The Aposematics are an alternative/pop/rock acoustic trio based in Peoria, Illinois consisting of John Farmer, Dan Thies, and Lori Brooks. I was stunned by the quality of their latest video for the cover song ‘Stairwell’. The original was written by Julia Nunes.
I spoke to band member Lori to get some background info.
So you shot Stairwell on the Flip? Which model and why did you choose the Flip?
We shot on a Flip Mino HD. We used the Flip to shoot the video mostly because of its’ HD quality and its’ small size which makes it a really versatile camera. We wanted to step up our production by shooting everything in HD.
Why did you choose to shoot in the studio?
We wanted to make a video in our home studio to give our audience some insight into how we work. We filmed the recordings as they were made to give an intimate feel to the video.
How did you light and what did you cut on? Did you apply any effects?
We used basic photographic umbrella lighting with CFLs. All of the editing was done with Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. The only effects we used were some text overlays, some cropping to get a window pane and mirroring effects.
Not the actual lights!
How did you deal with the audio?
The microphone on the Flip is actually pretty decent but we didn’t use it, we actually used multi-track recording in our small home studio to record the audio for the video. All of our audio was run through the standard music production gauntlet. Just about all of the video is actual footage from the various recording sessions, so there’s no lip syncing or faking involved.
What tips would you give to Flip users looking to shoot a music video?
The most obvious tip is to use a tripod whenever possible to reduce camera shake. Lighting also makes a huge difference; the Flip tends to have a noisy picture if the light level is too low. Framing the shot and making sure that you’ve controlled every aspect of what is in the shot can give you a less cluttered video, and if need be, some color coordination. Finally, editing is extremely important to give the video some good flow and keep the viewer interested.
You can find out more about the band here.
I think this story proves that if you take care to boost the light levels with nice soft light, the Mino HD can really do a great job for low budget DIY Music Videos.
See photographic umbrella lights at Amazon.com (US)
See photographic umbrella lights at Amazon.co.uk
Related posts:
- Music Video on a Mino HD
- Flip Mino behind the scenes
- Unwinding Hours Update
- Shooting Death on a Mino
- Subscribe for my Flip Video!
Tags: aposematics, film music video on flip video, how to make a music video, julia nunes, music video shot on Flip Mino hd, stairwell
