel was added and then the pale foundation. The final result actually looked like I had a plaster mask.

Now I couldn't eat or drink for the rest of the evening. But the hardest part was actually keeping a resting face and not to laugh. Everyone laughed of course when they first saw me, and I couldn't but react to that. Throughout the evening the mask was cracking and I was of course sweating underneath it, so it would need to be fixed between takes. But it held together surprisingly well after all.

I wore my grandmothers old dress, a black velvet funeral dress. It didn't quite sit on me, but that was just plus. The nature of these band parts was to be the negative side of life anyway, a gray reality where everything is dull and stagnant. Under the dress I wore a corset. That way I would be forced to sit more straight and move in an overall constricted way, hopefully adding to the idea the director had in mind.

Living Room, scene is set

The band members were all dressed up in suits, like to a funeral or old dance music gig. They had some pale foundation on their faces and dark shadows under their eyes, as did I. Like we hadn't slept for a week. We sat around sadly on the sofas around a coffee table and played out the story the director had in mind. We didn't use the music for these scenes and didn't play our instruments, except for my brief moment at the piano, which maybe is included in the final cut, or not.

Although some of the band members didn't have very much experience with acting, it all came together when we concentrated and were able to focus on the moment. The articulate and calm way the director managed the whole thing was a great help in that too. I must say the band were great playing dead in the end scenes! No reaction at all to my efforts of waking them up.

Later the two dancers came in, one of the "naked" masked ones and the breakdance/dark character. This time they didn't dance, but were present in the scenes as characters from the fantasy world. The dark character was painted black again, while we did some scenes with the other one. And then we realized something had been forgotten again: black gloves for the black character! We used black mittens then, and I'm slightly worried about the takes that show his hands...

We did mostly the same scenes and actions that we did with just the band, now added by the fantasy characters.

Photo by Rotkoarts

Photo by Rotkoarts

After everything else was captured, it was time for the final scene and ripping off the mask. The big moment. I stuck my fingers in it and pulled it apart, trying to be slow. It came off quite good, as a single piece but under it was a red jaw and lips, stained by lipstick and sweat. So I had to sit down for the make-up artist to fix it. No eating yet, and I was so hungry! Fixed and ready, I then held the remnants of the mask close to my face and revealed the final smile. 

I was so relieved when it was all over, and first of all I drank a coffee drink I had reserved for this occasion. Then there was snacks and laughter and thank yous and goodbyes. We got it all taken in a few hours but it was the make-up that took the most time and effort. That's why Rotkoarts deserves my everlasting thanks for dedicating the day for this video project. I'm in your dept!

Also thank you for Teemu for letting us use your apartment, Ville/ Solkigraphy for shooting and directing, the band (love you guys) and dancers, for adding your skill to the mix!

We left and went to the store to get some supper supplies, with our pale foundation and funeral clothes still on. People looked

She Smiles Video Part One

Hello there!

This time I will tell you about the first day of the epic She Smiles music video shoot. It's epic because it's taking so long. And that's because it's surprisingly complex to organize a group of people, who all have different schedules and different kinds of day jobs, to come together for one whole day for a video shoot. But I managed to do that once, so I'm hopeful that day two will eventually happen, too.

We still had no location by the time we had agreed on a date that was possible to everyone and I was starting to get a liiitle anxious about it. But I tried one last straw, and contacted the place where we have arranged numerous concerts of contemporary music. To my relief it was available on weekend, and only for a small rent. It is an old liquor distillery, renovated for cultural use and to be rented for parties and such. It has a nice old vibe to itself, red brick walls and a glass floor, under which old structures have been preserved. So location was now taken care of.

The next thing to be anxious about was the costumes. There was a lot of hassle at work because of pending orders that were all due in December. I was working over time and at home there was another sewing job that I had taken. It also took some time before I found the fabrics that I wanted to use. The directors idea was that there would be dancers naked, or in "naked-like" suits, silhouettes, that give the impression of nakedness. So I was looking for fabrics that skaters and ballet dancers use in their costumes, but finding something for a reasonable price wasn't so easy, at least from on-line special stores. But there was a fabric store in the nearby town, where I heard you could find almost anything... So after the number of dancers had been settled and all the plans made, I took a trip there. 

Next was masks, because I wanted to give the impression of the dancers not being completely human. What better way to avoid natural facial expressions and humanity, than a mask? I could have made the masks myself, but I simply didn't have the time. But, there was a store for just that! Punanaamio, or Red Mask, as it would be in English, offered a wide variety of masks for all occasions, and the best thing was I could just walk in and order them into the shop! So I ordered these beautiful Venice-style white-golden masks, made from paper mache. They were a little more pricey than your average plastic masks but they looked so much better than any cheesy glitter thing, that I though it worth the price, plus everything shows on camera, so quality it should be.

The dancers' costumes took a while to make: I drew the pattern and made it into different sizes at home, which took several evenings. next tow or three days I cut them at my workplace before starting the day's work and then stayed there one day until nightfall to sew them together. One of those time's that the thought "Why am I doing this?" crept into my mind, yes. But at the same time I was stoked to see it all come together.

