After the Degree Show opening event I figured that the Photography course would be winding down for the summer, with little engagement planned for me. Then a notification popped up in Canvas, the system that was recently hacked by naughty people, about a live brief. A live brief is an opportunity to work in a professional capacity with a “customer/client” to produce some work and they come in through the great relationships that the University Of Wolverhampton has with many creative companies and organisations around the West Midlands and the country.
This live brief was a chance to shoot some candid, behind-the-scenes photographs for a production company that were filming for a music video. The artists mentioned in the brief were Jaki Graham and Johnny Hates Jazz, musicians that I remember on the TV and radio when I was in my youth during the 80s and 90s. I figured that it would be a great opportunity to do a live brief, as many of the previous events have been whilst I’ve been busy at work. I signed up and was joined by Meg, one of my course-mates who also put her name down. Once we were accepted, I booked the day off work and started doing some research.
The building would be the screen school building in the Alan Turing building on the main city campus, check.
The Gear
The shoot would be in a video studio so would probably be well lit with constant lighting as is required for a video shoot. I would be taking my digital cameras and also a film camera, just for the hell of it. I wouldn’t need a tripod or shutter release cable so that should save some space in the bag. I also wouldn’t need the 100mm macro or 24mm Tilt-Shift lens so they would stay at home too. In my bag then on the Friday morning then:
- Canon R5 MkII
- Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L
- Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L
- Leica Q3 built in 28mm f/1.7
- Leica M6
- Voigtlander 35mm f/1.7
- 1 roll of This Is How I Roll 500T Colour film
- 1 roll of Kodak Tri-X 400 B&W Film
Research
In terms of researching the artists I spent some time listening to their back-catalogue on Apple Music and reading a bit about them from various sources around the web. Some of the music I remember from my younger days, Johnny Hates Jazz (JHJ) were best known for a song called “Shattered Dreams” amongst a few others and were typically a duo. I made some notes about the members of the band so that I might be able to say hello without asking their names. Jaki Graham was a solo or worked a bit with David Grant and was primarily a legend in the Soul music genre. The most memorable of her back catalogue for me is “Could it be I’m falling in love?” and she has been around for a long time, not seeming to have aged at all.
I’d looked into the record company too Revolver Records who have a large stable of artists including The Stone Roses, Tony Hadley, Tony Christie, Jane’s Addiction, Diamond Head, Tangerine Dream and even Leo Sayer. They are based in Wolverhampton too so it’s a great relationship for the University to hold. I knew a couple of names of people who might be at the shoot from Revolver and tried to hold these in my tiny brain so that I knew who was who. It didn’t help much as there would turn out to be loads of people there.
The Shoot
On the day of the shoot I picked up my bags, including a laptop etc and jumped in the car. A fifty minute drive to Wolverhampton and when I arrived I noted the staff car park I usually tailgate into was half empty and there were fewer chances to follow someone in so I went up the side of the Molineux to the on-street parking and when that was unavailable I parked in the Staff car park at the Molineux. As I jumped out of the car and picked up my gear I remembered that I’d forgotten to pack my Student ID and gre concerned that I would not be able to get into the building. I shouldn’t have worried, it was all good.
Upon getting into the building I met Paul from Paul Green Productions who would be editing the footage that would be captured today. I met a few more representatives from Revolver Records and introduced myself. Meg was here already too and she was shooting using her Sony Alpha camera today. After standing around chatting together a bit there were more and more people arriving before Jaki Graham arrived with her make up artist, daughter/manager and husband. Arriving a little late, Clark Datchler from JHJ appeared and needed some assistance to carry his wardrobe from the Civic Centre car park so a few of us volunteered to help.
Once we’d arrived back at the studio, Jaki was having her make up done by the MUA and it was going well. Clark was preparing his clothes for the shoot and there was much excitement about his Alexander McQueen items, from his shoes to a smart shirt and jacket. Jaki and the record company as well as the video team were selecting some outfits from the collection that she had brought along with her too. There was a bit of chatter that she would wear some spangly outfits and I was unsure as to how these would work with the green screen when it was being keyed out in post production. I’m aware that if the spangles reflect the green colour then they might be almost see-through when it comes to compositing images behind the singers.
