Noel "Momentos"

Just completed a very fun and successful 2-day music video shoot for Latin American Sony BMG artist Noel Schajris for his new song Momentos. Carlos Lopez Estrada and Carles Torrens co-directed this video, one of few times I've worked with two directors. I have done several music videos with Carlos, but only recently have I come to know Carles, who is an accomplished writer/director.

Carles Torrens - setting up our first scene of the day.

Carlos Lopez Estrada - our last scene of the night with stunt performers/drunken sailors.

Now for some technical details:
The video was shot in two days with 2 RED cameras. Each day we accomplished roughly 5 "scenes" and around 30 setups. In order to finish on such a tight schedule, lighting was kept to a minimum. The two cameras worked primarily on the same scene, but often times we would split off to cover two different scenes. Many thanks to David Cho for providing the additional RED, and the talented Kyle Klutz for stepping in last minute as the 2nd Unit DP.

In order to accomplish a hefty shotlist, all scenes were it so that there would be very little to no relight from shot to shot. Daytime consisted mostly of bounce (12x12 ultrabounce) and an occasional shiny board. This gave the crew time to start pre-rigging and lighting the more intensive interior scenes in the main circus tent.

For our exterior night scene, a 9-light bounced off of 6x6 unbleached muslin keyed the scene, string lights lit the location, and a few 5k's highlighted some of the set in the background.


For the interior tent scenes, practicals played a huge role. The tent was filled with string lights that gave an ambient fill to the whole scene. The location also provided vintage floor lights which were directed towards the stage and provided an uplit feel. For the audience, we simulated this same effect with bare bulbs configured on the floor with diffusion over them. Finally, two lekos (20 degree lenses) were placed at opposing ends to key the stage performers. Once haze was added, the whole location came together in a nice warm vaudvillian look. The cameras were also balanced for 5600k in the interiors to add to the tungsten look. Once we went in for closeups, china balls were used to supplement the key, or provide a bit more wrap-around on the subjects.