I finally got round to making the Two Door Cinema Club documentary, What We See, available as one solid 50 minute documentary. You can see it above. I will copy and paste the vimeo info below so it beefs up this post. There will always be things I want to change but it was time to get it done and dusted. Finally some exciting music videos projects coming up. Possibly 3 coming in quick succession. Seeing as the last one I made was in April, 2 coming in the next 6 months would feel like quick succession. I’ll keep you posted.
What We See is an intimate documentary of Two Door Cinema Club on the summer 2012 European festival circuit. With a film crew of one the band are captured playing to enormous crowds in Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, Germany and France before heading to Belfast for a homecoming show and then finishing off with the Leeds festival and the performance of their lives at Reading 2012.
The time period of the film shows the band moving out of the “Tourist History” era as they begin to litter their set with more songs from their second album “Beacon”. The press commitments regarding the new release, which at time of filming was 1 or 2 months away, start to kick in and the band are shown at a cross roads in their career. They discuss their epic touring life style which has consisted of roughly 300 dates a year and how that effects their lives on personal level.
The film also gives a clear and honest snippet of what life on the road for the band is like. In most parts it adheres to the time line of events that the band went through with no pre-determined beginning, middle or ending. Simply just a document of the band at a certain place at a certain time.
Directed / Edited / Filmed by Babysweet
Ttiles by Euan Clive Allardyce
Additional live footage taken from Brixton Academy filmed by Gregg Houston, Euan Allardyce, Charlie Sarsfield and Nick Light.
“We wanted to capture how weird it is, the constant traveling, meeting so many people, all the interviews and shows we do every single day, and we also wanted to capture how normal our lives are too – we all sit down for dinner together, we go for walks the three of us, we get our washing done. Those things bring the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle back down to earth.”
Kevin Baird :
“Touring has become much more normal. When we first started going on tour, everything was really, really exciting and new. We would’ve sacrificed anything to be there. Obviously, we love going on tour and playing shows and things, but I think we’ve become more aware of the things we’ve had to give up to get to this point, and trying to not give up any more.”
Alex Trimble :
“When we started touring, touring was like this all-consuming force, It just sort of took every single part of my life and touring became my life. The past few years have sort have been not necessarily a struggle, but a learning curve. So it’s learning to be in touch with the people you leave behind and learning to just deal with the ridiculousness of it all.”
The film was shot primarily on a Canon 7D with some live footage and under water shot on a GoPro hero 2. The lenses used were a Canon 1.4 50mm , Tokina f2.8 11 – 16mm and a Canon f2.8 70 – 200mm lens.
I have been enjoying doing nothing much for the last month. One big babysweet project has happened and it will be out at some point in January. It is especially for our American cousins. Besides that it will be all quiet on the Western Front for now. I am sitting by a fire waiting to get paid for stuff I have done over the last half year. All I am thinking about really is Xmas morning. I love getting presents on Xmas morning and I love watching people open presents I got for them. This year I asked for a lot of records. The ones I am most excited about are from Coma Cinema, Squarehead and Craft Spells. I also asked for some black levis. I have always thought they were too expensive but sometimes it costs to be a Goth.
Future Fashion of Hackney Seminar
Above is my friend. You may recognise him from his camera work on this Daughter video we shot with another couple of people. Daughter released a track called Smother this year. I think it’s from their forthcoming debut album. Cant wait for it. Also can’t wait for the new ASIWYFA album. The artwork just came out the other day. It looks perfect. I think it will be an acclaimed masterpiece. I am also looking forward to the new Villagers record. I think they should be my favourite band but I had a really horrible experience seeing them at Field Day last year. I had to leave but the new stuff sounds fantastic eh?
I am hoping for something new to happen to this site. Something that makes me feel better about it. It’s nice having an online home but I ain’t sure what the point in mine is. I started an instagram account. My name is mrbabysweet. Here is a picture to entice you in.
Paddy Elvis
I was reminded of my New Year resolutions as of course it’s coming round to evaluating my year as babysweet again. This year I feel contented with what I have done but I was hoping 2013 would be a year off. Secretly I am a lazy lump and I was hoping I would have done so much more in relation to music videos and maybe a short film. As it stands I only made two music videos this year. One was the Cast of Cheers Animals video. The other hasn’t come out yet. Other projects came close but unfortunately one element just didn’t fit in whether it be song, budget or time. I feel it is very important to raise the bar in 2013 with regards music video. I am going to be conservative here as I know what is likely to happen so I am going to say I am hoping to make 3 really good music videos in 2013. That doesn’t include the one I have done that it isn’t out yet. That one in question has filled a whole in my brain much in the same way Outdoors by Kowalski did. With outdoors I wanted to make a really commercial almost pop video. It was a little unorganised but I would put it in that genre in some capacity. The one that isn’t out yet is more of a collage music video. The obligatory video most bands seem to have released somewhere in their history. I think it’s a good effort. I love that song “Shuffle” by Bombay Bicycle Club. I love the band and I am happy for this montage video to be looked at in the same way as that montage video. I am contented with it anyway. Except for maybe one cut on the video that may just be too quick but it’s too late now.
NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS 2011
- Make a short film
- This didn’t happen. Lack of confidence or desire maybe. At the same time Resolution 5 (below) dictated my existence for the the entire summer and so this couldn’t happen. Thats my excuse anyway. If I had really wanted this to happen then it would have. With regards it happening in 2013 I am not ready to say. I need to write it first. So thats my resolution this year : Write a short film.
- Stop biting my finger nails
- If you exchange Finger Nails for Cigarettes then I passed. Valid arguments on each side as to which is most vile but I am happy with my decision. I haven’t smoked a cigarette since the 17th June and the chances of me smoking one in 2013 is 0.
- Remember Actors and Directors names
- This is definitely something I should be better at but in truth I think I am too self centred and don’t care enough. I love Lynne Ramsey. I love Jeff Feuerzeig. I love Vincent Gallo. I love Bradley Beesley. I love Gideon Koppel. Thats all the people that matter to me at the moment. I think Stephen Agnew is doing some cool stuff too.
- Stop eating white bread
- I make an effort to only buy brown now. If I never ate white bread again I think I would only miss it once a year.
- Begin a feature length documentary
- What We See was around 50 minutes long. I entered it in the SXSW feature film section so I think that counts as a pass even though didn’t just begin it but finished it too.
- Get a video on Pitchfork
Why give a shit about getting a video on Pitchfork? It didn’t happen. I feel like if it didn’t happen for Animals or Some Dreams then it probably won’t happen. I guess it’s still one of those goals I have. Like getting a video on Tv or getting a write up in a magazine or getting a flight to somewhere. So that resolution wasn’t met but I feel it was out of my control and so I am not too cut up.
