Picture this. You’re tasked with creating a video to showcase a drum kit, you get the plan down, the people hired, but there’s a difference – you’re in a pandemic

That was the situation for Oli Kane – the videographer tasked with showcasing the Roland V-Drums Acoustic Design VAD506 kit.

We got in touch with Oli to ask how he approached this ever-changing challenge with the lockdown’s unpredictable nature and how videography is working in a post-pandemic music scene.

Don’t forget to check out the music video!

THE CONCEPT

What was the initial idea behind this project?

“The initial concept was to promote the VAD506 kit with a video of Oli Wiseman (drummer for Anne-Marie) playing. It was a full collaboration between all involved too, all done remotely.”

“We wanted to show off how the kit looks in a live setting, so we’d started with an idea for a standard promo film that was following the lockdown guidelines at the time. At first, it was awkward to stick to the rules, but it quickly took on a life of its own… it became an “Ode to the Lockdown”. We eventually took the situation onboard and ended up using it as part of the project.”

It quickly took on a life of its own… it became an “Ode to the Lockdown”.

What were the steps you followed to create a production like this in such a challenging time?

“We decided through various calls and chats that, since we couldn’t do the full live production due to distancing, we’d have to separate the musicians… We’d have the drums in the centre, with a large screen behind Oli, and then all the other band members playing on that screen.”

“The concept was to keep a live feel to both the video and the track, so we didn’t want to turn it into this heavily produced thing that looked too polished. The kit looks and sounds like the real thing, and we wanted to capture that.”

“The first thing was to get a track produced, which Oli (Wiseman) was creating with a producer in France remotely. He did it all in his home, from the kit straight to the laptop, which the producer then finished.”

“From there, we had some session musicians learn their parts, then we got them in the room one-by-one to record them. We then added their takes to the screens behind the drum kit when Oli was being recorded.”

“All the preproduction was done remotely, and the musicians didn’t meet face-to-face at any point. It was quite interesting how well it worked.”

SHOOTING THE VIDEO

Where did you shoot the video?

“The Ropetackle in Shoreham. It’s an arts council funded music space. They were really helpful, they made the place safe, got us in there, made it really easy for us. It’s usually a live venue, but they let us record there.”

What are the main challenges of videography in Covid?

“There are lots, mainly things you don’t see coming, but for this project, we had to have a much smaller crew. In total, we had about 7-8 people doing the work on both days.

“Usually for this sort of shoot, you’d have a crew of 20 or more, they’d come in, set everything up, test it, then we’d shoot from there. Because of the rules, there was a significant shortage of hands out of necessity, but we powered through and got the video done on-time.”

What gear did you use to capture the video?

“For shooting, we used an Arri Alexa mini camera, a dolly system, and Zeiss superspeed lenses. Some of it was done handheld and wide shots were on a dolly.”

“Cinema cameras are expensive to rent, so we kept it to one main camera, then moved it around for different takes. Once we got a final main take, we did a couple more takes to get a few artistic shots. We wanted a live feel overall, but sometimes you need to add a few more shots to make it interesting. It’s a standard approach.”

How did you set up those screens? Are they green screens?

“We managed to get those “Tetris-styled” lighting panels from a company we were working with – Video Illusions. The screens were originally going to be used for Boomtown this year, but we managed to get our hands on them for this shoot.”

“They’re not green screens or projection screens, they’re these 1ft by 1ft square LED screens. You snap them together to create any kind of shape you want and then play footage or set them as lights. It was interesting. The footage of the other band members had to be split to get the right spacing on them, so I created a screen matte where I could edit each musician to fit into each screen. Sort of like having a stencil that you drag footage into.”

“Because of the shooting space we were in, it’s difficult to give a good sense of depth and grandeur, the space sucked everything out of it, you can’t blur the backgrounds or anything, so we also staggered them at various distances from the camera to create this really nice floaty 3D feel. That also let us add some nice subtle effects for more depth.”

How long did it take to shoot and edit the footage needed?

“In the end, it only took us about 4 hours to shoot Oli’s part, but we had a few issues with the camera which delayed things. The cam we’d chosen, the Arri Alexa mini, they have a reputation for never breaking, but it did for this shoot. On top of everything else, that was just another challenge. We had to pause everything to get a replacement in, but we managed the full shooting in a day, using the day before to get the rest set up and other musicians recorded.”

What about editing?

“Editing the footage took me probably… about a day and a half. For this, I wanted to make sure I had the right transitions in the right place, so it took a little longer than usual, but, like the track itself, we wanted to preserve that live stage feel so I kept a lot of the editing to a minimum.”

“Colour grading took a while, I tried making it look a bit like Tenet, where there’s this teal-green tinge to it mixed with the lighting. Gives it a bit of extra mood and depth!”

SOME FINAL NOTES

Is this the most unusual music video you’ve ever created?

“I wouldn’t say it’s the most unusual… but I’d say it’s been a challenge for sure, it’s interesting how you need to navigate around having or not having different teams and generally how Covid rules work, but that also ended up actually giving the end result its own flavour. It’s a new way of working at the moment.”

What do you think of the V-Drums Acoustic Design kit?

“It’s pretty amazing what it can do. I’m in a band myself and I’ve recorded drums before, so it was surprising to see how easy it is for projects like this. There were multiple times when we were looking at the kit where I said: “Wow, I didn’t know it could do that!”.

“Our life was made much easier by (the kit) needing just a single cable out. Because it’s not an acoustic kit, it saved a lot of monitoring and recording issues. We didn’t need to edit those sounds out, or even consider them at all really. It made it a lot more simple.”

“There’s going to be a massive increase in younger people whose music careers are fully online.”

With the world being online at the moment, do you think this collaborative approach to creating is going to become more common?

“Nowadays, a lot of musicians are already reaching out and collaborating. You don’t need all the bells and whistles, the best gear, or to complete a course, you can just hit people up, ask to collab on a track, use free video software to record something, and get a pretty good result.”

“Normal shoots are still happening even though they can be logistical nightmares with the required rules, but people are adapting to it and being creative around those restrictions.”

“There are so many artists doing things right now. They’ll still do live events when the pandemic lifts, but there’s going to be a massive increase in younger people whose music careers are fully online. Music tutors, recording studios at home, workshops and clinics, some successful musicians don’t even need to leave the house now. You can collab with practically any musician with just a message or two, or do something like a Twitch stream to generate interest, the tools are there and they’re being used.”

“I still think getting together to make and watch music is always going to be important as it always has been, I don’t think that’ll ever change… but especially now, people should reach out and collab… put some ideas together, share images and video, create tracks together with a click track to keep a consistent BPM and just start something from there.”

Find more of Oli Kane’s work

Instagram – Website

Photos supplies by @iancoulsonmedia.