Screaming Mimes Blog

Yesterday (Saturday 11/3) we gathered in the impressive cavernous Midwest Studio to shoot a video Superdave. Midwest is the premiere production facility in town - huge seamless cyc, tons of lights, dressing rooms... The Camera Department supplied the HD equipment. That's right, you'll get to see our smiling faces in all their 720i 24p glory.

Scott Thompson was Director of Photography, an old friend of the band and great guy to have on a set. Always sarcastic and surly, his sense of humor and talent kept everything moving along at a brisk, easy pace. He was ably assisted by Jake and David, who were there to set lights, run the dolly, and generaly make everything look awesome.

Deb, Riann and Leann were on hand to make sure we looked good (a true challenge, that) and all the moving parts kept moving. Deb is one of the first people I met "in the business" and has always been there with great guidance and positive vibes. Producing the shoot, particularly with so many young Mimes fans in tow, was a big blessing for us. The three of them kept the atmosphere and good vibes perfectly in tune. Leann took the photos for this wonderful blog, too!

We arrived at the studio around 9:30 (as Jim says, a great time to play rock and roll). After loading in our equipment (no amps for once, thank the maker) we set up the full band in the center of the stage against the white cyc. Randy brought a CD player with a delightful high-pitched squawk everytime you hit "play" - I think I lost that frequency that day. We all placed bets on how many times we'd hear "Superdave" - I lost count around 12.



"Okay, we rolling?"

Suddenly a hundred questions run through my mind. What do I do? How should I stand? Should I sing to the camera? Into the lens? Who am I singing to? A thousand strangers? A single soul? Do I dance? Do I move my feet? Do I smile? Are my glasses sliding off? Am I sweating a ton? Does my guitar look too low? Why is the crew giggling? What am I doing here? Do I have bagel in my teeth? What are the words? Did I play the wrong chord? Can anyone tell? Will Preston use this shot when he edits? Did I just make the most ridiculous face into the camera? And so on...

The first take was the four of us, not too energenic (it was still a bit early, mind you) playing through the song and singing to the camera. No major disasters. For the second one we were a bit more animated, jumping around a bit and interacting more. I tried not to block Jim too much but I'm not sure I was successful. For the third we spaced ourselves out a bit and Scott raised the dolly up high for a slightly unusual composition. Nice! I was settling into a zone of enjoying singing to a tiny white dot in the center of the lens. (I read someplace that the best way to look into a camera is to imagine a little puppy in there. I doesn't work for music videos, I tell you). After the group stuff was done the camera zoomed in on Jim for some "drummer-only" shots and I ran off to cool down and chug some bottles of water (those big lights get really freaking hot).

Jim put on quite a performance, singing along to the words (I had no idea he knew the song so well), hamming up his drum hits, a "raising the bar" as Randy said several times. Spectacular. Scott and his crew did several angles of Jim, high up, straight on, and from down on the floor. Very cool stuff.

We (the band) took a break as Scott, Jake & David moved in the massive green screen - maybe thirty by twenty feet? It was huge, anyway. Filming us in front of this would allow Preston to put a variety of backgrounds behind us (more on this later) in the editing suite. Randy stepped up and performed the song solo in a variety of medium and tight shots. Of course, he broke a string - but quickly recovered!

Preston got set for his instrument close ups, playing through the song and singing to the camera. Very animated. It was fun to sit back and watch the band mates really "sell" the performance - most of the time on stage I've got my face jammed into a microphone and I'm singing to the audience - I rarely get a chance to look around and see what the other guys are doing.

Next I had some instrument close-ups. Nervous about screwing up a chord or botching the guitar solo (yes, I'm the only one who would ever notice - but I'd notice, dammit!) we ran through it with Scott following my fingers up and down the neck. Preston seemed really pleased with one of the guitar solo moves I made - I'm not sure what happened, but as they said in "Almost Famous", just make me look cool...

Another cool down for me while Preston did his medium shots. Then I got back in once again for dancing and prancing in front of the camera. I was beginning to get into it a bit more, forgetting the hundreds of questions from the first take and just performing. Once in a while I would lapse back many many years to that kid with a broomstick in front of the mirror singing along to songs taped of MTV. Then I'd remember that I'm an adult now, and there's a bunch of adults behind the camera wondering what the hell I'm doing. Ah, self-consiousness!


Jim came back in for some tight shots of him singing the chorus for "Superdave", once again raising the bar. These were tight formal shots of all of us singing in that Brady Bunch style. Then we pulled out some goofy glasses for the "never gonna take these glasses off" line - the only band gag. Stacked up on boxes to form a standing diamond composition for the camera, we battled glare (my regular glasses) and sang through Superdave several times, with Preston, Jim and Randy doing a bit of synchronized performing for the chorus. Of course, standing like that wear all black, we couldn't help but break into some awful versions of "Bohemian Rhapsody". Oy!

Get down to the end, we ran through a take of my close up singing the complete song. At this point the day was wearing thin and the crew restless (we'd been going for several hours at this point) I came up with the spectacular idea of shooting the individual guitar players from a high dolly shot against the white cyc. Of course, with only half an hour left of everyone's good graces, and children reaching the end of their rope, Jake and Dave quickly got the green screen struck and put away while Scott set up for the next shot. Randy, then Preston, then me (Jim had been done in the beginning of his shots earlier in the day) - and we were done!

But not quite - Caroline, Jacob & Anabelle, some of our youngest fans, joined us for a free form dance off before the cameras were turned off. What a blast to see all the kids dancing. Great ending to an amazing day.


Requisite Rock 'N' Roll hand for all my secret devil fans.


Jim loads his drums in early-morning rocker mode.


Caroline and Leann play director & star on the movie set.


"No Caroline, don't touch that button!"


The young Mimes fans rock out.


Cooling off with Leann.


Preston shoots more material for his ever-expansive & always-comprehensive Screaming Mimes documentary.


Lucky MySpace friend Riann with her favorite lead singer in Screaming Mimes.


Preston is obviously thrilled with something Randy is doing.


Are we done yet?


Big, huge, bear-hug thanks to everyone who got us through this production - Deb & Preston led the charge and got everything connected. Preston's organization & vision kept us on task. Scott's talents were irreplacable, and for him and Jake & David to give us a beautiful Saturday was beyond generous. Riann & Leann were awesome help and great to have around on a stressful day. Caroline, Jacob & Annabelle were perfect entertainment as well whenever we started feeling tired - they were inspiring. Midwest & The Camera Deparment - we owe them a big solid. Having friends like this in the industry makes us better and knowing that we can count on people for favors of this magnitude really let's us know how loved we are. We wouldn't be anywhere near super without you guys.

Biggest thanks to Preston, Randy & Jim for making me laugh and being the best comrades-in-arms a guy could have.

Let's do it again!

Dave

PS - we've got a big surprise brewing for the main part of this video. If all the stars align and we hit our deadlines we should have something spectacular to show you in a couple months. I don't want to spoil the surprise, though... you've been warned!