Hackney Downs became my Home in 2012
My resolutions for this next year are as follows :
A) Write a Short Film / Pre-Produce it / Be ready to make it if not make it by the end of the year.
B) Make 3 music videos that I am proud to put the babysweet name to.
D) Visit at least 3 friends in different parts of the UK.
E) Begin cycling in London
F) Breathe more life into the website
G) Expand my horizons with regards film-making subject
That will do for now. If SXSW turn down the What We See film then I will put it online here probably February in one nice neat package. Hopefully we will speak before then. All our Love.
So this site has been down during the busiest time in babysweet’s short life. While we have been offline we have been making a documentary about the wonderfully hip gentlemen collectively known as Two Door Cinema Club. I travelled with them to France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Spain and Portugal this summer before finishing up at the Reading and Leeds Festivals. The resulting film has a running length of around 55 minutes and it was put online in 4 parts in the build up to their second album release, Beacon. Belfast Music Week have since offered to showcase it at the Queens Film Theatre on November 5th 2012 in the format it is meant to be seen, as a stand alone documentary. There has also been some murmurs about a London screening but at the moment there is nothing to report.
Samuel the Seal
It will be very exciting to see the movie on the big screen but also scary as all of the flaws will no doubt be exposed. You can buy tickets here for £3.00. If I was in anyway good at social networking I could have had wonderful updates from the shooting of this film here. I hope to write an essay about the making off at some point. There was very little time to do anything however as I was a one man film crew. Everything was shot on a Canon 7D and a pretty chaotic shoulder mount that got left in a hotel. The editing was a very quick turn around and involved 12 – 18 hour editing shifts. I guess it’s the same old story for lots of freelancers. Bottom line is I am very proud of this piece. I haven’t watched all through as one piece yet and still need to edit that together for the screening but it is a privilege to have it shown at the QFT and bring my auntie and uncle. Hopefully it will work. If you haven’t seen it then the trailer is at the top of this post. Big, big thank you to Euan Clive Allardyce for designing and making the titles. I think they make the trailer and film.
An old idea locked away
The image above was from an old music video shoot. Like a lot of things over the summer many ideas have been locked away. It feels like I haven’t made anything in a long time. The opposite is true of course. I have just been working on bigger projects that take more time. When I look through the video section on this site I sometimes think there is nothing there. It’s not a bad way to be. The last music video I made was probably my best one, Animals. It was the highest budgeted one I have made and it would have been great to get another couple out this year. The problem is of course getting the right song, idea and budget all in at the right time. It seems incredibly rare that this happens. It’s happened once this year and once last year (I think…) Maybe it’s a bad way to work maybe it’s a good way but believe me if those things come together more frequently then the music videos will be appearing more frequently. There is one video that is already booked in if we can get the right budget. It’s for a superb band and the single is brilliant. The idea is also the first one I’ve decided to do without the band featuring since February 2011. That is pencilled in for sometime between now and January. I’m also hoping to get something together with an artist I have filmed a couple of times in the past but never made a music video for.
Hannahs got her coat on
This was just a quick update about the film screening. This website, built by the loyal and handsome Dom Christie, is under development. There are a few flaws but we thought you had felt the silence for long enough and just needed to get an update up. Hannah has her coat on and is calling me out. I don’t expect there to be an update here in terms of news until after the screening on November 5th. Until then babies.
This website is being redesigned. It’s nearly there. Quite a lot is happening so it’s bad time for the site to be away. We are having a documentary about Two Door Cinema Club shown in Queens Film Theatre Belfast on November 5th. You can buy tickets on the QFT site. In the meantime check out the twitter account for information.
When this site was built we didn’t fore-see a problem with regards how many videos could be embedded on it. Well that limit has been reached and so the whole site needs a make over. There is some exciting news in the camp but i’ll wait until the new site is up and ready before talking about all that. In the mean time I will simply puts links below to anything new that has come out between now and when the new site is ready.
1 – Here is a trailer I made for Two Door Cinema Club’s new album, Beacon. The studio footage was shot by an American chap. The live and backstage stuff was shot by me, euan, charlie and nick. The live footage should be coming out over the summer. Watch it here.
2 – Here is a live video of Two Door Cinema Club at the Brixton Academy. This gig is being released as a live album as part of the Beacon Deluxe package. There will be more videos to come. The first video is for Undercover Martyn. You can watch it here.
Various thoughts from summer on earth
So we are half way through the year. My new years resolutThiions that you can remind yourself of here have been of varying success. White bread went out of the window for a good while but as money has become a rarer commodity my intake of the Mighty White has started growing again. It’s combined with my retirement from the swimming baths which started last October and so I guess you could say I am approaching that bloated Elvis stage that seems to be a more common stage for me than the period that affected John Lennon. I feel a little bad referring to that stage using Elvis name in vain. When people refer to Ronaldo as “Fat Ronaldo” I always think it’s a little cruel. I’ll try and come up with a better way of putting it then.
"Clients have been treating me too well" say my Jeans
Biting my nails continues to be the curse it’s been for years. It must have started when I was younger and feeling anxious. My good friend One Man and his Dog recently sent me this video. The explanation for this guy’s horrible rituals are that he feels anxious a lot. I can remember saying good night to people like Freddy Kruger, Alfonso Bonso and maybe Chuckie. How sick is that. I also used to raise my eyebrows an awful lot. Sometimes I still do that but it’s more that I am trying to focus my eyes and find it helps. I also had a phase of doing the sick thing of turning a light on and off a couple of times. This was when I was about 12 I would say. I remember thinking when I was doing it that I would just force myself to stop doing it and prove nothing happened. I stopped nothing happened and that was the end of that. It’s good I wasn’t aware of the anxious causing element as maybe that would have made me get more twisted or something. Being an only child I dealt with it myself so all in all it’s good. I was just reminded of that time in my life this morning so let’s just leave it there and don’t hold a grudge. Wouldn’t it be nice if I had of had the same problem but with making money, helping the aged or making great videos. Who knows what would have been the result.
The New Age Slacker : Indie, Female, Pajamas
Another resolution was to make a new 60 minute documentary. The good news is that this looks like it could be happening this summer. It will come in 4 individual parts which when played together will flow seamlessly and make a good film. That’s the plan anyway. I’ll keep you posted. It’s that time of year when I begin sorting out taxes etc. I’ve been relying on filmmaking for one full year come the end of June. It’s interesting to see what I have earned and what have been the costs. When I began a year ago I was in that place where I was trying to do everything for little money rather than try and get one well paid job. I think it has held me in good stead but when I was thinking about all I had done and what the end figure was it really wasn’t great. Especially after costs. Suddenly that pay cheque from the deli-counter in Centra doesn’t seem so bad. Actually yeah…yeah it does.