I watched as Paul and Gwyn from the production team completed the tweaking of the lights to ensure that it wasn’t too “hot” or too bright to prevent washing out the faces of the artists. They set up the tripod for the camera so that it could be easily moved from close to far away in order to catch the wide, mid, close shots. They checked the green screen curtain too to ensure there were as few ruffles in it as possible, else they might have more work in post-production back in their editing suite.
Just as Jaki was finishing up in the MUA chair it was time for Clark to sit down for a powder application, although he did his hair himself. Time was moving on and then the Mayor Of Wolverhampton and the Lady Mayoress arrived to say hello to the musicians and the University teams who were hosting the video shoot. There was much chatting and discussing of various topics before the production team were getting concerned about the time and ensuring the video got underway. I took the opportunity to ask for some group photos whenever there was a change in circumstances and people moving between tasks. The visitors took a seat and the filming commenced.
First Shot
The first shot was a twin with both Jaki and Clark on the stage, the music being played via a boombox near to the camera. They both stood in the frame and had a good groove whilst their track Soul Believer played out of the boom-box. The camera was set as a wide for this shot to capture their heads to their feet. My camera was set as 1/400th of a second at f/4.0 and the ISO was in auto but many of the shots are about ISO 400 or 640 when I point at the green screen area. The lighting is so good, it is no trouble to capture the details in Clark’s black and red jacket or Jaki’s sparkling red shoes. After this run through the camera man changes to a mid shot of the pair and replays the track. Paul, the director, is giving the artists lots of praise and telling them that they are very funky but not to be too frightened to give it maximum funking, he’s basically keeping them sweet whilst Gwyn changes the camera for the next shot.
Another shot of the pair but this time closer in sees these three done. Then it’s time to move onto the single shots where there are three run throughs for the track and a repeat of wide, mid and close shots. Clark is up first in his very snazzy black and red jacket. Meg and I are moving around the edge of the green screen on the floor, ensuring that we stay out of the shot. I’m trying to capture the action through frames, whether it’s the camera crews legs, or the tripods, or the studio equipment. One of the shots I looked at saw Clark dancing next to the JVC boombox which is in the foreground, but it makes him look a bit small, almost borrower style proportions.
I noticed also that getting around the side of the stage meant that I could frame the perfectly lit face of the singer in the soft box high above behind them. I tried this a few times and in a couple of shots I thought it worked well, but mostly they were a bit meh. I was making images of the crew at the same time and the rest of the people in the rear of the studio, some who were grooving along with the music.
Once Clark had finished all of his shots, it was time for Jaki to hit the floor again, still wearing the red outfit and grooving along to the music once or thrice more.I tried some of the similar shots that I made of Clark and on one occasion I noticed that if I stood behind one of the constant lighting LED panels all I could see were Jaki’s legs. For some reason it amused me so I grabbed a couple of images of this too.
After the twin and single shots were completed, the singers went off to get changed and have a bite to eat. I needed a wee so headed off to find the nearest loo. As I walked aroudn the screen school I noticed there were signs on the doors of the Post Production, Foley and meeting rooms. Each showing a symbol relevant to a movie. I noticed the graphic ring symbol from Arrival, the carpet from the Overlook in the Shining, the glowing red eye of Hal 9000 from 2001: A Space Oddyssey. I spoke with Vin who is the technician in Screen School as Dan is our Photography tech and he was explaining the signs and the changes to screen school recently, with new cameras and all sorts of new gear, it sounds like they’re investing well and getting the numbers up on the course. A short walk out of the video studio led me into an open building with some lumps of concrete and wood panelling so I had to take a few photos here too. There was one opening in a wall that frames a sign for a lift and I liked this shot.
Second Half
With urination completed it was back into the studio for the second half. Basically the same again but this time with different outfits on. Clark wore a black suit with gold embellishments across the shoulders and Jaki wore a white blazer, a black spangly skirt and shoes. Clark went first, then Jaki and finally three more run throughs as a pair. Their energy was unending and I was impressed how much it looked like they were enjoying this repetitive task.
I took a few portraits when I was able to of the singers and also other members of the crew and students who were visiting. Then it was time to assist in the packing up and preparing to empty the studio. Once the artists were all prepped to leave it was a brief thanks and good luck to them, and them to us then a chat with the crew and time to head home for a family get together for my birthday.
