Before I breakdown the video shoot, I have to mention the equipment. All of this madness was shot on a Canon 2Ti! I couldn't believe it; I know that the Canon 5d Mrk 2 has been used to film the opening credits of SNL and an entire episode of House among other productions, but I have never seen a video being shot on a Canon 2Ti. This convergence of still frame technology with video is really interesting to me and I look forward to the next video which is in pre-production now.
Shooting
Monster Mouth with
9giants took place over a period of a few late weeknights. Although filming almost three minutes of the music video took quite a bit of time, the energy and enthusiasm was contagious and more importantly on those sleepless nights, sustaining.
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| John and Mark shooting Adrienne's first scene. |
Time for some lab work. Since this video is inspired by the hit Showtime series Dexter, our villain is not just a seriously sexy serial killer but also a blood spatter expert and trophy collector.
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| Above, Director John is more comfortable behind the camera than in front, while Adrienne gets into the part of a forensic blood expert. We all know it is the lab coat that just adds to the realism. |
Back at the killing room, the serial killer dawns her black stalking and chopping uniform as the crew starts to shoot some close-ups. The guys filled the room with fog while Adrienne jumped up on the table for some low angle shots and later stalked the table minus her victim.
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| Mark and John shooting Adrienne's close-ups. |
The serial killers costume was really ingeniously put together by the stylist for the shoot. It included at least three different pieces on top of the cut hose which was used for the arms. Unbelievably brilliant in its construction.
Next up it was time to place the victim on the killing table. Mark wrapped Eric up in plastic wrap and I ended up putting down my camera to help make things go faster and... well it was fun to torture Eric just a little by making each pass as tight as possible. You know, for added realism.
Eric definitely had the toughest job on the entire shoot, he was definitely not on the most comfortable surface and was left to lay on the hard chip board for hours at a time.
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| Mark wrapping Eric down. Adrienne getting ready to cut. |
True to Dexter, the Monster Mouth serial killer must collect a sample for her collection by cutting the victims cheek. This was done with a tube of a karo syrup mixture running up Adrienne's back, down her arm and attached to the back of the knife blade. Effects expert Moe blew into the tube to push the blood out of the tube as Adrienne motioned the knife across Eric's face creating the perfect bloody cheek effect.
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| John directs Adrienne while Mark sets up the shot. And Adrienne cuts into Eric as he is strapped to the table. |
Filming the eerie serenade only took a few shots and it was the first time the entire band and filming crew were together for the shoot. Adrienne stayed perfectly still during these shots which was challenging only because a few of us on the set attempted to break her concentration.
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| The eerie serenade and John getting some close-ups for the scene. |
Wrapping up this post, here is a shot of the antagonist and the protagonist. You can see these shots and more
here. Next Monster Mouth update, I will post some production stills from the killing room with my lighting gear.