I wanted to get a video on Pitchfork. There are still 6 months to go so who knows but I actually feel a little ashamed that that was one of my resolutions. I don’t really even go to that site anymore. They slagged of some album that I loved. I can’t remember which one it was. I’ll try and remember and link the review here. Anyway I realised that we weren’t on the same page. They also started reviewing a lot of stuff that I just didn’t give a shit about. I don’t really know any sites other than 24bit that I look forward to checking out. The main one is Summer Time in Hell. What my resolution should have been was to get a video on Promo News. A specialist music video website. I achieved that with the Cast of Cheers video. That was a pleasant achievement. They carry a lot of videos I don’t really like but they respect how the videos were made and usually there is a good interview with the people who made it. In a lovely twist my friend and former flat mate Matt Green also got a video on Promo News on exactly the same day. They appeared beside each other on the site. It was really cool to see that. Matt once gave me a body slam onto a sofa in our flat and it broke. It also put a small hole in the wall. Whenever we lost our entire deposit, it was a flat of 6, there was a little tension as to Matt and I being the main cause of that. To their credit the other gents who lived in the flat adopted the ideas that we were all in it together and so they let their deposits go. In fact we all got a cheque for about £0.75 back. My plan was to tear mine and send it back and ask for another one. I didn’t get that done. Probably too baked in those days.
In short news I re-edited the Kowalski Get Back video. To cut a long story short Tom had to go to work by the time we came to filming the end of the video. Thus film something quickly. The heavy “rocking” bit was done. It just suffered over time and dated pretty quickly. So I went back and changed it and tried to make it all a lot tigher. The original ending where the camera tracks back was ok. It was just a case of making it fit. Especially difficult as the Heavy bit which had the same aesthetic was taken out. Therefore it was removed as well. I think it’s much better now as do the band so thats all that matters really. Unfortunately because Youtube is rubbish it wont let you replace a video file without losing views, comments etc. So the poorer more commonly watched original version is on youtube and the new updated better version is on vimeo. Below is a behind the scenes shot from the Get Back test shoot . Just for ratings.
Just for ratings
In some sad news you may recall I did a job in Oslo a while back. I wrote a short story about it here. Why I did that job I dont know. Promises were made and broken before I even got on a plane. I was stupid doing it. Anyway I did the job and the guy has done a runner. He isn’t paying me. He isn’t replying to anything. He sin’t paying the artist who I was filming. He is the most unprofessional man I have ever met. A complete disgrace to the music / film industry. If he had even responded to one of the many phone calls, text messages, skype attemps, google chats, emails, tweets, facebook messages and explained that things had got out of hand with his finances or he was having a breakdown then we could have worked something out. Instead he has done absolutely nothing. The label is called Electropix. And if you ever take one thing away from this site it should be that you shouldn’t get involved with them unless everything is paid upfront. If it turns out that something horrible has happened then I will re -word this and apologise. Anyway I am now being forced to go to a small claims court. Just in time for summer. Brilliant.
Congratulations from Babysweet HQ to Daughter who signed to 4AD. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Daughter ar each stage of their career so far. The first EP era we filmed them supporting MATA at St Stephens Church. The 2nd EP era we filmed them headlining a show at St. Giles in the Field Church. And then earlier this year we filmed them at their biggest ever headlining show at the Islington Assembly Hall. Beautiful hill up which they have climbed. If an album comes out this year I expect them to do pretty well. In fact this year will hopefully see a few eagerly anticipated album releases from bands connected by various branches to the babysweet tree, Two Door, Kowalski, Daughter, Cast of Cheers.
In positive news my dear friend came to stay with Hannah and I for a long weekend. It was lovely seeing him and so I will leave you with a photo of him in a record shop. If you can guess what Vinyl he is buying then I will send you a prize. Take Care.
About 1 month ago I got a call from the gang of The Cast of Cheers. I had about three days to submit a proposal. I was sent a sound cloud link almost immediately and I got listening as I waited for the overground. On previous videos I had listened to the song in question consistently until they had lost all meaning and relevance. I decided never to do that again. I remember Don Draper talking about advertising in an episode of Mad Men. He said something along the lines of thinking about the project for an hour and then just move on to something else. An idea would come he said. I know a TV show isn’t the best place for advice and I don’t even know if I like Don but his suggestion is fairly easy to follow. I listened to the song twice and then started to think about something else.
I wish I could remember what inspired my idea but I can’t. I was sitting at my computer about a month before being asked to send in this treatment and an idea about televisions and VCR’s came into my head. I wrote down a very basic outline that read like this :
Week beginning January 30th – February 5th
TV VIDEO CONCEPT – A block of TV’s fill the screen, each with a VHS player. The band appear across three TV’s each so maybe 9 Tv’s in total. All the footage is recorded earlier and played back on the VHS player. When they walk they move across the TV’s.
So that was idea as written in my diary. It then stayed there for a month or two and I remembered it when thinking of what to make for the Animals video. It would do. I thought it was a pretty original and cool idea but I was also feeling lazy and so if the band didn’t go for it then I would enjoy the next couple of weeks off. I met the management and discussed the feasibility of getting 20 televisions and VCR’s which is the amount I wanted at the time. They passed the idea onto the band and they band went for it. A friend of mine suggested getting a gentleman called Dan Matthews on board to produce the video. I had never had a producer before. In the past I have done everything myself purely because there was no other option. At this point in time I can safely say that when dealing with a decent budget I would never consider not using a producer or more specifically Dan again. He took so much weight of my head and let me think about the video. It was actually an enjoyable experience. I was calm and able to prepare as he organised a team and drove all over London getting what we needed to make this video a reality. As much as I love the majority of videos I have made in the past I think it’s clear to see that not having a producer on board for them probably caused the end product to suffer to a certain degree. I think the Animals video is the best and most enjoyable video I have made and it is clearly because of having a team and especially a producer on board who was passionate and interested in the idea. There was only 1 or 2 evenings of waking up in the middle of the night out of breath. There was a severe lack of sleep in places when trying to get stuff ready but all the time when things seemed to be falling apart there was an excitement about what we were trying to do.
Quiff or Scruff?
