Heavy Things Sold
entry no. 05
You have two weeks to meet your artist, scout locations, plan your gear, assemble a crew and edit the project for a release. Go.
The "Heavy Things" project just so happened to get pushed up and we decided to use this project as a challenge. Not just to turn a project around quickly, but to see if we could do it and do it fashionably. It’s exciting knowing we met our deadlines and somehow impressed ourselves in the process. This project taught us the value of project planning and using our resources.
This isn’t our first project to turn around quickly, but it was the first without a lot of pre-planning. We value relationships with our clients and that’s how we earn trust. Everything in this project was very goal oriented which earned us trust with Will and along the way a good relationship. Will (lead singer/songwriter for HT) was hands on in it all which helped relieve a lot of stress.
Figuring out location is always the biggest hurdle, because we can’t determine our equipment or crew until we can fully visualize the production. We met with Will and spent a day scouting and found a small attic with potential. It felt right and with a little work we made that set really pop. We wanted the lighting to be minimalistic, but well lit. With that in mind our location was very dark other than window lighting and we didn’t want the lighting to be super obvious in the frame. That led us to the Kino Flo 4 bank system. We removed the bulbs and place them behind the rafters to keep the scene well-lit and really have control of our set. Probably the most challenging light set up but most rewarding. We’re thankful for the help of the staff at Ohio HD to help us get what we needed and sharing their knowledge.
This project was shot on the Canon 1dx mii, because it creates beautiful high dynamic range footage. This choice kept the project more affordable, but still high quality and light weight. What we love most about the camera is how intuitive it is. Easy to use and fast. After finding the location and determining gear, we had another important challenge. Shoot it in a way that didn’t make it hard to turn around in post-production.
Keeping our deadline in mind we planned out every shot. It’s easy to go into these projects and shoot 20 plus takes. That approach is very much the safety net of getting everything you need. Downside is you create a monster of a project to sift through and adding days to post-production. Instead we limited it to 10 takes. This forced us to really match the song for every take, pay attention to possible mistakes and just make sure each take had a purpose. With all of the planning and shooting put together, we handled the edit in under 12 hours. Truly a new accomplishment for us.
Outside of the attic, we wanted to give the song some depth and diversity. That’s where we made the choice to utilize the DJI Ronin. We had the freedom to execute shots throughout the surrounding neighborhood and add some dynamic footage to the mix. We try to stay true to our artists vision, while also expressing some of our own creative freedom. This small addition really made this project more fun to watch and added a little more meaning to the song.
This project was only possible because the production teams hard work. We went very small which made things simple but we could have used more hands on deck for set design and tear down. It’s amazing what can be accomplished in a short time span with the right people supporting you. Another thank you to Ohio HD for being so helpful and always having our backs when we need it. We are really happy with how this project came out. It’s different, crisp and a new accomplishment for JECP. It was exciting for us seeing this project release through InVogue Records. Enjoy.
Crew
Josh Emerick | Cinematographer + Editor + VFX
Taylor Tigner | AC + DIT
Drew Hiles | G&E + Gaffer + PA
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