Music Video

On A Dark And Stormy Night - Music Video by Rachel Lynn

FableForge — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:00:16 +0000

She is a pleasure to work with, and for, as humble as she is talented and generous, Rachel Lynn.

Directed by Calavera Crew: Ezequiel, "Punk Rock" Ryan Peña, Elias Matar, Matt Eskandari,

Edited by yours truly.

Produced by Anthony Brewster

Winner of the KarmaCritic Music Video Contest.

The KarmaCritic Films logo at the end was created by Captain David Xarach, and its a joy to watch every time!

I updated the little things I wanted to fix about it, so its about as nice as I can get it, at this point. A real pleasure and honor, pirates!

P.S. All Contestants: Feel free to submit your videos under your own name here in KC at this time, if you want to! I personally do want this in my library in my profile here at the site :)

RACHEL LYNN MUSIC VIDEO CONTEST - RULES AND KICKOFF

FableForge — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 02:32:01 +0000

Alright Pirates, this is it!!!

I've uploaded 1 Gigabyte worth of video data to the onadarkandstormynightmovie.com server. It is approximately 1 hour of footage of Rachel Lynn singing in a variety of settings, and little over 10 minutes of select footage from the actual movie. No, you don't get any spoilers, or anything that's not in the synopsis/trailers anyway :)

Tomorrow at around 7 PM Eastern Time, all contestants will be sent an email with instructions to download and unrar the footage. You will need this tool, at the very least, to uncompress the video files: WinRar, so I'd suggest installing it ahead of time. The Rachel Lynn footage is a 750 plus megs avi file, the movie footage is a 144 megs wmv file, get your converters ready, I personally use VideoLan, but suit yourself. Keep in mind that the audio of the footage is intentionally bad, this is because you're not supposed to use it! The only audio you're supposed to use is here: http://www.karmacritic.com/files/Dar...

You may use other footage, as long as you legally own it! More on that in the rules below.

Now, the Rules:

You are to create a music video for Rachel Lynn's song ON A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT using only materials:
- For which you are the copyright holder (proper documentation will be required from the winner), or
- Which are Public Domain (again, burden of proof is on you), or
- Which were provided to you in the package mentioned above. (All of the above means: don't just steal video! If you don't own it, or we didn't give it to you, you can't use it! Of course, if another filmmaker gives you footage, like the moon shot Lady Parker placed on Vimeo for this contest specifically, that is certainly acceptable, but we'll need documentation, in this case, her post in KC is enough).
You must make Rachel Lynn look good. This is her song, and her video. Don't let her go out of synch, don't use shots that aren't flattering. This is the easiest of all rules to enforce, because if you fail at this, she simply won't choose your work as the winner, and you lose :)
Keep in mind this is a commercial product. Do not show any material that would make this inadmissible in mainstream national television. No blood, gore, murder scenes, swear words, etc. Use your common sense. Again, if you fail at this, you simply lose cause Rachel wouldn't choose a video that is inappropriate for the airwaves.
You have until next Wednesday to finish. First thing in the morning on Thursday, the contest closes to submissions! All of this hints at the method by which the winner will be chosen:
Rachel Lynn herself! She will see all videos, then simply choose the
winner, which will be announced in our radio show (after Peter
Jackson!) :)
Now, to make sure Rachel does not know which person made which video, all contestants will submit their work via ANONYMOUS VIMEO ACCOUNTS. Instructions to create these accounts will be provided to contestants tomorrow. You will be able to upload your video, and title it as you wish, but if anyone is caught anywhere providing details as to who the author of which video is, disqualification applies. Let's keep this a fair contest, gentlemen! Be sportsmanlike!
Work in as high definition as you possibly can, remember this work may be seen outside of the web world, including potential for Cable Television, DVDs, etc.
DO NOT share the source material provided to you with ANYONE! In fact, to prevent this from leaking, the
material will be deleted from the server the day after tomorrow, you
will only have around 24 hours to download it.

After the contest is over and a winner has been chosen, everyone is welcome to post their videos here in KC, under their own names.

The winner will sign a legal contract so that his work can be used by Rachel; please don't expect compensation other than seeing your work promoted by a well-connected and very talented artist, in as many platforms as she feels motivated to! I wouldn't be surprised if this leads to networking which leads to other (paying) jobs, but that's up to you and where you take things from here :)

Have fun, show your creativity, and may the best Pirate Win!

A Dark And Stormy Song

FableForge — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:42:01 +0000

Well, this is one of those ideas where everybody wins.