Dan got depressed and I picked him up. I got depressed and Dan picked me up. The day before the shoot I was in a real panic and asked Dan if he could see the feasibility in hiring 16 cameras and cancelling the 1st days shoot. Thank God that didn’t happen. What a weird thing the mind is. Dan had mentioned he would be able to get some people on board to help out. One of the people he got on board was Daniel “Muller” Perry. This man was a technical hero. If there is one thing I don’t enjoy it is technical things. I have the sort of sad mentality of shutting my eyes and hoping for the best when it comes to leads and things. I didn’t used to be like that. I used to experiment about with VCRs etc when making wrestling videos and would be excited. I guess when I started taking it more seriously then the idea of failure and the stuff not working scared me into not even trying it and throwing something at it and hoping for the best. Any way, I went down to the location on the night before the shoot after making all of the VHS tapes. It was in good nick but nowhere near what the end result would be. Muller was sawing through wooden planks so quickly I could feel the heat coming of the blade. He was putting serious effort in. It was inspiring. When he didn’t think something was safe he would say. When all the TV’s where on the planks I had a feeling of vertigo. I know that is an unusual situation to experience that feeling in nut thats what I felt. I was sure the wood was about to break and all the tv’s would come crashing down. Pathetically I stood with my arm under the top plank. If it broke then I couldn’t have stopped it. Muller explained about how the planks usually had fat builders walking across them and eventually my mind turned to other things.
The VCR Goblins
A piece of equipment we got for the chorus shots was known as a “brick”. It was a splitter that would send one image across all of our Tv’s. It was incredibly complicated in terms of of operation. Dan got all the leads and Muller sat with it for hours. At one point we thought we had it sorted but all of the tv’s were showing the image in Black and White. At that point due to time restraint etc everyone thought we should maybe just settle for it. It looked cool. Muller spoke to the guy who owned the brick. In fact before this colour issue we actually had problems getting it to work at all. Muller being a genius worked out that the machine was not wired correctly and he actually did the opposite of what he was meant to do and got the image. He told us the exact cable he needed. He explained how easy it would be to get one. He got it. It worked. We praised him. I could write about everyone involved with the project but it would take a long time explaining how good they all were. Matt was given the cursed job of making 16 tapes that all had footage of Amps on them. The idea being that the band would play in front of lots of Tv’s that all showed footage of Amplifiers. This job was very time consuming. It seems something like this always happens on babysweet shoots. For Cashier No9 we had spent the previous night and day making loads of masks of each band member. It went on late into the night. They were never used. The Amp footage was never used either.
My dear lady Hannah used to work in media. She worked for RTE in dublin. She was fantastic at her job. So fantastic that she got a job of Travel Co-ordinator on a Natalie Portman movie. In truth the job was far too large for one person. And even more difficult for someone who had never done the role. She decided she didn’t enjoy it and quit that job. It was amazing seeing her on the set of this video. She took on the task of labeling and organising all the Tv’s and their relevant VCR’s. She talked everyone through what tapes had to be used where. What Tv’s they were looking after and what VCR’s to press when. I was behind the camera and didn’t have any VCR’s to look after. I didn’t even really know how it was all working. All I could see was an idea I had becoming reality and everyone on the crew being immense. Here is a list of all the crew on the shoot. Everyone did more than their title probably suggests :
Producer : Dan Matthews
Technical Manager : Daniel “Muller” Perry
Stage Managers : Daniel Perry and Hannah Vincent
DOP Assistants : Eliot Bushnell and Jason Hawthorne
Production Assistant : Eliot Bushnell
Stage Assistant : Matt Livingstone
Runners : Ken Plas and Hannah Charles
The greatest crew of chancers ever assembled
The shoot was split into two days with a gap in the middle. The first day was spent filming footage that would later be transferred onto the VHS tapes. The next day was a day spent making the tapes and getting the location ready. The second day of filming is where you see everything shot in the video. That day went on until about 4am. The camera used for the shoot was the Canon C300. The videos concept wasn’t ever going to show the cameras full capabilities but one of the major benefits I felt was how it handled the wires and bits of equipment hanging under the televisions and thin wires along the floor. When shooting on the 7D, which nearly everything on this site has used, I sometimes find that when there are thin wires, railings or guitar strings the image can’t deal with them and the said objects seem to move and change colour. The C300 eliminated this straight away.Another big perk of the camera is the colour detail it captures. The Animals music video was shot in Cine 2 mide and I was so happy with the colours and clarity of the image that the entire video is basically ungraded. The only shots that have a slight grade are the tv guitar and and “behind the scenes” sections. Everything else appears as shot on camera. The fact no grade was required made editing very smooth and efficient.
Canon C300
It also tied in nicely with the whole concept of the video which was to make a seemingly technically flawed format such as VHS work for us. I have no doubt there are people skilled in After Effects and other programs that could probably make this video with a piece of blue paper and a video camera and in essence faked this idea without using one VCR. It was my intention however to film everything in reality so that there was basically nothing to do in the edit other than order the shots. It is also an area of the whole project that I am very proud off. People Dan or myself had spoken to had discussed how difficult using VHS would be and how we would be better doing something else. Using DVD’s at least. But we stuck with the idea, except for that idiotic 16 camera alternative moment.I think we pulled it off. There was a point where Dan was concerned about whether we could make this project work as intended. I explained my thoughts on it. I don’t consider myself a very good director. I am improving with each project but I have a million times more to learn than I have learnt so far. What I think I am good at is presenting an idea. My idea was based around this 16 VCR x 16 television concept. What I did was film the idea. That’s it. Nothing fancy. If the idea is good and you can show it then the video should be good.
After repeating, ” This is no Rehersal, wipe the cobwebs from your eyes, there is no plan B” for at least 120 seconds, The Belfast Cowboy shouted “THIS IS NO FUCKING REHERSAL”. Witnessing it was without a doubt the highlight of my life since the last update on this site. It was a Van Morrison gig down in Brighton. It was the second time I had seen him in a month. The first I mentioned in an earlier post was from the Belfast gig in early February. The Brighton gig wasn’t as good but was still an exceptional evening. I had bought my dear lady a ticket also and it was her first experience of seeing him. The seats weren’t as good but the venue was at least a 6th of the size so we had a good vantage point. The interesting thing about the gig was that the 7,000 seated Belfast show felt more intimate. At that gig I was lucky enough to get front row dead centre. This time we were a little to the side and about 7 rows from the front. Van the Man also spoke during the gig which was a new experience. He told how he had asked his 6 year old daughter what song she would like him to play and she requested “Ballerina”. The version that they performed was magnificent. His leg was shaking violently. Good times. It has given new life to my Van obsession and since then I have been devouring the albums, “Inarticulate speech of the heart” , “Common One” and “Wavelength” daily.
