Recording - September 2012 - 48

Photo by David Cilberti

Photo by Paul Berg

Testing 1-2-3 The day before the shoot I picked up the rental gear and tested it all before I left the store. Next I met with Bob and Paul. We used Bob’s spacious studio and set up everything just as we would the next day. We discussed the minimal lighting setup, and because they had both spent years as photographic and lighting specialists and really knew their stuff, I deferred to their wisdom. We rolled all the cameras and acted out the scripted shots as best we could, with no band present. We spent an entire afternoon rehearsing with the demo tracks Bruce had provided. It was a little strange, but in the end, after viewing the day’s video, we felt confident about doing the real thing. We compared our shots of the same subject for chroma saturation, iris settings and shutter speeds. In the newer digital low-end professional cameras the shutter speed really does affect video clarity and artifacts that might come from the motion of the subject. The day of the shoot We all met at Fantasy studios about three hours before downbeat, and loaded in. Bob and Paul began the preliminary lighting setup while I concentrated on the camera placement and audio feeds with Mark Needham and his assistant Will Brierre. The cameras were actually going to be the last thing that got set because we had to wait for the band to get into position and for Mark to erect his forest of mic stands. My heart sank when I first saw that forest growing. How could I possibly get good clean shots with all that chrome in the way? Well, I had to just chill out and see what it looked like after all was set. The last thing I wanted to do was ruin the vibe, which was a good one. The musicians began to settle into place and warm up. We gradually adjusted our camera angles and the lighting placement. We knew that the studio had a great deal of multi-colored track lighting in the twenty-foot high ceilings, so we wanted to use that as much as possible. All other lighting was for mood, so it was
48
RECORDING September 2012

very minimal and created a nice intimate setting. Bob and Paul set up a tall light stand with a gobo-type of diffuser in one corner. It threw just enough shadow on the walls to create better depth. The band started the sound check, Mark did final placement of his mics, and we checked levels in our cameras. We all wore headphones for monitoring and tried to make eye contact whenever possible. At that point I had to trust that the pre-production meetings and rehearsals had been enough to get what we wanted. The band went into the first take, the sound was perfect, we were all rolling—

and lo and behold, I even liked having that mic-stand forest in the shots! We wrapped later that afternoon feeling pretty good about everything. The prep work had really paid off, mission accomplished. Post-production Since this session was the first time all four musicians played together in the same room at the same time, it took us a few takes to iron out problem spots in the music. I knew from the start that we’d be using bits and pieces out of different takes, with the band’s performance dictating which section of a piece would come from which take.

Cost! Shooting video is expensive no matter how you slice it—even if you’re working with friends who don’t charge their full rate (as I was on this project). I was extremely lucky to work with an old friend on this project, someone who wanted to collaborate with me to both help me and to do creative work having to do with music, one of his passions. I’m well aware that if I had hired a stranger who wasn’t giving me a great deal, I’d have easily paid five to ten times as much as I did for these three videos. I’ve also known one of the other camera operators, Bob Barclay, for a very long time, and am aware that I got an excellent price break from him and his associate, Paul Berg, who Bob suggested for our third camera operator. Bob and Paul have extensive backgrounds in studio photography, and as such they owned all the lighting equipment used on the shoot, saving hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of lighting rentals. David, Bob and Paul each owned their own video camera. David borrowed his wife’s consumer camera for the “foot cam” in “Jessica”. As such, our only commercial rentals were the Sony EX1 XDCAM mounted above the steel (and its related storage device), and the smart slate. Rental costs: Sony XDCAM EX1 and assorted support: Denecke TS-2 Time Code Slate $550 $ 50

Out of professional courtesy, rather than listing the specific payment given to each person, let me just say that to Bob and Paul for a day’s shoot, rehearsal, and lighting, I paid less than $2500, and to David, miraculously, I paid less than $5000. These were “Friends and Family” rates, so please don’t think it’s necessarily reasonable to average $2700 per video of this quality if you’re hiring a commercial business! The cast: David Cilberti, video director and cameraman Bob Barclay and Paul Berg, photographers/cameramen Mark Needham, audio engineer, and his assistant Will Brierre You can view the “Jessica” video and some footage from other projects at www.brucekaphan.com/pages/Videos.html, but here are direct links for the three videos we shot that day: “What’s New”: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCVcTp8ojyg “Birdland”: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFeiDEuNUrg “Jessica”: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eeawv2KdCk

http://www.brucekaphan.com/pages/Videos.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCVcTp8ojyg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFeiDEuNUrg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eeawv2KdCk

Recording - September 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - September 2012