I packed away my Canon R5 into the bag and also the Leica M6 that had been sparingly used throughout the day for some film photos with the 500T colour film.
Lightroom
Next day I was uploading the photos from the CF Express II card to my Mac in Lightroom and then began the task of sorting through the 970+ photos. I mark 450 as rejected, just because of the facial expressions, or too noisy, or not framed properly and deleted these. I have enough images to go through and sort them for Revolver Records management so I spent a few hours going through selecting the best frame out of a few of the same scene, moving them into the development module and working on them. Many of the images where I had turned around to face the crew and the darker area were a very high ISO, some of them 12800 and Lightroom managed to Denoise these quite well, but i use it sparingly as it does soften details quite a bit.
Once I’d edited a few I created a collection in Lightroom and made it the target collection. Then it was a case of picking the better of the shots and pressing B to add them to the collection. This whittled it down to around 60 but I wanted to not overload the recipients of the photos so I created another collection and then whittled further, ultimately ending up with 35 photos. These were then exported as full size JPGs and saved into a folder on my University OneDrive. Once all uploaded and synced I could create a Sharing Link where anyone with the link can see the pictures and download them. This link was then emailed to the staff at Revolver, Paul Green and Euripides for their perusal. Hopefully they will be ok for the record company but I have offered more if they need any more.
Feedback
From the Production Company and the record company I received the following pieces of feedback from the images and my performance on the day. I was pleased with it, as it had been a busy and long day.
Paul Green from Paul Green Productions sent me this:
Dear Robert
I hope you are well, wow, fantastic photos absolutely excellent work. I can see how hard you were working.
I’m sure Revolver will put them to good use and also lovely to work with you.
You have a great posivitve and friendly professional attitude.
Lots of luck everything you do.
Very best wishes
Paul M Green
Euripides, my course leader sent this:
Hi Bob,
Thank you for sharing these images. They are great!
Best,
Euripides
Joshua from Revolver Records said:
Hi all,
I just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone involved in Friday’s shoot.
It was a fantastic day, and it simply wouldn’t have been possible without the support, expertise and generosity of everyone who gave their time to make it happen.
A special thank you to Paul and Gwyn, who led the video production on the day. Their professionalism, creativity and hard work were instrumental in bringing the vision for the project to life, and we’re incredibly grateful for everything they contributed.
Thank you also to Bob and Megan for capturing the behind-the-scenes photography. The images are fantastic, and we really appreciate you dedicating your time and talent to documenting the day so thoroughly. It’s a valuable record of the project, and we’re looking forward to putting the photos to good use.
Euripides, thank you for all of your help in making this happen. From helping us organise everything to connecting us with the right people at the University, your support throughout the process has been invaluable. It’s always a pleasure working with you, and we’re very grateful for everything you’ve done to help bring the project together.
Vin, thank you for overseeing the screen room and for all of your support on the day. Having your expertise and assistance available throughout the shoot made a huge difference and helped everything run smoothly.
Please also pass on our sincere thanks to Russell Prior for allowing us access to the University’s excellent facilities. The green screen studio provided the perfect environment for the shoot, and we’re extremely appreciative of the opportunity to use it.
Finally, thank you all again for helping create such a positive, collaborative and professional atmosphere throughout the day. We thoroughly enjoyed working with everyone and are excited to share the finished video once it’s ready.
Kind regards,
Joshua
And finally, Vin the technician sent this:
Hi everyone,
I wanted to pass on our thanks to you all. I’ve been buzzing all weekend.
It was a fantastic day and we really appreciate the generosity you all showed to our Students. It was great for them to be involved in a ‘live brief’ and see first hand all the aspects we speak to them about from dealing with clients and talent to the production elements like costume and make-up and the technical and craft services requirements.
Thank you Paul and Gwyn for your making sure the Students felt involved. It looked like a simple shoot with one camera but the amount of work involved in crafting the set and the compositions was noticed by some of them and I was asked to order some of the lighting you were using for them!!
Thank you to Team Revolver for your professionalism which resulted in a smooth day with a relaxed set where everyone felt valued. Jaki, Natalie, Tony, Clarke and their team…. it was a pleasure to meet you all.
Thank you Megan and Bob…. it was a great to meet you and have you there and hopefully we can involve you in future events. Love the images.
Hopefully we can continue to work together on future projects.
Vin
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