Written by Kevin Conway, Director & Executive Producer
Ever since my big debut as Chip the Teacup in Beauty and the Beast in the fifth grade, I’ve always had a soft spot for musicals.
In high school when I started to get more into film, my love of musicals naturally carried over. One of the first short films I made starring my now business partners AJ and Stephen was a musical about two awful superheroes, featuring an original score, an out-of-the-blue dance number, and a ton of intentional cheesiness. I loved it. They hated it. (Don’t even try to find this online – you won’t).
Since I started FBC, I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to direct a big, over-the-top musical-style video. So when Gracie and Clyde from the band Lawrence told me their next music video idea was exactly that – in a retro diner (much like the one we were currently meeting with them in) – I was psyched.
The idea was to make the video for “It’s Not All About You” with some strong references to musicals – choreographed dance numbers, bright and poppy colors, diners (of course), and a hint of tasteful cheesiness.
Director of Photography Ben Enke and I wanted to shoot the video in as few shots as possible to make the video feel like a live performance. We originally planned for 5 shots for the musical number, but as we continued talking through them, we moved towards limiting the whole musical number to three shots with only one visible cut when the band leaves the diner for the exterior dance number.
The idea was to completely separate the opening scene from the musical portion of the video. We conveyed this practically with tight, locked-down shots, shallow depth of field, and dramatic pools of light from practical sources and larger tungsten fixtures through off-screen windows. We took a lot of inspiration from visual references in Mad Men and the diner scene in Road to Perdition. The idea was to kind of trick the audience by opening on this visually dramatic scene, and then all of the sudden jump to this bright, theatrical musical number.
Right before the musical scene, we cut between shots of Gracie and The Guy’s point of view. By the time the music kicks in, we wanted to make it clear that we were seeing the world through Gracie’s eyes, living out what she wished she could tell this terrible guy on this terrible date. We used sound and slow motion as tools to drown out reality in the opening, and then once the drum roll hit, we were fully in Gracie’s head.
The musical number intentionally has a completely different look and tone. We ditched the dark moodiness of the first scene for bright colors, silky smooth camera movement, and over-the-top choreography. The quick steadicam moves and color palette from the musical numbers in La La Land were huge references for Ben and me going into production.
We tried to make this style jump apparent right off the bat, starting with the dramatic pull out from the snare drum – a totally different vibe than the static shots leading up to it. Everything in this scene is supposed to be theatrical and goofy, from the quick pans and digital zooms, to the giant plate of stacked cheeseburgers Clyde is holding.
The first shot of the musical portion of the video is over ninety seconds long with no cuts. This was the most challenging shot in the video because of the tricky blocking that was required for both talent and camera (not to mention we shot this at about 1 a.m.). I shot the first few rehearsals on my iPhone as a framing reference for the camera department.
Once we locked camera blocking and choreography, we staged extras and did it for real. We had our RED Dragon-X loaded onto a DJI Ronin with a ReadyRig (by no means a nimble setup), so navigating the tiny aisles of the diner and nailing every pan and movement in one shot was quite an ask for our camera department. Luckily, magician gimbal op Michael Hoday nailed it pretty much every take, allowing us to nitpick and focus on talent blocking and choreography.
The first cut occurs when Gracie and Clyde leave the dining area and enter the kitchen. Our editor, Sam Powell, stitched those two shots together in post to have the appearance of one continuous take:
Shooting the exterior dance number was a blast (and cold). Gracie choreographed the dance number and taught the steps to the extras prior to moving outside, so we were able to shoot this number as one long take as well. Here’s another Shot On iPhone rehearsal:
We were racing against the clock for this shot as we weren’t permitted to playback music outside past 9:30 p.m. since we were shooting in a residential Chicago neighborhood. Despite the cold, the band and extras performed 7 or 8 back to back takes with barely any downtime, allowing us to nail the shot. Check out a BTS video (credit to @michaelhodayfilms on Instagram) of the take, featuring a near catastrophe when Michael Hoday steps on my foot – my fault.
After a very long night of filming, dancing, and coffee, we wrapped at about 4 a.m. Though exhausting, it was definitely one of the most rewarding and enjoyable sets I’ve been on to date, thanks to the insanely creative Gracie and Clyde Lawrence and unstoppable crew.
Written by Kevin Conway | Director & Executive Producer