Behind The Scenes

Violent Soho – Saramona Said: Music Video

After the Violent Soho/Graetzmedia single-shot clip Covered In Chrome was nominated for an Aria award, we knew the follow up had to be really special.

Director Dan and I had been discussing if we could use the camBLOCK motion control system to do a low-budget version of the famous “Children Of Men” car chase scene. We did some tests in the back of a van and realised that the robot would be able to move while under acceleration, so we started planning.

Shitbox car purchased and modified. I came up with systems to allow director Dan to control the moco rig live, moving throughout the entire length of the car while he was huddled in the back underneath dirty clothes and sleeping bags. I figured out a quick-release system that enabled the transition between car interior and hectic live performance, which I may have done slightly differently if I’d known that transition would be mediated via my jumping in the passenger door of a moving vehicle.

Behind The Scenes

What followed was one of those wonderful creative experiences that makes the hard work of filmmaking completely worthwhile.

Violent Soho – Covered in Chrome: Music Video

Single-shot, time-ramped icon of Brisbane Suburbia. I don’t think director Dan Graetz and the rest of the crew realised how much of a Thing this video was going to be when we spent a day shooting in 39º heat at bass player Luke Henery’s house.

It totally became a Thing, nominated for a 2014 Aria Award, and over a million plays on Youtube.

I sorted out the time-changing of the music, set up stage lighting, and came up with the quintessential “Jaymis” suggestion – “set the hills hoist on fire” – when we couldn’t figure out how to finish off the clip.

For the shoot day I had it easier than most, spending most of the clip hidden upstairs watching the video remotely and pulling focus. More sweat came out of Dan’s body than I thought was possible for a human body to contain, but the look of the piece, and the “teleporting” band members required that we produce a Behind The Scenes video to prove it was a real single-shot clip.