I had a totally new client hit me up from Oakland, CA saying he managed a younger up and coming rap group and he wanted me to shoot their music video. I think he said he saw another music video I've shot online, and he decided to give me a try. I talked to him on the phone and emailed back and forth a few times, and at first I was just going to be shooting the video, and not editing it. That sounded fine, I was just hoping the editor would be there to see the context of the shots, and make sense of everything the way we saw it when shooting. I was eventually hired to shoot and edit it, so I was excited to be able to show them what I can do A-Z.
The shoot was on a Saturday in the Oakland Hills at a privately owned horse ranch. The song is called "Pony," so it naturally seemed appropriate. It wasn't my call, but I went along with it 100%. I got there a little bit early, and there was one person sitting on the ledge of the obvious apparent shooting location. I got out of my car and introduced myself. He didn't quite recognize me as the videographer for the shoot, but I had seen photos of him... Once the key players arrived, we had time to go over basic concepts while we waited for the extras to arrive. It seemed like that was taking longer than expected, so I was eager to get started shooting whatever we could with the duo starring in the video. Take one, scene 3 the solo takes of the song in an attic in something like a horse stable.
I was contracted to be there for 6 hours, and by the 3 hour mark we still hadn't gotten much accomplished, getting a late start, and a slow beginning. There were still essential scenes we hadn't shot, and we needed more A & B roll. I think their manager gave them a little pep talk, but that's all they needed because the last 3 hours were extremely productive. I stayed maybe 30-45 minutes late, but I'm not sure how much of that was just friendly conversation...
Now the edit was a fun one. They had a basic concept for the opening scenes, but after that it was my call on the edits. We had shot at multiple sets at the ranch and they wanted particular parts of each, but it was very open ended. I learned something with this edit. I learned an awesome way to color correct footage... I came up with a completely absurd way that has probably never been thought of by any other person, but it'll stay my little secret. We kept it pretty subtle, but the possibilities are endless and amazing with my new technique. Videography, software, even my way of thinking has changed a lot since the time I first got into shooting videos, and I'm really impressed where things are at right now.
Check the video below & a few photos of the cast on set.
