Cosmic Music Video for New Bee Jane.

If you are a Filmmaker and a fabulous talent wants to make a video with you, my advice, grab the bull by the horns and chuck it about,.

Long story short, singer-songwriter New Bee Jane and I were supposed to work together on a corporate launch event at Canary Wharf. However and literally at the last minute, everything changed, except we still had 2 more days blocked out to shoot B-roll for the thing that did not happen.

It seemed obvious to me, that we should use the time, now free of commercial constraints, to do something more creative and personal.

Jane agreed. In fact, she was excited.

As it happened, she had just finished recording, mixing, and mastering her latest song, The Veil. Jane was very energised about it, which is always a great place to start work on a production. So, without even hearing it, I agreed to make a video for The Veil.

Jane and I, live at opposite ends of the country and did not have a Hollywood budget, meaning we had just 2 more days to create, organise, and shoot the film. This would be tight, which always means stressful, but we were motivated.

What could possibly go wrong?

Jane had an idea to shoot The Veil almost like a cosmic wedding video. You know what I mean, right?

We were going to need a church.

Luckily, there are several beautiful old English churches near Jane's Surrey home. So the next morning we jumped in her car to recce them.

They were all closed and locked, so we could only check out their exteriors. and note the phone numbers displayed on signs by their entrances.

The one we liked the best was St Lawrence Church in the village of Chobham. It is almost 950 years old and seemed perfect to us.

With a commendably positive attitude, Jane set about hiring and buying the props we would need, notably a classic almost medieval period bridal gown, and floral bouquet, even though we had no idea if we would get a green light from any of the churches.

We phoned all four numbers and of course, we got 4 answer phones. As we were so short of time this was quite frustrating. However, we had no option but to wait for replies, and hopefully, permission to shoot tomorrow. Jane pressed the wedding dress and veil. I prepped my Sony FS7 camera for a cinematic shoot, with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, and created a beautiful filmic look.

Eventually, Jane had time to play her song for me. Wow!!!

I was beyond impressed. Blown-away! The song is beautiful, the girl is so talented, and my Goodness what a voice.

It was time to bang our heads together, to collaborate on the conceptual work, developing an idea that we agreed on and that I felt we could execute in one day, with no crew and the limited amount of equipment I had brought for the canceled corporate event shoot.

With that done, I quickly sketched out a storyboard on a printout of the lyrics. It always pays to plan as much as possible, especially for a shoot day with such an ambitious shot list. Yes, the shoot would provide new ideas but at least we would have the essential framework ideas defined on paper and clear in our minds, reducing the risk that we would be taken off-piste by any of the new bright ideas, that would inevitably pop up while shooting.

The phone rang. It was someone from the Chobham church. It was not bad news, however, it was not a simple, yes. It seemed the Vicar was OK with us shooting in the church tomorrow but we would need the Director of Music to agree, too. And we would have to meet her at the church, at 09:30 the following morning, our shoot day. Fingers crossed.

Shoot Day

Up early to load the car, to be on location before 09:30 hrs.

We met the Director of Music. She would make the final decision, but would our prayers be answered?

She asked about our project, mainly the song. I was shown the house light preset options and selected one that was best for our film, and then shown the bell ringers floor above the entrance, in case we needed a high viewpoint. It seems we and the song were acceptable.

So, we had our church and all to ourselves, for the rest of the day.

It is a stunningly beautiful place. Not grand like a great cathedral but very human and relatable, except for the fact that the earliest parts of it were carved from stone by illiterate men of the Dark Ages, who knew nothing of building regulations, risk assessments, health and safety at work, or even of the wider world, 9 centuries ago, which in our over-regulated and digital, instant everything era is simply impossible to compute.

By around noon, I had brought in my equipment, lit the church interior, and set up the camera for our main shots. Jane had set up her portable PA system, to play back her song, and was thinking about endless other details. This was the first professionally shot music video she had made, and almost everything, the amount of kit, detailed preparation, and the storyboard, were all new to her.

With the lyrics/storyboard on a music stand next to my camera, it was time to block the first slate.

The concept involved multiple Janes appearing from time to time, in different places, and reacting to each other, so camera tilts and pans had to be carefully controlled. Of course, as it was a music video, we had to sync the takes, the singing, and the action with the recorded music.

Naturally, Jane also had to be happy with her on-screen performances, so she checked the recordings after each setup.

It was winter, so our daylight time was short and the natural light levels slowly darkened, but my lighting made the shots look consistent throughout, and when the Verger came to lock up, about 5 pm, we were filming our last mission-critical slate. Coincidentally, he was a retired Molinaire editor, so he was very interested in our work and happily helped load the equipment into my car.

We still needed to shoot a couple of exterior shots, a big wide master/tilt down, to establish the setting and reveal Jane walking towards the door for the opening sequence, but it was dark by then. However, we could film this sequence in the morning, before I set off for home.

It had been an ambitious schedule, and either a much earlier start than we were afforded, or 2 days, or a full crew would have been more appropriate. But we managed. Yes, I would have loved to shoot several more slates, to add to the variety of imagery, especially for the intro and the first of the interior scenes. As Jane walked up the main aisle with the north light windows in the background, a tracking shot from the South side aisle would have looked wonderful, but there was no more time. Given that I was a one-man production team/crew, and the limited time available, I am delighted with what we achieved and Jane is over the moon. She thinks it is cosmic, out of this world., if you know what I mean.

Post-production

The post-production is an entirely different story, and for another time.

Enjoy The Veil