Shooting schedule

Running to Escape - THE MYSTERONS (2008).

Monday 17th March (day) -

Recording begins (Drums and bass tracking)


Tuesday 18th March (day) -

Recording begins (Guitars and vocal tracking)


Tuesday 18th March (night) -

Rough track mixing


Wednesday 19th March (day) -

Shooting begins of set two shots.

Gear needed: Sony HDV, old camera, 2x tripod, dolly, two barndoor spots

Drum kit, guitars, bass, houselamp, tall table.

Personnel: Lee, Daniel S, Eddie, Declan, Mark.


Wedneday 19th March (night) -

Track editing continued.


Thursday 20th March (day) -

Set one shoot @ Sean Hollywood, Newry

10.30: Load-in
10.50: Briefing
11.00: Set-up
14.00: Lunch
14.30: Shooting continues
17:00: Wrap
17.30: Load-out

Gear needed: Sony HDV, tripod, dolly, two barndoor spots, tapes and batteries.

Drum kit, guitars, bass, backline (various amps)

Personnel: Lee, Daniel S, Eddie, Declan, Mark, Matt, Des (2.00 onwards)

Statement of intentions

This video production has an underlying theme of talent vs. image, a battle forever fought throughout the music industry. The video is to be broken into two sections; section one being the stripped down they are the styled, produced shoe-gaze like attitude and image and section two being the band in their true garage band style, running around the stage and not afraid to letting their viewing audience know that they are there to have fun as well.

This music video graphically portrays an ‘over-produced’ band through their career as they start to become more established.

The video’s theme is the graphic contrast between the band in their produced form, which is normally ruled by their record label, their producer, their artistic director, their costume designers, and their manager (basically every person or figure that is involved in making bands zero to hero), and their original pre-stardom garage band style and attitude.

The band that I am working with, The Mysterons, have a very ‘now’ modern new-wave indie/post-punk revival sound, but are not image conscious or conceited with their stage image. Not to say that they do not pay heed to dressing to impress, but they don’t get themselves involved with stage props, pyrotechnics and ‘Busted Jumps'. The video is in a bid to show a great sounding band being themselves. In an industry where image generally trumps talent, few bands today foot the bill in technical prowess.

The video will be a live video with the band playing throughout; occasionally profiling the actual video shoot at the beginning and ending of the track – i.e. at moments, the music video is a video of the video. The band is playing in a green-screen environment in front of a white backdrop their backline, which is set up symmetrically in the set. The shot fades into to the band on set one, the soundstage, dressed and styled in ‘traditional’ indie-kid garb. The camera pans around profiling the set and stage, showing where the members of the band are standing. Stylists are applying final minute make-up and fixing their hair before playback begins and ‘action!’ is shouted.

As playback begins, they begin to play in a style where they appear to be very uncomfortable (shoegaze-like). Restricted to the confines of their ‘space’, marked with a big X’ onstage, the band continue to. The video location then changes to the band playing through set two, a post-modern household’s interior wall and doorway which pays homage to a growing cliché included with new bands. The camera uses several shooting styles, wide pan and tilt until the doorway is visible with band members playing through this doorway. Using graphic matches from the pan motion of the camera, the transition between band members playing in the doorway is made seamless. The video then goes backwards and forwards between set one and set two, with varying attributes such as set one’s shooting style becomes more fast-cut, and set two’s shooting style becomes less focused on the wall and more focused on the band member. Set one’s shooting begins with angles which profile the band on the stage, their POV position on-stage and obscure shots of the band from low angle, high angle, ‘Dutch’ angle and wide angle shots.

