A few days ago I decided to try and contact the NY based directing duo HARRYS and Executive Producer Jeff Pantaleo (both part of the Partizan group) all of which played a huge part in the filming of Au Revoir Simone's Somebody Who music video.
We decided to base our own music video on this piece of work in particular because we loved the classy yet simplistic feel to it, we also felt it would really suit our song choice (Hurricane- MSMR).
'Somebody Who' is a performance video set in a stunning mansion, during the entire music video the architecture of the location is constantly brought to the viewer's attention by using plenty of panning, large frames (beautifully filmed) and long shots. This was something that we wanted to really incorporate into our own music video. However, the stability and elegance of the panning shots as well as the soft lighting with beautiful frames would be pretty difficult to achieve without any solid advice or evidence from the people that filmed the video.
So this is when I decided to try and get in contact with the Directors and Executive Producer to get some advice and information on how we could go about achieving the same stability and elegance as shown in the Au Revoir Simone music video.
Below are the emails I sent to directing duo HARRYS and Executive Producer Jeff Pantaleo:
Unfortunately I didn't receive a reply from either of the emails. However, I found a couple more sources of information & advice that we can take into consideration as a group when filming the video. Firstly, a fellow student of mine (Kelly Maxwell) also decided to get in touch with a professional Director (Daniel Broadley) although she is not filming a music video in the same genre as mine she is going to produce a performance video. Her reply from Broadley was very in depth and also gave me some information and advice on how to go about filming our music video (I have highlighted in bold what I think applies to our music video in particular).
'What would you say the most important element of a performance video is?
I constantly argue with myself on this question, I guess it really comes down to the artist, they are the most important part of a music video as they are the person you are creating a marketing tool for (however this excludes videos where they are not shown at all). But you have to build elements around them to do that I've narrowed down a few things which will hopefully help you identify what makes a performance video great.
1) Location:
This is one of the most important elements of a performance video, it is going to fill the screen more than the band are and therefore has to be interesting and reflect the mood of the artist. I prefer locations with space, i think it's easier to exploit a bands performance when there is a large area around them which reflects the amplitude of their sound and charisma. However, this is not to say a small intimate location can work just as effective, it just depends on the band. A band like Don Broco are quite adaptable as their sound varies, for 'You Wanna Know' it was all about exploring their performance personality in a big space, where as 'Hold On' was much more whimsical and quirky which meant the performance elements could be condensed in a smaller space. art direction is something I overlook when dressing a location but again it's an effective way of smoothing out anything that doesn't look professional or neat, whether it's finding a way to disguise lighting stands or tucking in bright coloured cables it all goes a long way, you'll never see a high end commercial rock video with an un neat location, attention to detail is crucial to stop the viewing being distracted by subtleties of imperfection.
2) Lighting:
Lighting is overlooked by almost everyone when starting out, mainly because of budget and logistics, lighting things outside requires power which usually isn't available or even lighting indoors requires soft light which is expensive to hire, it's always down to there not being enough (or any) budget. We overcame this when I first started making music video by shooting outdoors, choosing our timing carefully and using the sun to light the scenes, I would always put the sun behind the bands, which often meant shooting at sun set, then using a simple silver photography reflector, bounce that setting sun back towards the band, and that is the easiest and cheapest way to create some amazing images, this is a great example of that and one of the first music videos I ever made - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzlpo0UvIpg
Lighting is overlooked by almost everyone when starting out, mainly because of budget and logistics, lighting things outside requires power which usually isn't available or even lighting indoors requires soft light which is expensive to hire, it's always down to there not being enough (or any) budget. We overcame this when I first started making music video by shooting outdoors, choosing our timing carefully and using the sun to light the scenes, I would always put the sun behind the bands, which often meant shooting at sun set, then using a simple silver photography reflector, bounce that setting sun back towards the band, and that is the easiest and cheapest way to create some amazing images, this is a great example of that and one of the first music videos I ever made - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzlpo0UvIpg
Lighting indoors becomes tricky as it's really project specific, I tend to feel safe shooting in the day in a location that lets in daylight somehow, then using Kino Flo fluorescent lights (with daylight balanced tubes) light the subjects to make sure everything is evenly lit. But no matter what you end up using for light, always remember that skin tones are the most important thing to light, above all else if the bands faces are lit properly then it will be a great video
3) camera work:
This is a preference based point, everyone has their own way of shooting but it's imperative to think in advance about the dynamics of the song, if the song is aggressive or pacey then shooting handheld always looks great because it enhances the energy, however if a song is delicate and subtle then using tracks and dolly's and tripods are the way to go to help retain that graceful feeling that the song carries. you can also mix these together if the song has different sections that carry different energies. it also doesn't matter what you shoot on, people always get really snobby about cameras, but truth be told I spent the first year of my business shooting on a canon 550D, the crappy kit lens it came with and a really cheap canon 50mm prime lens, all in it was well under £1000, people would always comment on the results and ask if I was using a cinema camera... the other sneaky thing was I would barely do anything in the edit either, I prefer to just make it look as good as possible on the camera and then mildly tweak it in the edit suite, the video above has had barely anything done to it, that was pretty much what it looked like on the back of the camera screen on the day.
Another great source of information I found was an interview with directing duo HARRYS about filming Au Revoir Simone's Somebody Who music video:
1. Your Au Revoir Simone video is visually stunning and beautifully framed. It definitely stays true to the HARRYS aesthetic that you guys have developed over the course of your directing careers. Would you guys say that the performance video is something you would like to continue to explore and expand upon?
We’ve always been interested in performance videos. In the 80′s and 90′s it was the norm for musicians to perform in their videos, across all genres. Although that standard faded, it’s not something to shy away from. The music is always connected to the person making it and it’s nice to see the two together. We always go by the logic that less is more in terms of a performance. We’re completely open-minded about non-performance videos as well, but some tracks just call for it.
2. Along with the impeccable framing, there is a dream-like quality to “Somebody Who.” The colors, combined with the camera floating through the space and environment of the video, make for a really surreal viewing experience. What was the overall concept for this video?
It’s hard to say there really was a concept. The song has a glossy, luxurious and somewhat haunting tone and so we wanted to find a space that matched. We wanted to explore the mansion in a sort of architectural study and frame the performance within the eery, emptiness of the space. It was more of an effort to match the tone than anything.Source: http://yourstru.ly/2013/08/23/kino-harrys-x-au-revoir-simone/
Thanks to Kelly Maxwell and Daniel Broadley for this information.