Moments later we bought a "poke" of chips
If only every day could be closed with such an event. On the work front I have just been chiseling away with edits ranging from people you wouldn’t be interested in to the mighty Two Door Cinema Club. It’s been great working with those guys again. They are such gentlemen. I also had the pleasure of working withPaul from Maximo Park the other day. It was a real simple shoot which you will see further down the line I am sure. Since we last spoke I’ve had the horrible experience of a client seemingly doing a runner on me. I did the work and despite the payment date being pushed back 3 times I was confident of receiving my due at the start of this month. Since the final date was missed neither Skype, Telephone, Email, Google Chat or Texting has been privileged to a response. It is a difficult situation to be in as the amount due is reasonably significant in terms of my accounts. I’m undecided as to what the next stage should be. A positive is that I have all the footage so none of it can be accessed without talking to me. It’s of little comfort quite frankly. The artists involved are also owed money they have been promised and neither has heard from the person in question. Unprofessional. “THIS IS NO FUCKING PROFESSIONAL” seems fit.
My friend Ben
In other news that casts a downer on all things babysweet, a piece of work I did on an artist who has gone on to phenomenal commercial success from seemingly out of nowhere seems like it wont see the light of day. The work was completed before Christmas and I got paid for my time. These guys are professional but with so many other things going on with them it is likely the boat has sailed and the film will have to be locked away until I’m in my forties and having a mid-life crisis. It’s a shame. I liked it a lot. It was in a similar vain to the David Clements Promotional Footage but a little more commercial and with better planning. It was filmed in a venue I had shot in quite often and I was delighted as I managed to film in a way which made the venue seem fresh when compared to other shoots I have done in there. If it comes out it will go up but it seems to be in Davy Jones Locker.
A bonus payment from the Clements shoot
I just completed a video treatment on Sunday and sent it off. I met the management involved in the project yesterday and they were digging the idea. It’s going to be passed on to the band and if they prefer it to the many other options they have then i’ll write about it. I woke up in the middle of the night with a breathless sensation. That hadn’t happened since the Cashier No9 pre-production days. It was around then I took up swimming. I was hammering out 40 lengths in a little over 40 minutes after regular visits. I haven’t been in close to two months. The thought of it is incredibly unappealing but I think I am going to hit the pool right after I finish this. I’m trying to plan my time carefully as I was informed yesterday that the flat I live in is in fact up for sale. Short notice. I was also told that there is a viewing today. It’s always incredibly awkward when there are viewings. I think the value of the place has gone up by £20,000 since we moved in. I guess that is the sort of sway Babysweet holds in the property market. The thought of moving again isn’t pleasant. Hannah told me that it will be the 10th time in as many years that she will have moved. Fuck that. If we could get a mortgage then we would buy a place but as I am freelance I need three years of accounts to show my income. I got my first year done earlier this year and owe the government £22.50. Bling Bling.
In other news I went to see a band called Monument Valley the other day with my friend. He was good. It was in a venue called the slaughtered lamb. I’m not sure how the venue would suit a full band but for him and his electric guitar it was superb. No stage. Very laid back. Great sound.
a beautiful woman
I was checking how some of my previous work was doing on Youtube the other day. Most of the stuff that goes on Youtube is through the clients account and so I only see what anyone else would see in terms of views, feedback etc. I was checking out the Oh Pity video and there are a couple of “negative-susans” on the comments board. “Great song, shame about the vid” and ”This video could have been so much better”. Usually I wouldn’t feel too disgruntled about these things but it’s pissing me off this weather. It’s just depressing. Of course it could have better. No one is doubting that. I don’t believe I can make a better video for a song than anyone on the planet. If he means the idea could have been executed better then he should have had that idea and developed it. For the former comment I really want to enquire as to what her top 3 music videos of all time are. I have resisted the urge and I think it’s better for that. These things can get nasty. It’s just the bad side of putting things online or releasing anything. People slag it off and then it has a negative effect on your psyche until you are used to it and decide you couldn’t give a fuck.
There were similar things said about the Get Back video on a shite Northern Irish blog where everyone moans and is horrible towards each other. I must admit I take some pleasure in it from seeing how thick and bitter some people are. I read a thread where Stu Bell of General Fiasco fame was trying to sell an electric guitar. He was basically labelled a thief, liar and all round bastard. It has to be read to be believed. Obviously he had done nothing wrong but his reputation being shat on by some complete moron. Anyway, Get Back came out and one or two little pairs of shitty underpants started asking sarcastic questions and comparing the video that cost, £250.00 to a video that cost over £10,000. The said people then went on and made some of the shitest music videos I have seen come from Northern Ireland and I bit my tongue. I think the people possibly removed the comments after they started making videos themselves. I feel the need to apologise for this semi-rant which is a shame as this is my site after all. I’m sorry. It has just gotten to me today. Maybe stress is getting to me. People have a right to dislike something. That’s not the frustrating thing. It’s when you can’t learn from the criticism because it has no depth or thought behind it that it becomes frustrating and detrimental.
Let’s leave this here with a link to Glen Hansard telling a quite frankly ridiculous story about how he met Van Morrison. It is well worth a listen. Here.
I find myself updating this website or this blog part at least once a month. I met my good friends The Stifani Borthers who run a blog themselves. They were showing me how it worked and I was catching glimpses of the kind of figures they were getting. It was great. About 3000 people a month or a week on average, not sure which. At one point they had 8000-9000. They explained that the reason for that peak was because during that time they updated the website very often ie every day. I doubt i’ll ever attract those kind of figures as I don’t have enough to say and it can take quite a lot of time making links to things. Twitter makes me feel like I am giving babysweet updates more regularly these days. But it’s a sort of dangerous game. It is a babysweet twitter, so does that mean it should just be for babysweet business such as “Hey here is a new video…”?
I use it under the babysweet moniker and do updates about all that kind of thing but then also fire out messages about wrestling or whatever else is going on. I don’t know if that alienates people or is a good thing. On facebook for instance I have a personal account and a babysweet account. I therefore get all the crap out through the former and post videos and updates through the latter. With those things being so prominent in peoples online interaction I dont seem to give a thought to updating this site even though it is actually built for the promotion of babysweet itself. The thing is that I love this website with all my heart. There are times when I had asked Dom to change it and build it with a different program. I was going for something that was more “professional”. He would then give outlines and I would say things that made it resemble it’s current state a little more and then I realised that this site is what it is and I love it. It isn’t really like any other video websites I have seen. It isn’t flashy at all but then it isn’t a piece of shit. I would describe this site as a perfect accomplice to babysweet and the whole idea of babysweet itself.