Here's the setup:

EZ has his movie done as we all know, and Rachel Lynn made a GREAT song for it. I don't say this just for saying it, the song KICKS ass. Look, before we go any further, have a little listen:

See what I mean? Good, now that you're on board, here's the deal:

A KICK-ASS music video MUST be made. It must be as good as the song itself is. In fact, if the music video is good enough, EZ has the connections (and by God, the motivation!) to try to push the song into places like VH1, MTV and the like. This would be incredibly good for everybody. EZ's movie would get a huge publicity boost, Rachel herself would get a music video (in TV, no less!) and you could put that sort of thing in your resume. Worthy careers have gotten a start with music videos, ... just off the top of my head, Tarsem Singh, Spike Jonze (who ironically, was following the steps of Spike Jones), etc. Next thing you know, another music band contacts you cuz they want your skills on their video too?

But music videos are expensive, you say? You don't have cameras you say, you don't have lighting equipment, actors, heck, Rachel Lynn wouldn't even return your phonecalls? Well dear friends, that's where we come in. EZ is prepping up the set, the lights, the cameras, the stormy and Rachel, for a shoot very soon. His goal is to obtain COOL QUALITY FOOTAGE of the muse singing the theme song for his movie. He's gonna post that footage for us to consume, edit, and process as we see fit. You don't need to buy anything, you don't need a budget! All you need is your trusty computer, some editing software and your skills and time.

Rachel herself will judge which video is the winner. And like I said, it goes from there, as its in both the best interest of a well connected filmmaker and a well connected musician, to promote the hell out of YOUR video. Not a bad deal where I'm standing. I'm gonna enter, sure as hell I am.

If I've succesfully sold my case, you're wondering what to do next: post your commitment here. It took me just one weekend to edit my Insane Clown Posse video SEDATIVES, and it's gotten about 20 thousand views in youtube since (more than any other creative work of mine, save the editorials, for comparison).

Those who post here that they're in like Flint, will receive an email from EZ via yousendit.com . That email will have links for you to download the footage he's gonna shoot of Rachel, plus the footage from the movie he's allowing for the music video. High Quality material. And, of course, you can download the song here: http://www.karmacritic.com/files/Dark.mp3 . One week after The Emails are sent, Rachel will come to Karma to see all contestants, and choose the winner, all by herself, no points, no judges, just Rachel.

The prize? Well, best case scenario, you'll get your work on some music video channel, and things go from there. Worst case scenario, it'll be on the movie's DVD, with whatever distribution deal the movie gets. Either way, its worth a weekend's worth of effort in my view. We give you the song, the footage, the distribution opportunity, all you have to do is put'em together.

Feel the love, baby!

So, who's in?

The Making of the "Sedatives" Music Video

FableForge — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 01:02:46 +0000

So, I like ICP. Insane Clown Posse are a weird species in the rapper fauna... they put on clown makeup, their songs are almost always about killing people in many many creative and gory ways, and they have a cult following that is truly a cult... the "Juggalos". Their theology is more or less well shaped, and is loosely called "The Dark Carnival", complete with their versions of Heaven and Hell, God and the Devil (called "The Witch") and mysterious avatars come to earth to warn people of the impending doom. These are called "Joker Cards", and there's six of them, etc etc etc etc. Its a full cosmology. Anyway, in their Sixth Joker's Card, which was a double album (to represent both heaven and hell), they had a song called "Sedatives". I need to put the lyrics here to put the madness in perspective:

-------------------------------

I like to suffocate people and bite their necks!
They got me in a place that ain't like the rest-
And all you gotta do
is try to go for the neck!
And then sedatives... sedatives...
like that slow down..,
colors smear all around-
Weird sounds, you're into the mind of a clown
And the wicked ones somehow spinnin' around
Wheel me down the hallway, arms strapped down-
With sedatives!

Hangin' all out the neck from the IV
Sedatives for the lively study me,
ask me, no answer
I'm cuttin' your neck first chancer'!

White walls, white floors, small rooms!
With the sedatives, they become ballrooms!
Crows fly by my window slow...
Headed that way but lookin' at me though...

Sedatives
Sedatives me
Sedatives
Sedatives me
Sedatives
Sedatives me
Sedatives
Sedatives me

I'm an accident human malfunction at best-
And I'm lookin' at a scalpel sinkin' into your chest-
If I could only move, but them sedatives...
You know, they're saving your life, them sedatives!
Some of these other patients are strong as hell-
Suffocating one creep took me long as hell
But I took his sedatives,
well I thought they were sedatives!
But they were only medatives!

I fake pain, call em' over and play dead-
And yank a fistful of hair out the nurse lady's head-
High on sedatives again, put me in a tiny place-
Chin strap, muzzle over my face
I threw a guy off the roof first day they admitted me
I was sedated but that's when it hit me...
The only time I'm at peace is when I ain't even there-
God tell me why the fuck am I here?!

