You Wouldn't Like Shane When He's Angry - Shooting ReRez

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Every once in a while I get a visit from my buddy Shane. He runs ReRez, a gaming news channel where he covers some of the coolest and strangest games out there. Seriously, the consoles and games he finds is sometimes mind-boggling. Check out some of his previous episodes to see what I mean.

Usually when he stops by it means he's upset about something in the gaming world. Our version of therapy involves him ranting while I follow him with the Glidecam rig. The result is a smooth, one-shot video that gets his point across. And his blood pressure goes back down to normal.

He's gotten really good at nailing these in one or two takes and no script. Quite proud of him really.

Hit play. Take a look. Enjoy.

And check out the ReRez YouTube channel for reviews of games and consoles you've never heard of before.

Making An Explosive Music Video for KIX - Love Me With Your Top Down

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Surely by now you've seen Weird Al Yankovic's "Word Crimes" video? That's the biggest example of a lyric video to date, and there's no denying how entertaining it is to watch. Especially if you yourself are sick of certain misuses of words and grammar.

This latest one I worked on for KIX's latest album was a literal blast to work on. Press the big play button above to give it a watch.

It was done completely in After Effects. No video shoots required. Just straight animation.

As soon as I heard the song ("Love Me With Your Top Down") I was hooked on it! The tune is just so damn catchy. I even played it for a client while we were setting up for an interview one day and he asked me, "Who does this song? The chorus is infectious!" Nasty-sounding word to use, but very appropriate as we kept moving our heads to it well after it had finished.

If the lyrics are the strongest part of a song, then it makes sense for a lyric video to really show them off.

Seen any awesome lyric videos lately? Post 'em if you got 'em. Drop a link in the comments.

Bringing dark lyrics to life for HellYeah

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Lyric videos are hot and on the rise. About time I got my hands dirty with them.

Black Fawn Films sent me a treatment for a dark and twisted story that sounded delightful to this filmmaker. It was for the latest song from hard rock band HellYeah.

Moth is off of the band's fourth album, Blood for Blood, and explores themes of self-destruction in the pursuit of happiness.

“It’s a song basically about - there are so many things in life that you know are wrong and you’re going to get burned, but you have to give it a try, whether it’s relationships, jobs, this, that or another. It’s like a moth, it sees that flame and it’s drawn to it even though it’s made out of paper and he’s going to get torched when he gets there. That’s kind of what the song is all about.”

With a relatively simple concept and little turnaround time, this video incorporated some dark imagery inspired by the opening credits to David Fincher's Se7en and in-camera stop animation. The story was shot over two days with an additional day for the stop-motion segments to feature the lyrics. The entire video was a one-man crew production: shooting, editing and colour grading.

What helped with this video was the clear direction given by Black Fawn as to what the video was going to look like. They communicated a concept and let me take it and run with it. Storyboards, visual references and a deadline were given. The rest fell into place.

All that was needed was the basement of a local store in old downtown Guelph (Thanks to Grey Rock Clothing Co.) and two gorgeous actors who I knew were perfect for the roles as captor and captive (Erin Stuart is a very talented and mesmerizing model/actress. However the identity of our mysterious lead must remain unknown.)

The stop-motion element was new for me. What an excellent way to reveal the lyrics of the video with the theme of the story.

P.S. After cutting out all of the letters from magazines and gluing many of the ransom notes together, I have a newfound respect for the patience and attention-to-detail of creepy stalkers.

Photographing Erin is such an easy task. Just look at her!

Enjoy the video above and give it a share with your music-loving friends.

Check out more stills from behind the scenes here.

Want your own lyric video done for your band? Contact me and tell me what look you're after.

 

Camera Equipment:

Canon 60D

Cinevate Duzi Slider

Atomos Ninja 2 Recorder & Field Monitor

Manfrotto 504 Tripod

Rotolight Anova 2 Bicolour LED Light

Litepanel 1x1 LED Lights

Riftlabs KICK Light

100mm f/2.8 Macro lens

17-50 f/2.8 lens