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Fireworks: The Process of Making a Music Video... Part 7


Day 2 was a real treat.

We shot the first vocal synch segment and several B-Roll shots.

We started at the Cement House. While Kyle was getting ready, I took some wide vistas and establishing shots. The 2-Perf Super 35mm format really makes these wide shots much more stunning.

The first shot in the vocal sequence had Kyle, sitting on a rocky outcrop on the extreme right, the Cement House in the background and a huge rusty old winch in the foreground on the extreme left. As the shots progressed I moved Kyle across the frame, ending up on the extreme right. The results will be very dreamy as each shot dissolves into the next.

I’ve been asking a lot of the Portra 400. It’s latitude for underexposure is legendary, but I’m asking it for 2 stops over exposure in some instances. Negative Filmic emulsions have always handled highlights better than any digital format ever could. I’ve always put a tremendous amount of faith in Kodak films and have only seldom been disappointed. That and the esthetic of the sun coming in and out of clouds will add to the look of the film. I can also cut around it with B-Roll if the results are too egregious.

My ear is slowly tuning itself to the slowed down version of the song. I can hear the lyrics and the slowed down guitar strumming. I think when it comes time to listen to the regular version in the edit I may not recognize it.


Also, I discovered that the lifespan of a LomoKino camera is 82 rolls. The crank has a tiny plastic tooth that engages the spindle. this tooth slowly gets chewed up as the crank turns and occasionally skips frames. Kyle brought his LomoKino as a back-up. I used the front of our Kino and the back of Kyle's. 
So. Just so you you know... 82 rolls.

The B-Roll shots were next. Lesley-Anne stayed at the Cement House with the gear while Kyle and I trekked up the rocky coastline, past several very confused sheep and lambs, up the hill to the cliff side. The view was epic. Kyle stood at the edge of the cliff with the feathery bits of the costume blowing in the slight breeze. Arran was in the background; it’s peaks barely visible through the clouds. I cranked the LomoKino slowly to make the most of the movement of the clouds and the feathers while Kyle stood stock-still and barefoot.

There was a nice close-up of Kyle, followed by a great shot of just one of the feathery bits of costume on the edge of the cliff, fluttering in the breeze.

We trundled back down the cliff and had lunch at The Musiker, a vegetarian café in Rothesay.


We scouted some possible B-Roll shots in Ascog with little joy. I suggested we take the coastal trail from Kerrycroy to Mount Stewart. There were some locations that might be of interest. There’s an old concrete boathouse and a very old stone barn that has been taken over by a huge tree.

It was a great walk. We shot a stand of prehistoric looking ferns. The other shot of potential interest to me was looking up through some tree cover into the open sky. At f11 it was going to be difficult to get the shot sufficiently out of focus to make it interesting, so I placed the +4 diopter over the lens. I think the result will be a nice element to cut around or to use between dissolves.

On the way back, we shot some coastline and a great ECU of a tiny waterfall, varying the crank speed to make the water movement change in shot.

It was a great day. Tomorrow will be the big Lighthouse Trek.


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