What I mean by that is the other designs I may have had in mind have now been used everywhere and they look great. But it is almost expected that your site will look like that. Sites like the Cargo Collective ones. They look great. They are slick and professional. It’s remarkable how much Vincent Moon has influenced the world of video hosting in fact. I’m not a V-Moon addict but that man was ahead of the game and should be a millionaire but I don’t know if he is or isn’t. I doubt it. Anyway this site has remained loyal to me and in fact in 3 0r 4 years the current state is only the 2nd design. There was another one that lasted about 4 months until the buzz of having any kind of website wore-off.
This website can be as professional or unprofessional as you want it to be. It can be “lo-fi” or it could be time efficient. It could be friendly or it could be immature. It really doesn’t matter and who cares what it is? It has everything you need. If it’s someone looking for me to have a job then they can basically see the most up to date video that I am happy with on the homepage. If it is someone who is interested in babysweet as a brand then they can look at all the other stuff such as the the very beginnings as babysweet tv, which I wish was at the bottom of the videos page rather than top, the records section which has been promising an EP for 2 years, the essays section, the contact section which I don’t often look at as I usually ask Dom to update it in a rage when I am angry about money. There is a mailing list. I love that. I think I sent one mailing list out that said “test by babysweet”. I don’t know if anyone ever got it. That was 3 years ago. I haven’t sent one out since. I’m not totally sure how it works and I dont mind, anyone who likes stuff like that would get updates on facebook or twitter. I battle technology every day. I have been saying I will learn after-effects for 2 years. That is a more serious thing and I really should as there is only so much I can do without it. So the simplicity of this site is my mistress. For instance I will let you in with a secret that only the inner circle of babysweet know. If you take any vimeo video and copy the code that follows it:
example: http://vimeo.com/10928435
If you then go to website and in the video section click on say David Clements Promotional Footage you will see this in the address bar : http://babysweetsessions.com/videos/?vid=36303844
If you then take the code that you copied from vimeo (10928435) and put it in place of the code that follows the David Clements video (36303844) and hit refresh then the video from vimeo will appear in place of David’s video. It’s magic. I think Dom asked me not to mention that in case of something but that may just be my imagination.
SO WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING IN FEBRUARY?
February has been a great month. I have been a busy gentleman. There will have been some stuff you have seen online but I have been busy doing other jobs as well. I have started a new music video project. I have shot a couple of things for it. It’s very laid back but very interesting visually. The only problem with it is that it will take a long time to shoot as I need about 50 different locations. I don’t know if there is time or not as the band are still waiting on the mix to be returned. I think the band and I are in agreement about delaying the video until it is ready anyway. Potentially it will be my best music video if the standard of what I have shot already hold up through out it.
I have just returned from Oslo, Norway. I finally had a dream fulfilled of getting a flight to place I have never been covered on the basis of filming a subject.
park in oslo
It was an honour to be asked to do it. It is for a growing electronic label based in Oslo called “Electropix“. It is a genre of music I am not familiar with and that provided an interesting perspective for me. There was lot’s of footage for the music video shot in Chicago earlier this year and my job was to shot footage in Oslo with the artists that could be cut with the Chicago stuff and turned into a video. It was a little tense at times as I hadn’t and still haven’t been able to see the Chicago footage. I saw one or two stills that we later learnt were actually taken by somebody else. I arrived in Oslo on the Friday evening and met Calixte who runs the label and one of the artists who appears in the video. We went for dinner in a lovely restaurant and chatted. It was quite surreal but very natural. Calixte then went away and Elsa, the artist, and I went back to her place after spending 200 krone on 6 beers, a packet of haribo and a kind of Rolo rip-off brand. We talked through video ideas and tried to work out if I was directing this video, what we were actually trying to do and what we needed. Calixte joined us later and put a blanket of calmness around us before he and I headed to the gorgeous Drammen to sleep.
Where i laid my head.
This was my first time in Scandinavia. The house was what I imagined. It was so warm in the house. Not in an over whelming way.In a blissful way. The snow was the deepest on which I had stood. It was nice.
The house in Drammen
We got up early in the morning. Calixte made me breakfast and then we ran with my equipment to get a train. I wanted to vomit my omelete up but I held it together. We arrived to the opera house where we were shooting about 20 minutes late. I went up to the roof and started sourcing where the angle should be. Calixte said he would be back in 15 minutes and an hour and a bit later he returned, found the artist who had been really cool and was still there and we got started. About 2 hours behind schedule on the tightest video deadline I had ever shot on. Once we got filming it went really quickly. The ideas are very simple. The delay actually proved a great benefit visually as the sun came at just the right time and bounced off the lens. We got a coffee inside and I attempted to order in Norwegian. I ignored the “What?” I was greeted with by the lady at the till, asked in some kind of Norwegian for two coffees to take away, “What would you like?” was the reply and then I said “Two coffees to take away please.”
The rest of the shoot that day went well. Then there was a gig that evening featuring one of the other musicians doing a show. I filmed a bit of that and was a tired lamb. The show finished at around 3:30 am. Calixte, the DJ and I left the venue at around 4:00. We walked to the train station it was closed. We went to a Kebab shop got some dinner. People started falling asleep and it started snowing. Calixte said we would chill for 30 minutes as he started nodding off and the snow kept falling. At around 5:00 am we walked to the station where there wasn’t a train leaving for blissful Drammen until 6:15 am. We sat down and the next 90 minutes could have been a wonderful one take, avant-garde film masterpiece. It went in roughly this order.
INTRO
We sat down. Calixte started sleeping. The DJ sat opposite me and lay down. I was determined to stay awake as I was slightly worried about the film equipment and also didn’t see the point in sleeping as I had to leave Drammen at 8:45 am anyway. There was the obligatory gentleman sleeping across three chairs on the other side of the sitting area. He was snoring like an Ox. This noise would continue until we left the area 90 minutes late. He wouldn’t move. It was the same rate and with an occasional increase or decrease in volume when the script determined. Two Norwegian girls sat a few seats up on my left. They were both completely drunk and had been crying. One lay on the others lap and didn’t participate in the film until the end when she sat up. Her friend who she was lying on possibly had a learning difficulty. In the distance some lady who was in good physical condition and possibly late 20′s was holding her mobile phone to her ear but on speaker as some ringtone along the lines of “Crazy Frog” was playing. She used her other arm to hold a can of blackthorn cider as she performed for people. She was fully clothed and not being outrageous but she was turning to people, bending over a little a shaking her ass. She would thrust her hips forward towards people as well.
At this point two fellows came over and sat in the sitting area. One went straight for the Norwegian girl with the friend on her lap and they started speaking.
Drunk 2
“Why have you been crying? I seen you crying.”