Want a lobotomy, shock therapy
Come clean me nurse
Take care of me...
I suffocated the last 2 they sent in alone-
They had to stick me in the chest with a shot of methadone-
Recreation time, wheel me to the courtyard-
Four guards in white and they might be important
And the sky is blue and I can watch trees grow
Watch leaves blow, until the sedatives show

Why I even have my very own room these days-
White straight jacket, padded walls and PJ's
But there's so many ways and every stunt I pull
I even slammed my own mouth down on the toilet bowl-
For attention, maybe, not to mention the sedatives!
Heard one guy say "why even let it live?"
There's probably no sedatives in Hell
And that's the only reason I'm alive still!

The witch is everywhere and I can see that y'all
Stabbed one nurse in the neck with a straw
A plastic straw, yeah it's flimsy and weak
But if you cork it with your thumb and hold it right... FEEK!

----------------------------------------

So, as you can see, not entirely sane :)

But incredibly interesting. The more I listened to this song, usually driving to or from work, I kept seeing scenes in my head that matched the music. For instance... "white floors, white walls, small rooms! With the sedatives, they become ballrooms" and I could kinda see the four shots involved in that, the last one would be the same room but flooded with light, and then focused on a window, so that "crows fly by my window slow, headed that way but looking at me though" and then I would imagine the sequence of interweaving shots of the man's eyes and the crow's. And same with a lot more shots, like "the wicked ones somehow spinning around, rolling down the hallway, arms strapped down"... etc etc etc.

So, step 1: See it all in your head.

Step 2 was to try to find or make footage for it. I knew I could bandage my head just like I did for Camera Guy and then I would just need a hospital. But the chances of me "rolling down the hallway arms strapped down" in a real hospital without getting arrested were slim. Then the little light bulb spawned over my head: archive.org! Archive.org is one of those things so crazy that they might just work. They want to archive nearly everything they can. I mean it... nearly everything they can. I think some billionaire funds them for... the benefit of humanity, or somesuch. Anyway, they have a ton of public domain footage from the 50's, 40's, even 30's, not to mention a bunch of believers from www.creativecommons.org and others. My type of crowd. I spent all saturday downloading movies of all kinds. I downloaded an actual movie called "Mental Hospital" from where I got most of my shots, as well as my protagonist (totally Public Domain, baby!), and then another one very interesting about schizophrenic patients in the 50s, and two jewels: a soviet mind-fuck about reanimating dead bodies (really. Really, really, they reanimate the head of a dog, this is some weird shit) and a documentary about the Heart and circulatory system that in all its black and white goriness was just as effective as NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD :) I was set, babes.

Step 2: Get all your clips together.

Then sunday was a good day. I spent it with the kids and wife, but every now and then I would sneak in to Adobe Elements to imagineer a mental patient who liked to "suffocate people and bite their necks". Wholesome, uplifting weekend. This is the fun part, at least for me. Just.. listening to the music, hunting for the perfect clip, placing it, cropping it, speeding it up or slowing it down till it fits, waiting for the next little single bell in the song (DING!!!) to match something to... sometimes something subtle like the two faces of the men in the park ("recreation time, we went to the courtyard, four guards.. " etc), sometimes something in-your-face like the syringe at the very beginning. That little bell was my best friend, my orchestra director, my rythm. (My personal favorite: the diver near the end of the clip, perfoming a perfect back swan dive from 10 feet into a vat of sedatives! heh!). It was fun, I have to say it. I could do that all day and never get bored. In fact, the only reason why I dont do this all day, is because Step 2 above is usually very hard, time consuming, and/or expensive :( I did supplement my vids with my trusty webcam, which gave me a few fist videos, including the "stabbed a nurse in the neck with a straw, a plastic straw, yeah its flimsy and weak but if you cork it with your thumb and hold it right, FREEK!". I'll sell the straw in ebay when I'm famous :)

Give me footage and I'll give you music videos! Such is the glory of

Step 3: Edit the structure together!

The next step was moderately fun, but mostly boring. I took a high quality, no audio export out of Adobe Elements (as quicktime, H.264 compressor) and into Adobe After Effects, where I had a "Magic Bullet" of a time. I added vignette lighting, random light leaks, a subtle grey scale, and at first, bright blooms and light streaks. I say at first, because sadly, the next stage was boring as a straightjacket. I had to wait for the damn thing to render, then see if the resulting video was quality enough, then bring it back to Adobe Elements, re-interlace it with the music and then seeing if the resulting export was quality enough AND under 100 megabytes for yoube. This is the stage that sucked. After the crappy prototype upload last monday mornings, it took me all the rest of this week to just try one render after another looking for the optimal quality. I hated this stage. I call it:

Step 4: Render and re-render until you almost regret the whole thing.