The song approaches its breakdown and at the point where the breakdown arrives – set one’s lighting changes and becomes strobe like, complimenting the breakdown’s music. The band let loose and play like they’ve wanted to throughout the song, defying their on-looking manager/record executive. They move around the stage, get into the music and have fun. The lead singer and guitarists defy the video shoot boundaries; leave the confines of their stage spot, sometimes walking beyond the stage and into the set. This contrast is confirmed by their manager trying to cut the shoot by grabbing the camera. The cameraman continues to shoot the video and becomes more active along with the band. The location reverts to set two, where a shot of the video being shot is profiled with a band member trashing the wall, and another band member jumping on it; a startled crew and cameraman are included in this shot. Location reverts to set one where the video has become more frantic and the penultimate chords are being played. They finish the song and as the song ends, the lighting changes to its original state as it were at the beginning. The band lay down their instruments and walks towards the camera, off the set and the shot fades out.

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As my video is adopting a very familiar format, a live video shot at a ‘soundstage’, I want integrate many styles of camera work, mise en scene and cinematography. Through his significant influence, my camera work will be very like director Spike Jonze’s work. Spike has a way of making the way the camera interact with the people and the surroundings within his videos special and intimate, while maintaining the distance so that the viewer has something to latch onto when watching the video. If you watch such videos as Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of choice”, the camera only stays stationary at the beginning and end of the video – where actor Christopher Walken’s body language and facial expression give us the illusion of a tired man, not capable of the complex dancing included in the video. This creates a point of disequilibrium, as the viewer is amused throughout the video at the apparent sudden new lease of life introduced into this man, which is further accented by the use of constant camera movement, but as the video comes to a close he returns to his normal dormant state. The audience is left with an eerie sound of humming as he sits back down in his chair, and they are left thinking “what?” Spike Jonze’s videos are often wacky but very creative, and this creativity comes in the forms of imagination and skill – while retaining a lot of the ‘what?’ factor.

Cinematography will play an important part in the overall look of my video. I was influenced by newbie director and producer Saam Farahmand. The overall production of his videos are aesthetically gripping and interesting, and mostly unorthodox. I want to adopt his sense of lighting, framing and his use of seemingly wacky ways to get the video he wants. A great example of this is his video for Good Shoes’ “All in my head” where he features a band on a giant turntable and this was used to create a human zoetrope. The turntable was in fact for use at car exhibitions, for showcasing new models. He blagged this for free after practically chatting up some farmers that owned one. Saam also has a great for colour contrast, which is a regular signature in all of his video. He lights his videos, where possible, to create a sense of headroom and to remove any spatial boundary – a feature of such videos as The Klaxons’ “Golden Skans” and “It’s not over”. The way he framed and shot The Futureheads’ video for “The Beginning of the twist” was highly influential as it gave me license to be outlandish and really push the boundaries of my video - the video featured a hybrid overlay of animation onto real footage which was executed through post-production. As well as his influence for his cinematography, he has influenced my use of mise en scene. In his videos, the scene is setup mostly in a surrealist fashion. Referencing my point about headroom, Saam uses space to the best of his ability while retaining a connection with the audience. I want to imitate his use of space, contrasting colours and lighting. Using my two sets, I hope to create an authentic and attractive video utilising influence of camera work, cinematography, mise en scene, production and direction from the directors I have mentioned.

I want my video to connect with my audience through a channel of normality and realism, while shooting the video through a surrealist eye; i.e. the combination of a video shoot, a video shoot of a video shoot, strange contrast and varying perspective. The soundtrack will be the original track by the band, which I hope will intertwine with the video with ease.

The video showcases a video with contrasting personas; their true likeness and the stylised, produced “plastic fantastic” self. I want the video to be based around contrast; black and white, dark and light, true and fake, stage and home, surreal and real. I want the audience to relate to the band, to show them that you don’t have to be famous to have fun and to document the revolution of bands that are dominating our media, that are bands produced with image in mind not ability and that are barely grasping playing basic chords live in the mid-twenties.

I’m a drummer and I can play C, D, F, and G.

Research

Music videos are rapidly becoming a favourite format for relating to target audiences within the public domain today.

