Everyone has buzzed about the MōVI when it was announced at this year's NAB, but now we're starting to see what people are actually doing with it. Two of Australia's biggest artists, Chet Faker and Flume, combine their musical talents with the eery and electric dance moves of Brooklyn's "street dance king" Storyboard to make a music video for their song "Drop the Game". Hit the jump to see the video, behind the scenes and hear about its unique solution for mounting a RED Epic on the MōVI.
First, let's take a look at the video:
"It's the freedom of handheld but with the fluidity of the steadicam."
I talked with GAREN, the producer of the video (as well as the feature film Lily & Kat) about the process of mounting a RED Epic to the MōVI, which was only rated to carry 10 lbs. DP Alex Bergman was pushing the production to use the new stabilization system, so MōVI technicians Michael Gorczynski and Casey McBeath spent several days working with custom brackets at the Elements Technica storeroom.
Here's what Casey had to say:
We had to find a piecemeal solution to each and every mounting issue we encountered. From simply powering the unit to mounting the wireless focus system and video transmitter down to what type of filtration we would be able to use, we came to a dead stop for each one. Though with our dedication, staying until 1 AM at the store for an entire week, and coming in for a full day the Sunday before we left, we were able to customize a build of the MoVI that has become the standard for us when working with a RED Epic. In fact, our RED Epic/MōVI set up was so well put together, Panavision later came to us when to help them equip theirs for similar shooting. To this day we still assist Panavision with any overflow of MōVI requests they receive.
MōVI technicians Michael Gorczynski and Casey McBeath
The support that we got from RED and Element Technica was both truly gracious and humbling. We were allowed to fly across the country for an indeterminate amount of time with their one and only preproduction mockup of a new side bracket which we wholly support the use of! Look for it in the coming future.
Casey McBeath describes it as "being able to dance within the scene":
As the MōVI technician and operator, I cannot tell you the joy and pride I found in my job and my tools when we would finish a take and the directors and producers would be staring open mouthed at the monitor. The fervor and frenzy at which they demanded to see playback of what they just watched was proof to me that the images we were able to get with the MōVI were truly captivating.
And that's where I feel the strongest suit of the MōVI and is. Being able to dance within the scene. When shooting this video, we had a full crew and production set up but all of them needed to be relocated around the block as soon as the talent started to dance. Within minutes we were spinning around the talent doing 360° look arounds, dodging oncoming cars, buses, and trash trucks, and letting the music move us up and down the street.
GAREN talks about the producing side of things:
Did using the MōVI make my job as a producer easier? No. Did we come across difficulties because of its learning curve? Yes. Did it cause us to lose some time? Yes. But these things are all to be expected when embracing new technologies.
What I like about this video is that though it was shot on the MōVI, it was not the center point of the video's success. This video is all about the dancing, which is eerily mechanized on its own. Props to the director Lorin Askill for keeping it simple. Check out Storyboard's other dance work here.
A brief look behind the scenes of Drop the Game:
What do you think of the video? Did you like the subtle use of the MōVI? Share in the comments below.
Links:
- GAREN -- garenpictures.com
- Drop The Game -- Collider
- Alex Bergman -- DP
