CREDITS:
Client
Prod. Company
EXEC. PRODUCER
DIRECTOR
DP
CAM OPS
...
...
GAFFER
POST
SYLVAN ESSO
remedy
Josh Sliffe
JOSH SLIFFE
ROB RUSSELL
JOSH SLIFFE
ROB RUSSELL
BRIAN DECONTRERAS
BRIAN DECONTRERAS
REMEDY
SYLVAN ESSO
"ECHO MTN"
We'd worked with Nick and Amelia from Sylvan Esso on a few other projects when they reached out to talk about filming 6 in-studio, live performances of songs from their then recently released album, "What Now".
Sylvan Esso has always just been Nick and Amelia, but what was cool about this time was that not only would we be doing takes of them recording a live album in studio, but they’d also be doing it with a full band for the first time. We just didn’t know exactly how many members of the band there would be, how they’d be laid out in the room, or when exactly they’d be recording on the day. We got the indication pretty quickly that we’d need to be flexible and do what we could to eliminate as many variables in production as possible.
THE DETAILS
Most of the examples of these kinds of videos online either have lots of little dslr's in a room shown as-is or really big setups with tons of massive camera setups, huge lights, big built sets, and smoke. We didn't have the desire to throw a bunch of dslr's in a room nor did we have a budget to play like the big guys, but we still wanted to do what we could to make it as dreamy or as visually-exciting as we could. With that in mind, we knew we'd have to call in some favors and do some magic to get the right cameras, lenses, and lights for the project.
*THE GEAR*
For camera department, we managed to squeeze every drop of our budget and get 3 RED Dragons with 3 Easyrigs, and for that extra-special sauce we used a set of LOMO anamorphic lenses (35, 50, 85), hence the J.J. Abrams Star Trek look.
For lights, we were going to be in a small sanctuary with big tall windows and hard wood floors. The windows might have been great, but being we'd be filming multiple takes of songs throughout the day and wouldn't have crew to adjust lighting/grip as the sun moved, we had to black out the windows to have a completely controlled environment. From there we created a general lighting plot to key everyone in the room plus the addition of some small fixtures throughout to flair those anamorphics and go for broke on a washy flaired-out look.
The videos were all released one day at a time on NPR's All Songs Considered.
Click the link to watch the rest of the videos!
CHECK OUT SOME
MORE WORK!