Spike Jonze, an American music video director, has paved the way in my influence for creating this music video. Spike uses a plethora of signature film techniques in each production he does, ranging from the one-take ‘steady cam’ shooting style of Weezer’s ‘Undone’ music video, which was filmed with the band playing the song at double speed and it being slowed down for the post-production editing - or the ‘handy cam’ voyeuristic guerrilla style of Fatboy Slim’s music video for ‘Praise You’ which was shot outside a movie theatre in California. His independent style of shooting has influenced me to not be afraid to try something far out and seemingly strange in my production or shooting style.

Famously, whenever Spike worked on the Beastie Boy's video for "Sabotage", he had planned for some underwater footage, but had no underwater camera. Spike took the camera and figured it would be alright if he just put it into a clear plastic bag - which actually didn't work, and the camera was ruined. In the same shoot, he had mounted a camera to a car that was supposed to drive down a hill at 80 mph, but when the car hit a bump in the road, the camera flew off, and was broken too. Spike broke two $200,000 16mm cameras on a shoot for a video that was budgeted at $55,000.

Spike has a very creative and unique eye in his productions; anybody that has ever worked with him has praised him by stating that it’s not his brilliant eye, his colours or his editing, it's his style that is so influenced by his personality. Spike has a playful yet very clever approach to his productions, which I would like to be able to carry over to my production.

A selection of videos that I particularly like, and have taken influence from, are Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You” and “Weapon of Choice”, Weezer’s “Undone” and “Buddy Holly” and the Beastie Boy’s “Sabotage”.

A common name on a lot of the industry’s minds’ today is music video director Saam Faramand. Saam has recently come to light in today’s ever-growing music video industry by directing and creating some of the most successful videos in the UK indie genre such as New Young Pony Club, Klaxons and most recently – The Futureheads.

Saam takes influence from a lot of musicians and their moving image associated with their music. He has experimented with animation and footage as a hybrid, and both respectively. Saam is a great influence on my production as I will in some ways creating homage to some of the work he has done. A particular favourite of mine is The Futureheads video for ‘The Beginning of the Twist’, which actually presents the video as pre-production materials such as raw green screening and fake storyboards where the band are playing in live with real pre-production scribblings, amongst others.


Saam’s style is strongly based around the use of black and white contrast, the use of continuous motion to make the viewer feel like they are part of the video and the constant innovation in his styles that make his videos very unique and ‘now’. Saam has often quipped that his approach to productions is always somewhat influenced by what he calls his “gay side”; Saam has been know to say that he openly loves Justin Timberlake and Michael Jackson’s music and that their music has influenced his eye and style whenever he creates his video ideas.

I would like to utilise Saam’s sense of creativity, mise en scene and cinematography within my music video – as I see parts of my video almost paying a direct homage to a lot of his work.

A selection of videos that I particularly like, and that I have taken influence from, are The Klaxons’ “Golden Skans” and “Its Not Over”, The Futureheads’ “The Beginning of the Twist” and Good Shoes’ “All In My Head”.

Finally, another popular video director has added an established edge to my influences – and this is in the form of American director Joseph Kahn. Joseph has worked with the ‘who’s-who’ of 20th century artists and has created some of the most visually recognisable videos in the public domain. Not only is a music video director, but he has created major commercial advertisements and feature films in his career to date.

Joseph’s video are stylised with great purpose; i.e. the video isn’t just put out there for the audience to take their own perception, Joseph lets the audience see what the purpose of the video is through his creative eye.

The one way Joseph’s influence differentiates between my other influences is the fact that Joseph mainly works with mainstream artists that have already strongly established themselves, where as my other influence still have a sense of independence about their style and ethic. Joseph’s video are often big budget, but with big impact.

His videos are influential because of the way he tells a story within the lines of the song, the camera angles and the mise en scene amongst other methods of channelling. Often praised for his sheer cinematic artistry, which has been know arguably outdistance some of the more prestigious current offerings that are in the public domain, video veteran Joseph Kahn has a very unique style and approach which he will forever have a reputation for.

From Joseph, I would like to take an element of mainstream hype and implement it into my production. I hope that his influence will almost boost my production values, even though I’m working on a shoe-string budget of very little!