Man, I tried mov, wmv, mpeg, all sorts of codecs, compressors, bit rates.. man, it almost seems -designed- to suck the fun out of the whole thing! But I prevailed, haha!

And thus, I updated my youtube entry with a better quality version.

And slightly better than youtube, here's an embed from its competitor, LiveVideo which takes up to 200 megs (I used 198):

Sedatives

Nu-uh, this isnt the end of the adventure. I'm still waiting to hear from Psychopathic Records's lawyers as to whether I can use this video of their copyrighted song, or must I "cease and desist". Sigh. We shall see! This, my friends, belatedly, is

Step 0: Get the damn copyright of what you're about to invest your time on!

Unfortunately, they may have not taken me seriously at Step 0 if I had not undertaken the previous four.. so its a chicken-and-egg kind of problem. Que sera sera!

Thanks for reading! :)

It Takes 2 Music Video

veenotph — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 22:37:30 +0000

Well, here it is, as requested. I found a version already on You Tube, and this one seems closest to the actual video, although with some video distortion.

I was the Shooter on this, and it was a hoot.

So open up the nostalgia doors, sit back and enjoy.

And remember - It takes 2

To Post or Not to Post?

veenotph — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 01:17:30 +0000

So, I've just gotten a copy of the first Music Video I was D.P. on. This was almost twenty years ago.

The song is "It Takes 2", by Rob Base and D.J. Easy Rock. This was back in the day of the $5,000 music video, although this one didn't cost that much. The "Producer" was Dwayne Haywood - who was basically a theif, and would take the bands money, and then get film school students to bring the gear and work for free. Fuji was trying to break into the market in 16mm in New York back then, and they were giving away film. So he would show up with (4) 100 foot rolls of film (about ten minutes.)

I managed to get two bolexes, a crystal motor for the cameras, a sun gun, and a single Lowell D for interiors from school. Not much of a lighting kit, but I was only "hired" the night before the shoot.

Tale of woe continues, used my van to get to the locations, and of course there was an accident (you learn fast in this business), the other driver was at fault, and of course didn't have insurance.

What a day. Shooting on a slim budget, we loaded the cameras, and swapped the motor between them when we had to reload. Still it was a long day. This girl from college came along to help shoot, and she ended up getting stuck on the the shoot up in the Bronx, while college was down in Brooklyn. After the shoot she crashed at my place, and come the morning I had a girlfriend.

So in the end, I never got a copy of the music video. Then 19 years later - I see my name mentioned on IMDB in connection with "Through the Years of Hip Hop Vol. 1 - Graffitti", I track down a copy on Amazon and it arrives.

Man is the video dated, and there is only so much a sun gun can give you in a crowd of people, or what headlights are good for at night. Just trying to get an exposure.

Not sure the copyright issues involved with putting it on the web, Not sure I even want any of it on my reel it is so dated and crude.

So any thoughts?

Thanks.

Filming at Telluride Jazz Festival

Sunlight_Digital — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 14:13:07 +0000

Well... as long as I'm in the posting pictures of concert gigs... here's another one!

This is at Telluride Jazz Festival - and that is Airto Moreira. He and his wife, Flora Purim, were the Guests Of Honor at Telluride Jazz last year and this was the main stage of the Festival bearing Flora and Airto's name. Other performers to grace the FnA stage that weekend included such legends as Herbie Hancock and Larry Coryell.

For those of your unfamiliar with Flora and Airto (as were we before becoming involved with this project) - try Googling their names and/or the names associated with their musical lives... Chick Corea, Santana, Weather Report... they've definitely been around!

(to give you an idea of Flora's level of fame - a sample of her unique vocal style was included in the space probe sent out into the universe in mankind's effort to be in touch with any other life forms out there. That's big. =)

(We're doing on-going work for a documentary about Flora and Airto - with interviews with George Duke, Alphonso Johnson.. oh.. and this month Wayne Shorter)

Sunlight Digital filming Toad The Wet Sprocket

Sunlight_Digital — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 14:06:36 +0000

I stumbled on an article about Toad The Wet Sprocket's recent re-union tour - and lo and behold, one of the concert pictures caught yours truly filming them. This was taken at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles.

Blonde and Blonder / Double Feature

Sunlight_Digital — Sun, 27 May 2007 18:03:57 +0000

Now that it's aired on Entertainment Tonight in Canada, the Blonde and Blonder producers have granted permission to post it on YouTube!

Here's the music video opening of the EPK we put together for "Blonde and Blonder" starring Pamela Anderson and Denise Richards.

The lengthier EPK that follows is coming next...

YouTube's time limit forced dividing up the piece.

Enjoy!

- AK

ForceFit

zeppe63136 — Thu, 24 May 2007 21:19:05 +0000

My friends band needed a quick music video. This is what I was able to get to them on short notice. Not much, but it did the trick.