Surveying The Great Unknown: Part 2
Searching for a script on the PCH
This is a continuation of the story behind the music video for “The Great Unknown”. Read part 1 here for an in-depth look at the concept, pitch and pre-production that led up to this shoot.
The first time I rode a bicycle in Manhattan was goddamn terrifying. I grew up in small-town Wisconsin, and hadn’t owned a bike for years. The flow of traffic, people and insanity around me was the exact limit of what every bicycle ride between the ages of 5 and 18 added up to teach me. Every once in a while, we get to experience productions that feel just like that. Thanks to every single set we’ve been on up until that day, we can navigate the chaos, push the right buttons and avoid smashing ourselves into car doors. Every moment spent on a job will have prepared you for the one you’re on right now. The Great Unknown was one of those shoots.
Our crew on the road was exactly three people. Myself directing, Sean as my director of photography, and Jenna as our AC, second shooter and BTS. We had more help in the first and last locations for acts one and three, but the heart of the video was just the three of us. Rolling with a minimal crew means minimal gear. Not only did we not have enough people to manage hanging up enormous diffusion frames or running power from generators, but we had to fit all of our gear into a Honda Element and be ready to set up as quickly as the band could build a drum kit. Every “road trip” scene would have to feature natrual light, assisted only by bounces and reflectors.
The load-out for the road portion of The Great Uknown looked like this:
- Sony FS700 kit
- Canon 5DIII kit (x2)
- Canon L-series zooms and Rokinon primes
- Phantom 2 UAV kit
- Glidecam HD-4000 with X10 vest & arm
- Sticks
- Road Rags modifiers
- 6-in-1 reflector (x2)
All three of us have worked on lots television, advertisements and features that were much larger than this. We knew the limits of our kit, but also appreciated how streamlined our setups and breakdowns would be. As long as we didn’t let ourselves get too hung up on lighting situations beyond our control (read: many), we would be fine.
Our first day in the studio allowed us to have a solid setup. The big patio door gave us tons of natural light to diffuse, and we had plenty of time, power and space to work with. The FS700 handled everything inside, and a GoPro Hero3+ rode on the Phantom 2 to fly out the door and introduce our aerial element at the end of the first verse.
The drone shot out of the studio doors allowed us to sneak in one of those seamless cuts that we wanted in the initial pitch. Right after the piano verse ends, the band teleports from the studio space to the outside of the building where they loaded up the van. Our first shooting day was capped off by a three and a half hour drive to San Luis Obispo, the real launching point for our shoot.
We managed to hit all of the road trip tropes within the twenty minute drive from SLO to Morro rock. We picked up horrible junk food, we missed exits due to everybody assuming that everybody else was navigating, and the walkie-talkies were abused with trucker talk. Riding in the van with the band felt like being on tour — it was easy to tell that they spent a lot of time driving around in vans, and knew how to make the most of it.
Arriving at Morro Rock was the big “okay, here’s how this is actually going to work” moment. We all crawled down the rocks with the band’s gear, and got them set up. Portions of The Great Unknown blasted over and over from my Big Jambox while Jesse hammered on muted drums, and Ben and Tommy played their unplugged instruments. We were concerned about being removed from the location, but having too much fun with the absurdity of the situation to care too much. People on the beach didn’t think too much of the bigger cameras, but started pointing and gawking as soon as the Phantom started flying. We got our footage and got out as quickly as we could, hoping to avoid drawing crowds and the attention of local authorities.
This workflow more or less continued through our full day and a half on the road. Some locations were misleadingly accessible in our preproduction research, and a few off-the-cuff spots surprised us. We found ourselves hiking a mile down the beach to shoot in front of a lighthouse, and slamming on the motorcade’s brakes to look at some zebras on the PCH. The band was always game to get out of the van and play, seemingly enjoying the opportunity to not only drive the PCH but to pull over and explore once in a while. Everything went perfectly to schedule, delivering us at the Bixby Canyon Bridge during the last moments of sunset.
We took advantage of an early start on day three to shoot a performance at one more location (the water temple, discovered by complete chance while browsing google maps on the road) before rolling into San Francisco. We arranged for rooftop access with Zozi.com, one of Lucid Potato’s clients, and began to set up.
The rooftop allowed us a little more space to set up, but the aerial angles still stopped us from using traditional lighting. We popped off close-up coverage with reflectors and modifiers, then bought a few dozen of Jukebox’s local fans to fill up the space and enjoy a live show. The fans had been wrangled from Facebook & Twitter, and had started lining up hours early to be among the first on the roof. It was insane to load up gear while they were watching. Not only did their presence add a bit of pressure, but it brought me back to the many times where I stood in line for a show, or in a crowd watching a production happening. I was always mesmerized and jealous of those worker-bees, and now I was on the other side.
The rooftop shoot was one of those “riding the bike through Manhattan” moments. Fans were streaming through the door just as golden hour began, leaving us with about 40 minutes to cover the song and get the aerials while the sun was still up. They were all more than happy to hear the last half of the song over and over again. During breaks and camera resets, Jukebox played songs from their back catalogue, and kept everybody entertained. Jenna, Sean and myself were all running cameras from inside and around the crowd.
My entire wishlist of shots was covered multiple times from a variety of angles. We nailed specialty shots of the harmonies between Ben and Tommy, the key drum fills and all the flourishes that make Ben a hugely entertaining piano player onstage. We also managed to get gang vocals of the crowd, looping their lines and asking them to yell as loud as they could. It was probably my favorite directorial moment of the whole shoot, working perfectly with the gang vocals on the album.
Sean and I hammered out aerial coverage up until the very last minute of sunset. By some miracle, our UAV managed to stay airborne and avoid the dreaded “Phantom Flyaway”. The crowed enjoyed even more renditions of The Great Unknown while we got our gravy shots, and nailed that one moment of a perfect sky over San Francisco.
Without the luxury of other producers, an assistant director or a travel coordinator, this shoot managed to embody plenty of my least favorite aspects of production, balanced out by my absolute favorite ones. We got to do what we do best—take all of our toys outside and shoot the prettiest things we could find. It was an honor to do it for a band that I had long loved and respected, and we were thrilled when the last memory card came out of the Phantom, and we realized that we had completely put our shotlist to bed.
All of those under-staffed, under-budget stolen-location shoots that we’ve endured in the past decade made this shoot work. The Great Unknown was my latest bike ride through manhattan, and it went a long way to prepare me for the next one.
Next: Dealing with three days of unscripted footage, cutting The Great Unknown in Final Cut Pro X and coloring in DaVinci. Jukebox the Ghost’s new self-titled album is now for sale on the iTunes store. Listen to it right here.
