shooting the studio session - some behind the scenes stories

Marc wears many hats: videographer, visual artist, filmmaker and photographer.

And for this time, his main role is to taken most charge with my studio session shooting.

Originally I thought that when it comes to shoot a music video, the videographer’s only jobs are managing the shooting angles and lighting.

Yet the first thing Marc wanted to do was discuss the character and vibe of the track I would be performing, so that he could set the right mood for the video. After several conversations, we agreed that the music called for a nighttime atmosphere.

However, when we inspected the site, we discovered that the studio had a large window without curtains. The weather forecast for the shooting day predicted bright sunshine. I thought at first of bringing my own curtains, but found that the wall and window had nothing to support them.

Creating the scene and mood we wanted started to seem impossible. Even though I didn’t consider the nighttime vibe to be critical, the thought of not having it brought on strong feelings of regret.

Fortunately, Marc has far more experience than I do working with lighting, including natural light. He offered the simplest and cleverest solution imaginable: We could open the window, insert curtains, and then close the window to hold the curtains in place.

Marc sent me a picture showing how he had used this trick before, with dark bed sheets serving as curtains. Once I saw the pictures, I realized that the curtains of my dormitory room would work perfectly to create the right atmosphere. It was one of those little moments that dramatically boost your confidence in working with another person.

On shooting day, Marc’s serious attitude and rigorous attention to detail surprised me again. He took out a notebook showing the shooting angles and techniques he had planned. As we set up shots, he constantly adjusted the position and intensity of his light sources according to the conditions in the room.

He was not satisfied until he had gone from the two lighting units he started with up to five. None of this relentless attention to detail was wasted effort, either, as the final look of the scene vastly exceeded my expectations.

Yet it is also said that “differences in profession make one feel worlds apart”. Marc initially thought that once the instruments were in place, we could start recording right away. In reality, it took about an hour for me to position the microphones and set up the inputs to get the proper sound.

That left us with one less hour than Marc had planned on for the actual shooting, and so less footage than we expected and wanted. Still, the existing footage will be enough for editing, and I guess we have both learned some lessons through our collaboration.

When we got together to transfer the footage, Marc and I talked about the potential to work together on other artistic projects in the future. As we both appreciate each other’s aesthetics, I am very much looking forward to a time when we can combine our talents again. I certainly found the result of this go-around satisfactory, and without doubt, things will only get better as we collaborate further.