(Click any of the images to watch)This week on the podcast a brilliant Super 8 music video combining slick camerawork, tight editing and some seamless stop-motion animation.
'Greener in Their Prime' was shot by William Stewart and David Arthur for a track for the American band
The Thirsties using Kodak Tri-X Black and White (approximately 10 cartridges) and 3 cartridges of Kodak Vision 2 Negative stock.
The film was the duo's first project as William explains,
"David originally approached me with the idea of he and I doing a music video for my band’s song 'Greener In Their Prime'. The World War II imagery is an addiction of mine (as evidenced by the song itself), and we felt it would lend itself well to the format. There was never a doubt that we would do it in Super 8".We were intrigued as to how such a complex shoot went for two newcomers to the format,
"We ran into a problem with the shutter sticking on both cameras (Minolta XL601 and a Canon AutoZoom 518) on the day we shot the stop-motion sequences. This resulted in the “lightning” flashes you probably noticed on these shots. We liked the look as we felt it gave it kind of a 'battle' feel, so we left those frames in for effect... a happy accident I suppose?"
The film was shot in rural Columbia, did that make for any particular challenges?
"Yes definitely, with no electrical outlets available to us, our plan was to use a power generator which we borrowed. The Saturday night before the shoot, we discovered that the generator wouldn't work for us, and had no way to get a back up on a Sunday. Fortunately, my vehicle is wired with a power inverter so we used it to power one of the two floodlights (it wasn’t powerful enough to power both lights) we used for the interior shots in the old house."The look and feel of the video are quite important, particularly as it's a period piece - there's a lot of attention to detail.
"We created the majority of the props ourselves, which required a good deal of time. For example, we created the radio from a metal liquor case to which we added components to give it a realistic look. We purchased the toy guns which were the closest we could find to the M1903 Springfield used in WWII. All of the props had to be distressed to give them a realistic look, which involved additional work."And what about the costumes?
"Finding authentic uniforms for the live action footage was difficult. We ended up using a company out of Hollywood (Costume Rentals Corporation) and rented the uniforms for a week from them... they were actually used in the filming of Saving Private Ryan. They were expensive, but worked well."
What is incredible is are the sets for the stop motion sequences, how did they come about?
"The mini-set was a challenge to build. David and I built it from the ground up as a large table (about 10 x 10 feet) that consisted of two main parts which allowed us to move the table tops around to allow us to get the angles we wanted on the stop-motion shots."The final video is quite an accomplished piece, how do you feel about it?
"We’re quite pleased with the outcome and feel it serves as a great example of the DIY ethic and what you can actually achieve on your own when committed to a vision. When David and I first sat down to work out exactly what we were going to do, we identified key success factors that we knew would prove difficult to overcome. By focusing on resolving those main challenges, we stayed the course and found ways to work around the immovable."
"Conceptualizing and creating the shot lists was vital to our progress. For instance, we had our WWII uniforms for one day of live action shooting. If we missed anything on that one day, we wouldn’t be able to do anything about it because the gear would be gone. By having detailed shot lists and adhering them tightly, we got all of the shots we needed. Organization was key throughout the project, and diligence was the vehicle for overcoming obstacles."So what next for Stewart and Arthur?
"After the success of this first project we are currently working on our second music video with a local band called 'New York Disco Villains' which will be in color Super 8, we expect to finish this up toward the end of this year".Click to
watch the video in either Flash or higher quality Quicktime versions. Alternatively, follow the link below to download the original and better quality H264 file (
Quicktime 7 required).
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Labels: podcast
It's great to see that so many people are sharing their small film and Super 8mm knowledge - essential for keeping the format bouyant. 
