Lesson 9 Part 2 - Posted on 2013-04-06 by Vanessa Agosto

April 4th, about 6 hours

Youtube video shoot!

We cleared a soundstage, noting where all the equipment was hooked up. This meant moving mics, a drum set, monitors, a keyboard, a guitar, chairs, music stands, an amp, and a bunch of musician detritus. Michael, Taylor and I helped set up lights, angles and sets, and Steve shot his first video. Pretty exciting! I'm really curious about how long the editing will take him. :)

Both songs were covers, the first with a dramatic look: the vocalist on a simple, black stage and lots of close-ups. Steve shot rather close; he was limited by his lens, I think. She ran through the full song for each angle, about 6 total for that song. Then we set something up that was more involved and had props - three armchairs, a red shag rug that wouldn't stop shedding, and some throw pillows. The shoot itself took about 3 hours, which wasn't too bad at all - it was the setting up and then cleaning up/replacing the stage after that took so long. 

It was interesting seeing an artist in action, and realizing how muh we affected her performance - both positively and negatively. Helping her relax made a huge difference. I mainly was the lighting stand-in as well as the DJ - which meant hitting play on Steve's phone. At first he had her lipsynching, but it didn't come across as well as when she actually sang. She had to do a lot of singing but was a real trooper about it - very professional, and only like 16! 

In all, the video shoot meant a lot of standing and lifting and toting. I was beat.