His friend started talking to the DJ opposite me who had already explained to me that he was from a rough part of America so he always felt like he had to keep an eye out for trouble. The gentleman who we will call “Drunk 1″ was saying to him that if he lay across three seats then he would be thrown out by security. He was saying it so quickly though and in a long winded way that the DJ had no idea what he meant. I was so angry with tiredness that I just listened and looked at the ground. Eventually I threw a look to the DJ and had to bite my lip as the cloud lifted over me and I nearly erupted with laughter at this scene in “the film”. This part carried on for a little while longer. The man asked where I was from. I said in the strongest Northern Irish accent I could muster,
Me
“Nnnn Iiii……Northern Ireland”.
He actually seemed a little scarred or thats how I interpreted it. He looked at the ground for a while. The snoring picked up and I heard Drunk 2 ask the Norwegen girl out for a cigarette. She preceded to tell her comatose allie on her lap that she would be right back. Drunk 1 asked me for a cigarette. I told him I didn’t smoke. He came right over into my face and told me where he was from and how we was about one love and peace. I was prepared for a smack in the face and felt as if it would have no effect on me and that then I would no fear in hitting the gentleman. He then joined up with Drunk 2 and the Norwegian girl who maybe had a problem and they went outside. I had a horrible image of a disgusting threesome.
Snoring reached an unhealthy peak. The DJ sat up again and looked around. Calixte neck kept rocking as he continued to sleep.
Interlude for toilet break.
Part 2
While those 3 where doing God-knows-what a small plump gentleman from Pakistan came in and gently threw himself into a chair opposite the comatose girl. He was wearing a tie, a hat and had a smile on his face. The three drunk lovers came back. They sat down in the same place from which they left. The Pakistani man eyes lit up when he saw the women. He began asking me to look at the women. Drunk 2 had his arm around the back of the Norwegian woman as her friend lay just on the seats beside her. I heard him mutter something and she said
Norwegian Girl
“I like you but not in that way….You understand…Are you alright with that?…I like you but not like that….please take your arm off me.”
Drunk 2 surprisingly then stood up and walked off. ”What about their friendship?” I thought.
Drunk 1 fucked off with him and I was really happy about that. Suddenly some horrible noise began getting louder and louder. It started to form some beat and then a can of blackthorn came into my vision.
Pakistani Man
“Jesus Christ”
He said it with much pleasure and sexual undertones. It was the dancing lady, still with her phone to her ear.
Pakistani Man
“Oh Jesus Christ”
He uttered again as she bent over and thrust her ass back and forth opposite me. I looked at the floor.
Pakistani Man
“Look at her man. Jesus Christ…”
The man said in my direction.
Pakistani Man
“The Female body is a blessing from God”.
I started laughing loudly at how absurd the whole situation was. Calixte and the DJ woke up. Calixte was chuckling and trying to get back to sleep. I began roaring with laughter as the lady straightened up and began shaking her ass as she looked at her reflection.
Pakistani Man
“Look at yourself…you like that….Yeah….Oh Jesus”
The Pakistani man said as his filled with joy.
Pakistani Man
“You like looking at yourself”. ”Look at her man”.
He directed towards me.
Me
“I’m married”
I lied.
Pakistani Man
“Your married? Once a man marries he is wasted.Your not married? How long have you been married?”
Me
“3 years”
I replied.
Pakistani Man
“If you had said 1 year I would have believed you. 1 year is fun but if you had been married 3 years I would see it in your face. Your not married man.”
He turned his attention back to the dancer,
Pakistani Man
“Jesus Christ girl.”
The girl stopped and sat down beside the Pakistani gentleman as she looked at her phone.
Pakistani Gentleman
When was the last time you had sex?
The lady didnt seem to notice the question or respond and I started laughing.
Pakistani Gentleman
When was the last time you had sex? Dont be embarrassed. This is a modern society. You are a modern woman. You know what I am saying.
The drunk Norwegian woman looked at me and asked how long I was married. When I kept up the lie she said that was good for me and she was happy for me. She couldn’t understand where I was from so I dropped the Northern and just said Ireland. I then said beside England and she told me how she would like to like to live in England for a year just to see what it was like. I started to feel depressed as I thought that she never would leave Norway. What do I know about it. Maybe she would. But I will leave the story there for now and maybe continue the rest of it in the Essay section a little later.
I was going to mention other projects I was working on but the story above got more detailed. All will be revealed. I’m sure you wont be able to sleep with excitement. You love this website too.
My choice of title for these blogs is still poor since the turn of the new year. They are not funny nor informative as I am not a comedian or an Informer. This year has started as well as any year I can remember and as of writing I am only eight days in. I spent christmas and new year back home in Northern Ireland. Before the trip I was in severe need of a break. It came just at the right time. My break back home consisted however of getting battered every day for 8 or 10 days and so by early January I was more than ready to return to London town for a quieter life. My first step was to go back to the swimming pool. I started going to the swimming pool around the time of making the Cashier N09 video. I was getting myself into such a stress in the pre production that going to the pool and sitting underwater felt like the only way I could clear my mind and not be worrying about the project. After Xmas I went and could barely do 10 lengths of the 25m pool in one go. I battled on, got to 30 and then left. Two days later I had to force myself out to go again and I managed 30 without a break. I could really feel the benefit of not smoking for one week. I then went to the casino with my dear friend and began smoking.
Money made from the traditional casino game, "Roulette". If you add all the numbers on a Roulette table together you get 666.
What has made this start to the year good is the fresh sense of optimism I have. 2011 was a good year for me as a low scale filmmaker. It is sometimes hard to rate progress while in the middle of the cycle but despite whatever made being good or not I have been able to pay the rent doing it. I have also felt a rebirth of love for film. Music has always been my number one passion. It explains why I film so music music, I’m a shit musician. I would buy music magazines and subscribe to Loud and Quiet (Very cheap. Good Quality. Free Vinyl. £20 for a year). When I have bought film-magazines in the past like Sight and Sound or Film Ireland I have been bored and fallen asleep, sometime whilst floating on a giant zebra. I looked at them for opportunity rather than interest. Two days ago I had a craving to buy my girlfriend a subscription to Little White Lies film magazine. Basically the Xmas presents I got her were bought when I was in a haze and weren’t very cool. I then thought how a subscription to a magazine would be a class gift. I also think a voucher for the Wii Virtual Store would be class. £30 to spend on old school games. A dream. As I had been bored in the past with film magazines I bought this months issue before subscribing. It is all about the film Shame, the newest film by Steve McQueen. I was impressed that I remembered his name and even more impressed that I was interested in reading about his new film. One point I found really inspiring was that his other film, Hunger, was released 4 years ago. That seems like ages to me because I am an idiot.
