http://www.pixelpi.caNew Video Production Series For Universal Music WWW.PIXELPI.CA

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Music Video Production Gets “Lawn Chair Lazy”

Three weeks ago Universal Music released rang us up to work together on a brand new video production series. Earlier this summer they released a debut music video for one of their up-and-coming artists, James Barker Band – http://www.jamesbarkerband.com/.

It followed the four guitar-slinging urban cowboys in sleepy summertime fashion on a sun-drenched beer-advocating day in the country. If you haven’t heard of them yet, it’s likely because they’ve only this month had their first single, Lawn Chair Lazy, gushing out from the sound wave spigots of Big Radio nationwide.

I provided the video editing services for the live studio recordings, which means full days of chop, play, tweak and repeat – but even my expressly un-country friends who stopped by the video editing suite to check out the cut later confessed the song had infiltrated their stream of consciousness infectiously, and embarrassingly (yes, because of the slight hipster snobbery involved) ad nauseam.

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A Four Camera Video Production At Toronto’s Incredible Root Down Studio When UMusic approached our video production company here in Toronto to develop a new music

video series they wanted to capture the live essence of their artists but in a more audio-controlled studio environment setting It was clear they wanted something intimate for fans to see artists let their hair down and just jam out, but they also wanted something really listenable and a little more stylized.

So, less than a full-on music video but more than a fast and dirty behind the scenes segment. That balance between a raw aesthetic and a visually sleek look can be tricky to achieve. You want the quality of the videography to be tactile, up-close and personal but also have a little flare and polish. It’s Universal Music after all, so the production value has to be there, even if it’s “only for their online media feed.”

That’s maybe one of our top three guiding principles at Pixel Pi right there: to transcend that deflated and sorry status of just another “online video production company.” Sounds lofty or self-congratulatory maybe, but it’s really the only approach to surviving in these ferociously entrepreneurial times of the infinite-online-video-sinkhole.

http://www.pixelpi.ca

A Four Camera Video Production At Toronto’s Incredible Root Down Studio

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A Video Production Company’s Worst Nightmare

That is, showing up on set without adequate gear. Since this was our first outing with Universal Music we wanted to err on the side of prepared in terms of gear.

This music video shoot was a pilot of sorts that would set the tone and trust for a bigger UMusic Sessions series. We brought along our basic videography services package plus quite a lot more, thinking that perhaps we were even a little over-prepared, even for a four cam shoot:

1 ARRI Jr. 650W Kit. (4 fixtures)

2 Kino Flo Diva-Lite 400 Fixtures

1 1×1 Dedo Felloni LED Light Kit

2 Canon C100s

2 5D Mark IIIs

We also brought in some paper lanterns with super bright but really cold 22W/1800Lumen LED bulbs. Your number one fear on any video production using paper lantern fixtures is, of course, fire!

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The Bane & Blessing of Any Videography Services Package

With a steadicam on set one thing you’re not short on is dynamic coverage options. Fluid, evolving one-take compositions render out the space in the frame more fully and some would argue more dramatically.

Running at length and moving through space also grounds shots in the present because you don’t have to cut. It’s a fantastic leap in production value on most modest sets. UMusic was certainly excited at the prospect of enhancing the on-the-floor presence to these live sessions.

And although we can’t knock the fun and creative potential of the roving camera we knew we’d have a whole other slew of technical obstacles to slalom around when we added it to our videography services package.

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Performers Perform With Their Faces

The only other spatial and seemingly obvious consideration that might be helpful is to remember that when you’re shooting performers who are emoting with their faces a lot, you don’t want to cover up their faces!

This means placing mics at a height that is both comfortable for the singers and not so high that it’s obstructing any of your frames. This was a lesson we learned the hard way on this particular video production because the last thing that came into the studio – unsurprisingly – was the group. So we had our cameras and lights placed perfectly.

The stage arrangement including their stools were already locked down. Or so we thought. The moment they started tuning and warming up they moved the stools around and adjusted the mics to wherever they felt it best. This is all as it should be, just order of operations really.

Otherwise, we’d be seeing the lead singer expressing himself from the nose up only! Neither a compelling nor professional shot to get, even if you were “just another” video production in Toronto.