Sunday, January 27, 2013

Good Ache (the epic river version) part 1

Happy 2013! Congratulations, you've officially moved up to the next level. Just by showing up. You earned it.

 Have you heard that there is a new music video for Good Ache, our #1 song in Lichtenstein? Its over 16 minutes long and it looks just like this:



Ringing any bells? Well, you'll get to know it, if you happen to have 16 minutes to spare every day. I have a long story to tell about it, a "making of" tale that rivals the grandiosity of the video itself. But I don't think I'm going to completely bore you with it all right off the bat.

Who am I? I'm Phil, the guy who conceived of and directed (along with filmmaker Alistair Redman) the damn thing. Making 'the epic river version' was a journey, I tells ya. A journey! An effort in stick-to-it-tiveness. For reals. But that's was the M.O. for the entire TWE "Business on the Lanai/Tantric Scrimshaw 2012" production. Keep at it until its done, and then keep at it some more. Dig, slave! And when you're done with that hole, I've got a few 100 more for you fill. And hurry up, the tide's coming in....

Good Ache the epic river version was filmed in a few different locations:

1. Several parts of Vermont (please don't ask me the names of the towns, I don't care that much). But the locations of the shoot can be subsected into: a. The Young Ruffian's ski house (where much of the film American Epitaph was shot) b. The river near the ski house c. Logan's garage.

2. Brooklyn NY. Subsected into: a. The streets of Williamsburg and the river next to them b. the streets of Greenpoint c. Allen's Maze Studios, specifically the rooftop, the stairs and the elevator.

 I bring this up because I'm about to present some behind the scenes clips of the making of the video. Especially because Good Ache is a song about the behind the scenes of making a movie.  I figured I'd keep this feedback loop flowing by showing you entire takes of the shoot, in their raw form, because I find them at least fascinating if not entirely entertaining.



This is a great long take of the band on the rooftop of Allen's studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Mike on guitar, Allen on bass, Mr 3.50 on toy drums. I find cameraman Matt Kalman's movement around and amongst the band keeps this take interesting, and his mingling with the rabble sparked the band's hijinks. This take proved to be very useful, many pieces of it ended up in the final video.





I'll end this first post with a clip of the river shoot in VT. In this particular take, cameraman Justin Epifanio is floating backwards with a flip cam in one hand, co-director Al Redman is on the shore, playing the song with an ipod and a tiny pair of portable speakers and yelling directions at us. My feet and face are sticking up out of the river, while my hands are either paddling or 'running' along the river floor to keep my body afloat as I lip sync and the current drags us along. As you can see, we get about half way through the song before things go awry. This take, like the above rooftop one, proved to be very essential to the final cut of the video.

More to come, stay tuned, there are many stories worth telling. And let us know what you think of the video itself, ok? It pays off with many viewings....