The man has been crafting a piece of Art that will be in the world for the rest of time. 4 years is nothing. A lesson for the new year. It definitely helps that the magazine is the best designed magazine I have ever felt. The shape, texture, layout and style is flawless. I tried to use a self-checkout to pay for it but I couldn’t find the bar-code. That was because the barcode is incorporated to the magazine so well that you don’t even notice it. I remember my friend telling me that the gentleman who designed Kowalski’s Take Care, Take Flight EP had a stressful moment of clarity as he forgot there was a barcode going on the disc and if he had remembered he would have designed the EP slightly differently. No one want’s a barcode on their artwork but LWL did it and I am smitten. I also couldn’t tell what film the issue was about despite it saying on the cover. Again, it is so well designed I didn’t even notice. This new found romance for the magazine is one part of my life which is gelling with other parts and giving me an interest in making a short film. That’s the real challenge for myself. Make a decent short film. Get into Directing in that way. Directing live stuff like concerts etc is so different. When you do that you capture a subject that you have no control over. In the short film area it is all about what you see. Very scary.
DOT-AH
The new live video above is the companion piece to the live video from last month of Daughter performing Love at St. Giles in the Fields Church. I think the video of “Youth” is the better one of the two and it’s maybe my favourite live video I have shot. Elena, singer, looks iconic to me in the “soundcheck” footage. Some people hate the film-burn look. I can understand why. I thought it worked for this. I hope to work with Daughter again. The second EP wasn’t as instant for me as the first but the performance of Love I filmed really got me into it and helped me understand the whole EP. I was with Hannah in Topshop getting her some late Xmas gifts with the casino winnings and the demo of “Run” came on. It was great. It feels like a big secret that is going to be revealed in 2012.
An attempt at making new year resolutions below!
NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS
- Make a short film
- Stop biting my finger nails
- Remember Actors and Directors names
- Stop eating white bread
- Begin a feature length documentary
- Get a video on Pitchfork
I got this Coma Cinema T-Shirt for Xmas. 1st Day it got covered in Guinness and a hole burnt in it.
If any of Y’all go on Twitter ye can follow babysweet ramblings courtesy of @mrbabysweet
Before writing this I decided to look back at the last 2010 entry and see what I had promised to do or set out to achieve. There was nothing so therefore I haven’t really let myself down. This year started off fairly productive, took a bit and is coming back round for the final hurdle. Without looking at Live gigs / performances here is what happened in 2011.
is it the sea? is it the sky?
I made 4 music videos. That is the most I have ever made in a year. In terms of improvement I think they were the best I have made but if I had made 10 videos this year then maybe I would be much better at it. The most successful video was the Cashier No9 video for Oh Pity. It was my first music video to get played on MTV2 (Rocks!) or whatever it is known as these days. It was always a goal of mine to do that so now I need a new music video goal for 2012. Maybe get it on again or get a video on Pitchfork. I feel Pitchfork is actually a little down the toilet. Or maybe my taste is. We don’t agree on a lot, 24bit is a much more “part of the family” website. I would love to get back on to 24bit but Pitchfork is the sort of Hidden Treasure and the exposure would be magnificent.
Besides Casher No9 I also made videos for Kowalski, Grand Forever and Gathered Ghosts. The Kowalski video was definitely the toughest edit I had. I thought the whole project was a disaster and going to need to be re-shot entirely. We didn’t even have a plan for the video. I can’t remember one thing we really spoke about besides getting the “Morph” suits. It turned out well though. The first video of the year for Gathered Ghosts was my favourite at the time. It was just a marvellous situation. An amazing label, an amazing band, an amazing song, an amazing actor in an amazing city. I thought that video would have caused more of a stir online but it wasn’t to be. The Grand Forever had little presence online despite getting a premier on Fake DIY. It took 30minutes to make and was my favourite at the time. I still love it but I have watched it back only once or twice since it went online. I wanted to keep it special or didn’t want to catch myself out as a Conman.
Photo of the Year?
I only ever judge the progress of Babysweet by looking at the Short Films section and seeing how much it has grown. I look at and think it hasn’t really grown this year. there were four music videos, a couple of corporate jobs and Cornelia’s single Launch. The Single Launch is one of my best pieces of work in terms of photography. There is also a Gotye mini-documentary that is done but not allowed online until January that I feel is strong. It’s going to change anything or make any money or bring any popularity but it’s just a really basic mini-documentary that I don’t mind watching. There are also a couple of Daughter performances I shot very recently that I am quite proud of. They should be online maybe before Xmas. I think I have made them quite interesting. It a tough call with live performances. The amount of live videos going online is large. It’s hard not to get bored of some of them. That then translates to filming them I find. You would look at a shot and think “I don’t want to film that” or know that you could film it in a way that would go down well but you can’t bring yourself to do it. That’s why I enjoyed the Daughter / Gotye videos as I made an effort to try and make it different to other live stuff I have done.
I live in a Music Video Asylum
So besides Videos and Live Performances the only documentary I have made was “A Musician and a Scene” which is going online a couple of hours after this is written. You can read about it here. I was hoping for bigger things from this film. Festivals, Late Night TV etc. Applying to festivals is a full time job in itself though and I just haven’t got round to it. Although there may not have been stuff appearing up here for a month or two at a time I have been working on other things. That has been the real “win” of this year. I now make my living from Directing and Editing. Surely that is the biggest success I could have hoped for this year. I am allowed to improve and develop and pay the rent all in one. I have been doing it full time since June and looking over that period it is great. Sometimes I moan about it but I am just being a dick then. What more could I want?
In trying to find another picture i couldn’t find one where i looked decent.
This video was out in April 2010 but I only saw it this year. It’s perfect.
End Of the Top of My Head Favourites of 2011
Theres too much you can write about that stuff and I can’t be arsed. Top Irish stuff I liked is the Wonder Villains Zola Ep and I like The Jepettos “Goldrush” free single. It’s not that I am all about the quiet poppy single it’s just that they are most prominent in my head at the moment. The find of the year was Coma Cinema. Pretty slow on the up take considering it was the 3rd album released by them before I caught on. They are the best band I have heard since I first got a Bright Eyes addiction in 2004. The beauty of how i found them was through Vimeo. There is a video guru making a name for himself called Tyler T Williams. I came across a couple of his videos and just watched and re-watched them. Then the music seeped in, I went to the website and haven’t looked away since. The music is all free to download. It’s completely free and legally so. I don’t know how the main Gent survives by giving his music away and sometimes there are a few tweets that would suggest he is close to death. If you check out his blog then you get links to all these other killer bands that have music on bandcamp for free. The latest one I have found are called Happy Trendy. They are great and free. Check them out.