A selection of videos that I particularly like, and that I have taken influence from, are Muse’s “Knights of Cydonia”, Moby “We are all made of stars”, Blink 182’s “Always” and Garbage’s “Cherry Lips”.

Treatment v1.2

Title:

‘Running to Escape’ – THE MYSTERONS (indie/new wave rock)

Duration:

approx. 3 minutes (180 seconds, excluding studio logo and credit sequence)

Main Characters:

- Daniel Sutherland (vocals/guitar)
- Eddie Fitzpatrick (guitar/vocals)
- Mark Rafferty (bass)
- Declan Price (drums)

Synopsis:

The video is to be broken into two sections; section one being the stripped down they are the styled, produced shoe-gaze like attitude and image and section two being the band in their true garage band style, running around the stage and not afraid to letting their viewing audience know that they are there to have fun as well.

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Shot fades into set one, a white 'greenscreen'-like backdrop sound stage (see right; Modest Mouse greenscreening at a video shoot). The band are on-stage having last minute make-up and style applied before the shoot begins. Band appear to be very clean cut and mass-produced, a record company executive's dream.

High key lighting kicks in, and the band begin to play in true shoegaze style (similar to bands like The Hives), and shots are then take from strange angles, each of the band members’ hands, feet, heads, instruments etc. Quick pan shot around band employing multiple angles.

The video continues profiling the band against a vacant white background, minimum amount of shadows and use of black/white contrast. All band members dressed in indie-kid costube, backline is black and white. Location changes to set two, a post-modern 90's household interior wall and doorway with the band playing in the doorway.

From the perspective of the camera, the camera tilts up and pans around and focuses on the open door way where there will be a band member playing with the white backdrop behind them. The camera pans further from the wall backdrop and uses graphic matches to intertwine the band members appearing in this doorway to sync up to the song.

The video cuts backwards and forwards between set one and set two, changing stylistic devices as the video advances (e.g. the shooting style of set one may become more rapid, where set two's shooting style may become more focused on the band member's movements in the doorway).The track and video breakdown in lieu of the song and there is a lighting change, where the stage lighting becomes strobe like as though the lighting engineer was in on the whole thing. The band starts to play with increasing energy and motion. This does not please the on-looking manager/record executive and he tries to cut the shoot by grabbing the camera. The cameraman completely ignores this as he begins to enjoy what the band are doing visually - being themselves. This is profiling the fun they wish they were having as a band, instead of the fasade of an image documented in the previous half of the video; this is to show the other, gritier side to the band's performance style.

The location moves backwards and forwards between set one and set two, where set two's 'shoot' is being filmed as the band members begin to trash the wall set. The song starts to reach its climax and the video becomes very fast cut and energetic, creating the image of frantic movement between set one and two. The band reach the peak of their activity within the song and as the song ends, the lighting will revert to the same way it was as playback began.

The band leaves the stage/set and walk towards the camera, off the set and shot fades out.

The video ends, and the credits play.

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RUNNING TO ESCAPE - The Mysterons

Directed by Lee McMahon.

Produced by Lee McMahon and The Mysterons.

Executive producer: Des McKevitt and Matt Davis

Lighting/Playback - Owen McCartan

With thanks to:

Raymond @ South Eastern Regional College

Sean Hollywood Arts Centre, Newry

Friends and family

Shimna Integrated College

Soundtrack/Score:

‘Running to Escape’ – The Mysterons

Recording sessions (17-18th March).

Song by Sutherland/Fitzpatrick/Rafferty/Price
Lyrics by Sutherland

Produced by Lee McMahon and The Mysterons
Engineered by Lee McMahon and Gary Price
Recorded at various locations.

SFX:

- Use of slow-motion edited and effects in post.

- Use of fast-cut editing style.

- Slow-cut first half, fast-cut second half.

New blog!

Due to the website idea not working out right now, I've decided to set-up a temporary blog to timeline the progress of pre-production, production and post-production of the music video of 'Running To Escape' by The Mysterons.

The blog will get a visual makeover in the next 24 hours and all progress up-to-date will posted. Watch this space.