Brock Scott is an artist and musician who I met through a mutual friend at the Savannah College of Art and Design. He's fronted several bands over the years, including the Brock Scott Quartet, Dreamer Boy Dan, and now his latest, Little Tybee.
Progressive rock played on real instruments - violins, piano, acoustic guitar - by real musicians. Intelligent lyrics filled with stories and historical allusions. You'll be humming it at work.
I've used a few of Brock's tracks before, most recently a Little Tybee track called "Spellcheck His Eulogy" for a my stillmotion piece Inline.
For Little Tybee's upcoming album "Humorous to Bees", Brock and I got together to create a music video for "Nero", a ditty on the tyrannical Roman Emperor who famously "fiddled while Rome burned"
(Suetonius actually says he played the lyre)
We came up with the idea of having another SCAD graduate, Mark Montgomery throwing yo-yo as the centerpiece of the video, focused on his craft while all around him the spectacle explodes.
Terrence Green (left) with Mark Montgomery
We did this as a single, in-camera take, which required two things: a skilled Steadicam operator and great talent. Chris Campbell, a veteran of feature films and music videos, was psyched on the project, and manned the Steadicam. You can get in touch with Chris at chriscrooked@gmail.com
Clockwise from upper left: Brock Scott, me, assistant Sharif Hassan, Chris Campbell and Mark Montgomery
Between myself, Chris and Brock, we pulled in a great group of talent including bboy and hiphop dancers, Falcons cheerleaders, singers, musicians, pinup girls, and photographers. Each "scene" was pulled from a past shoot or funny shoot experience, and it was all shot on a single evening in my studio here at Encyclomedia.
Rehearsing, Mark Campbell on right
We used a Panasonic HPX170 P2 video camera, which allows you to shoot progressive material at variable frame rates. So we could overcrank to 36 fps, with the music playing at 150%, then slow the final footage down to 24fps and sync it with the original track. The 170 also portable enough to easily work with on a Steadicam, or in tight spaces, running around the woods, or lashed to the side of a cliff, so its been my main camera for most of the video work I've been doing lately.
Chris Campbell, left and I go over the game plan with the crew
It turned out everyone had either worked together before or knew each other. One dancer was Mark's neighbor, and there was something about a noise complaint. Hatchet buried. That's the great thing about the performance community in Atlanta. Tons of talent, very little drama or attitude.
Some of Atlantas finest talent going over the steps
Nearing the end of a take
It was more like a live performance than a video shoot. We pulled it off after only 18 takes (and with only one open bloody wound). Chalk it up to the awesome talent we had in the room
Here is the official Nero video. The album will be out in early Fall 2010, complete with Brock's hand-drawn album artwork.
Nero - Music Video from Andrew Kornylak on Vimeo.
If you have more questions about the video, steadicam or monitoring gear or just want to see the latest awesome camera toys, stop by Showcase Camera. Whenever I have video or audio equipment problem to solve I talk to Frank or Kenny in the video department.
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Nero - Behind the Scenes
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Since I started doing "Stillmotion" pieces a couple years ago - creating video using short, high-speed bursts of still photographs - a lot of people ask me for a step-by-step roadmap to the technique so they can do it themselves.
Here are a couple of the more popular examples:
In Line from Andrew Kornylak on Vimeo.
The Beta - Six Feet Under from Andrew Kornylak on Vimeo.
You can see most of the ones I've done at my Stillmotion album on my Vimeo Page
It's something I've talked about in detail in a Guest Blog for Scott Kelby, on Robert Benson's blog, on the NikonRumors website, and as a speaker at the 2009 Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar, but I've never really put it all down step-by-step.
Recently Digital Photo Pro Magazine interviewed me about it, and they did just that, spelling out in gory detail exactly how to do it. So stop bugging me about it.
Seriously though, It looks like a ton of steps but really, its hella simple. You just need to make sure you have the right tools. I happen to use Nikon DLSRs for capture and sequence everything in Final Cut Pro.
One thing DPP did not ask was, "Why the hell would you do it?" It does look pretty cool, and it's novel. That's probably enough for me. But maybe the benefits versus video (extreme resolution, access to unique lighting and shutter effects) do not outweigh the pain-in-the-asses (difficult frame rates, extreme workflow challenges, no sound). It's a question I ask myself, especially given that there are so many amazing video capture tools out there today - most of which I use daily for other productions.
So here's something: I believe that in the future, there will be full motion-capture technology that is very similar physically to what I am doing with a high-speed still camera. I want to be first in line for that, and I'll know exactly what I'm doing.
Chew on that, try it out yourself, tell me if I am full of shit, and enjoy the article:
Constantin:
Oh Boy oh boy!
Thanks!
I lack the tools but I'm always hungry fro video tutorials. :-)
Cheers!
(05.06.10 @ 12:35 PM)
Michael:
Hi Andrew
I have enjoyed my brief look at your work. I would like to understand where the benefit of high resolution fits in as with the exception of 4K projectors I can't see where I can view the clips in all their glory.
Kind Regards
Michael
(06.09.10 @ 08:12 PM)
akornylak:
Hey Michael - thanks. There are some resolution benefits even with relatively low-resolution output. There is a lot more image information per frame to work with, and even when scaled, the difference is there (consider for example how large format photography looks on a postcard versus 35mm, or how cinema film looks better than standard definition even on a television) There is also the ability to crop and zoom. More interesting to me is that any frame could potentially be used in full (or nearly full-)resolution print.
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Stillmotion Explained, Other Stuff Not Explained.
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Photos by Michael Hanson: Chile, above, and Patagonia, below.
Semilla:
mish, i just started to follow you rss and i read "chile"..... i from chile. raro raro raro
saludos
(06.07.10 @ 10:28 AM)
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Michael Hanson in Chile
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Just back from the Outdoor Retailer Show in Salt Lake City, where I ran into my old friend Dave Pegg. Dave is a long time climber and a former editor a Climbing Magazine. I met Dave way back in the days of the Phoenix Bouldering Contest when I lived in Arizona. These days Dave heads a book publishing company called Wolverine Publishing, most notably the publishers of some very successful climbing guidebooks. I've worked with Dave several times over the years on photography for these books but it had been awhile.
After some how-do-you-do's, he excitedly pulled me aside to show me something, and whipped out his iPhone. I figured it was pics of some new crag somewhere I would never make it to, but instead he showed me this.
It's the complete and functioning 3rd edition to his guidebook to the Red River Gorge - already one of the best climbing guides out there - on a mobile phone / ipod touch. All the standard climbing route information is in here, plus a ton of interactivity tools for sorting, rating, and finding your favorite climbs. And no, it does not require an internet connection once installed. Release is set for May 2010.
OK not so shocker, as all books are headed toward an electronic second life, but the great thing about this app was how well-designed and useful it appeared. Game changer? I'll be able to share more details with you plus a not-so-exclusive interview with Dave closer to May.
peter b:
You can have the exclusive interview after I get the exclusive interview. I saw him first at OR :)
(02.03.10 @ 05:47 PM)
akornylak:
Peter: You know I had to throw that out there. He nodded at me on his way to meet you.
(02.03.10 @ 06:41 PM)
Climber:
The free Lite version of the app is out. Check out:
www.facebook.com/RedRiverGorgeRockClimbs
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Red River Gorge, on your iPhone
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Check out the details at the link above, and start gathering your photos from this year's Triple Crown (it can be from any of the three competitions) in to triplecrownphotos@gmail.com. You have until January 15, 2010!
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I'll be the Judge of That
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Very interesting read. Always cool to see behind the scenes of something that moves you.
(09.28.10 @ 11:10 AM)