Never Standing Still [Until shoot 6 of 20]
[photos from SWAN DIVE's UNTIL music video shoot]


[continued from album 5 - http://elvert.multiply.com/photos/album/283]

Call me old-fashioned but I still prefer some things to remain analog. For a filmmaker like me, there are images that needs to be shot the analog way because, at times, I aim for textures or moods captured visually. I'm not a fan of shooting digital and manipulate images to look "old" using modern editing suites. For example, modern video can't achieve the look and feel of 8mm - which is "homey" and very "personal".

For "Until", I want a very traditional way of doing things. In the treatment I emailed to Swan Dive, I specifically mentioned that I do not want gimmicky editing. I want traditional cut-to-cuts and a few dissolves if needed. Even during the shoot, I did not use a single special effect coming from the camera I used. I just want to shoot things as is and let the action flow naturally.

It is important, I think, not to get carried away by too much new stuff. Don't get me wrong....I love changes in technology. But I also don't like to say goodbye to the old way of doing things. New music videos these days concentrate too much on how to project the music artist's "image" rather than concentrate on the imagery that should complement the music. Swan Dive agreed with me when I mentioned to them in one of those online exchanges that the images should complement the song (and not to overpower it). But "Until" is such a powerful track that is both nostalgic and heartfelt - to overpower it demands difficulty.

"Until" deserves some "analog" treatment and discipline. Analog stuff demands a lot of discipline and it's one thing I miss so much about it. (Not to mention that these days analog/film stuff can be very expensive.) These days anyone can edit, anyone can shoot and anyone can put up a gimmick. The same thing goes with music. There's so much revivals....nothing original anymore. There's so much creative laxity and less of creative discipline. Bill has something to say about the current technology too: "The same way you wish for film, we wish for analog tape to record on. It's just become prohibitively expensive to work that way for us."

[to be continued]


photos by Jen Cabrera
copyright (c) 2007. Ex Ventures Unlimited & Lifesavers Production
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