Two dancers and the hooded character, photo by @Rotkoarts

Then there was another dancer, to whom I had another role in mind. The part we were about to shoot now, was a "fantasy world" or "inner world", where everything is colourful, fluidly moving, strange, beautiful. Then there's the chaos, the un-controllable, which we sometimes are a little afraid of. I wanted that black character in the back of the mind to be there. But it should be somehow different in comparison to the strange masked fluid dancers. So, I asked a vocal student of mine, who is a break dancer, to join. Say what? Yes, that's exactly what I did, I put break dancing into a Rock music video.

Me against the brick wall, photo by @Rotkoarts

Then there was only my costume left. I only had the vague idea that it should be something red, so there would be the symbolical red, white /well, whitish) and black colors. I grabbed something when in thrift store thinking hmmm, maybe... I would have made some tearing and shredding to it but time was running short. In the end though, it worked perfectly with the make up and glitter stuff that was glued onto my face. A red strapless dress with some tulle underneath the hem, just needed to widen it a little and stick some bones into it, so it would hold up somehow. Should have stuck more bones, but yeah, no bones and no time to get them.

I had actually worked over time so much that I could take a day off before the shooting day. That was a real relief! I could sleep in and not worry about looking like a ghost on camera. And I had enough time to make sure that everything was in order. Like, dying my roots red to match the red dress. Then, two messages from the dancers came in, telling that they weren't able to come the next day after all. No! But phew! Luckily there were still three left. Always good to ask more people than you really need, I guess. 

Saturday morning was glorious. We arrived early at the scene with the guitarist to check everything out. There were some furniture around so first we had to move them into storage. Then arrived the make-up artist, the shooter/director and drummer, whose role was to be the handyman. First thing he asked was "Did you make sure we can use the smoke machine?" And to my horror I realized I hadn't! I called the places manager but it turned out the smoke detectors couldn't be turned off. So we had to do what we could with the lights and space without the smoke. Pity, but I think it will turn out fine. And I think it can be added later, if necessary.

Director and Drummer setting up the lights, photo by @Rotkoarts

Guitarist went to get some snacks and coffee for everyone, and I sat on a table to be painted. While sitting there the dancers arrived and started to get into their costumes. Luckily the masks fit their faces quite well and gave just the air of mysticism that I had in mind. My make up took some time, so when the lights were all set up, the dancers went to try the space out and shoot some material without me. The make-up art was all about red, with glittering glue-on gems and a "lizard" pattern, patted with darker red eye shadow through fishnet stockings. There was red on my forehead and neck too, which was good since my scalp was all red from dyeing.

Photo by @Solkigraphy

Everything set, we started shooting the parts with me and the dancers. The director has this knack of articulating his ideas and directions in a calm, clear manner, so that no-one really felt insecure about what they should do. We did all kinds of angles, close-ups and distant, with me and the dancers, and separately. The space turned out to be really diverse, even without the smoke. The brick wall, the glass floor with lights underneath, the iron staircase going up to a balcony with a glass floor, the iron ladder on the wall: Everything was used to get interesting angles and shots.

Taken from the upper level, photo by @Rotkoarts

In the afternoon the break dancer arrived and sat down for make up. His face was to be painted black. He had with him a black shirt and a cool hoodie and I had prepared black pants to go with them. The outcome was nice! Had a little scary air to it, which was my intention all along. We then took the shots where he did the break dance. I noticed there was some trouble and he seemed a bit uncomfortable. Then he asked for water and I realized it was all because the glass floor was too slippery for him to dance with only socks on. Which was because his shoes were white. Should have prepared for that too, but yeah, always something is forgotten. We got him the water and he wet his socks, which made the break dancing much easier.

He's dancing the dance, photo by @Rotkoarts

Photo by @Rotkoarts

We then took different shots with me and the hooded character, him with the dancers and alone, and all of us together. In between we of course took a ton of pictures, especially the make-up artist whose job was now just to watch and see that nobody's make up was running. Me, I'm so bad at taking pictures, let alone posting on Instagram all the time. Something I should correct, I know. But there were a ton of photographs from the shooting day and I luckily got the permission to use them on social media, so I was able to share what we did.

Photo by @Rotkoarts

Photo by @Rotkoarts

Photo by @Rotkoarts

When everything was on camera, we ordered some pizza and cleaned the place up. There wasn't much, except the leftover snacks and all the stuff we brought in. At this point people had befriended each other and were happily chatting, while eating the pizzas and cleaning the make-up. I decided that the dancers could keep the costumes to them selves. They would have much more use of them than my closet, and I had two leftover suits. The masks, however, I kept to myself.

All the masked dancers, Photo by @Rotkoarts

Photo by @Rotkoarts

When all was cleaned up and everyone outside I closed the place up and left to another town to play a gig! Crazy, but there weren't really other options. I was so tired after a whole day of shooting but it also gave me this energy, that you get when you do creative things with other people. Completely different from the low vibes you get after a long day of working and nothing really going forward. This, though, was a huge step forward! We now had almost half of the material that makes She Smiles music video!



And the thanks for that belongs to:

Ville: director,cameraman
Minna: Rotkoarts, make-up
Jani: handyman, lights
Kimmo: snacks, audio
Dancers: Laura, Assi and Saija
Sami: breakdance

also, but not least: Pro Manilla Säätiö, which rented us the spectacular location

Thank you!!!

Next week we'll be shooting the band scenes!!

Flora

Photo by @Rotkoarts

Photo by @Rotkoarts

Photo by @Rotkoarts