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Music Video Shoot - Light Treasons "The Marionette"

Andrea Kiefer
Mar 31, 2016
3 min read

This is typically how it goes... a friend of mine contacts me to say their friend is looking for someone to help them make a video, the best days are when they say "music video", i don't know why. I think it may have something to do with growing up with real MTV, discovering 'Yo MTV Raps' and avidly watching each video as it came on, then came MTV2, which was a lifesend!!! Introduced me to a lot of bands i might not have got into without those videos, i remember making music video compilation VHS tapes, just recording them as they came on TV. Then there was that other channel... fuse? something like that, where you could call in and request a video to play, kind of like a video jukebox, you learned your favourite videos 3 digit numbers and got super excited when someone called in and the number came on the screen as they selected it, but you weren't allowed to call yourself as your parents wouldn't let you. Even though MTV and MTV2 are still around they are a far, far cry from what they once were!

Anyway, so your friend puts you in touch with their friend and you meet to go through what they're thinking. Collaboration can be difficult, so its amazing when you find people who are easy and good at collaboration, who fit with the way you work and vice versa. This is what i found with The Light Treasons guys, super easy to work with, fun to be around, turning a long shoot day into a laid back shoot day.

This is the final product:

The concept as explained in that first meeting changed a little as seeing the location and the limitations that it supplied, and then changed again in post production as the nuances in the filming needed to be worked out, mostly slide timing and doorway wrangling. An endless corridor of multiples of band members playing the song individually or in pairs, culminating at the end of the hall with the reveal of the complete band playing the remainder of the performance.

We were on location for about 11 hours in total, Louisville Music Studios in Okolona. I've only been driving about 3 months when we filmed this and it was only the second time i'd been anywhere close to that area of Louisville, but i made it with the help of Google Maps!! Only used one camera, my Canon 5diii with a couple different lenses 28mm and 35mm primes, a 5ft cineslider and a zacuto shoulder mount. I am not tall, nor do i have a ton of upper body strength, but i don't think those were detrimental factors on this shoot.

The edit took about two ish weeks, not every day but a decent chunk of time, input from the band and a round of changes and it was good to go! Edited primarily with Adobe Premiere to line up the action with the song, then taken into After Effects to achieve the wall blends and masking in a more effective way as i prefer the way AE animates masks. I coloured in AE also, adding some grain and sharpness.

If you like it and want to hear more, this is their Facebook page Light Treasons

They have shows coming up.

I also made them this gag/bloopers reel :) This is raw and without colour.