26 July 2009
24 July 2009
Johnny Foreigner Video
July saw Left Eye Blind shoot our latest music video. It’s been a strange six months since our last video. Signing with Academy in March we’ve found ourselves in the world of ‘pitching’, and other than getting involved in our own personal projects, the collective identity of Left Eye Blind has spent it’s time either writing on tracks or travelling to London. Having not made anything for a while, we decided it was about time we got out there and produced one. And what better band to do that with than ‘Johnny Foreigner’?
These guys are serious rising stars with a huge fan base and we all felt we needed to create an impacting video. The song allowed us great scope for a narrative within it, but to pull it off we needed to build a set, get access to great equipment and find some brilliant collaborators to work with. Not easy on a low budget.
I’m not going to go into detail of how we did it but nevertheless we had the time of our lives trying to achieve the near impossible. None of this would be possible without every single person on the shoot. Al
though this reads a little like an Oscars speech, everyone needs mentioning. Without the finances to say thank you, we hope this writing goes someway to saying how much we appreciated the hard work you put in.
THE HANDYMAN CAN AWARD
Winner – Kev Marchant
We’ve never put up a set before. And without Kev, we would still be saying it. Handy with a drill, hammer and chainsaw, Kev has an instinctual ability on a shoot.
He’s also responsible for building
the majority of the set in amongst a million other things I can’t even begin to list. More so, you really can tell the true measure of a man if he is willing to get up before 6am for you for 5 days running.
THE MASTER OF DIGITAL AWARD
Winner – Rich Bennett
There is nothing this man can’t do or fix when it comes to the technical
stuff. Before we came to shoot, the studio we were using had no electricity beyond 13Amp sockets, by the end of it we were running 3 Phase 32 AMP, a dimmer board across two sets, and a PA system over the entire building. Rich is that guy that makes 1970’s electronics work again.
He’s also a fantastic RED operator, and anyone needing such a brain on set, Rich Bennett is that brain.
BABE AWARD
Winner – Rudy Riveron Sanchez
Every shoot we have a surprise crewmember who appears on set last minute. The ‘baby faced Cuban’ Rudy Riveron Sanchez (is that not the coolest name ever?!) instantly
became part of the left eye family. Rudy helped out with everything and although his wallpapering was pretty dode at times we couldn’t have done the set without him.
A constant flirt, a brilliant grip, It was like working alongside Tony Montana with toothache.
INSOMNIA AWARD
Winner – Adam Conlon
Our own Christopher Doyle, Adam’s lighting and operating was brilliant throughout the shoot. He’s one of those rare operators that has great
filming instincts, listening to the music to time a crash zoom or pull focus. Since working with Adam we’ve seen him grow as we have, and to say the least, he’s a very talented and hardworking chap.
LAST MAN STANDING AWARD
Winner – James Rhodes
James didn’t leave set once throughout the shoot. Lending a hand and eye to every shot, he was also the on set photographer. His energy was insatiable throughout the weekend and we look forward to him working on our shoots in the future.
BIG FOOT AWARD
Winner – James Bridger
Working with Rich 24 hours before the shoot, Gaffer James turned up and turned everything on.
No one would question that James
is very tall, but that isn’t the pre-requisite for climbing up to very high places to change out lights. Quite often we’d see James just out of shot, dangling from the roof changing a light.
He was also in quite a considerable amount of pain during the shoot, and he’d struggled on possessed with a Bear Ghylls / Will Farrell fighting spirit.
BEST FAMILY
Winner – The Hunt Family
The studio’s managers, Pete, Ron and ‘Mum’ worked tirelessly over the 5 day prep, shoot and dismantle to keep us fed, watered and happy. We can’t say thankyou enough for letting us use the space, but we’ll try:
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
BEST NEWCOMER AWARD
Winner – Anna
Following around our normal 2nd AD Sophie Dowd on Saturday, Anna learnt the ropes and replicated them on Sunday. Keeping the band happy, the crew fed and the set organised, she excelled as the hours got longer and everyone began to lag
ANIMAL CONTROL AWARD
Winner – Pete Trifunovic
2nd Place – Ron Hunt
3rd Place – Anna / Matt Maude
A previous Babe winner, Pete took this shoot’s Animal Control Award when trying to catch a bat in a cardboard box for 45 minutes. He finally trapped the flying miniature beast in a set of curtains. In a close run competition, second place was awarded to Ron Hunt when removing a 4 month* dead squirrel (*awaiting autopsy report) from the studio. 3rd place went to Anna and Matt when unearthing a sleeping hedgehog in a mound of duvets
SPECIAL MENTIONS
Sophie Dowd
Sophie is quite possibly the best 2nd AD in the world. Every time she’s on set things just go smoothly. She’s like the opposite of Jonah
Lami
Lami, our new camera assistant, impressed all of us with her inquisitive nature and hard working attitude. She’s welcome back anytime.
ASH (Surname unknown)
For donating his bass guitar for senseless destruction. Nuff said’
THE BAND
Finally the Band. Alexei, Kelly and Junior were great to work with. Patient, passionate, and fun to be around, they were all up for anything we asked of them (including destroying their instruments with chainsaws, axes and sledgehammers)
all photos by James Rhodes
17 July 2009
Johnny Foreigner
www.johnnyforeignermusic.com
Shooting a music video for johnny foreigner tmrw. A RED camera shoot with added elements of slow motion.
watch this space for more information.
16 July 2009
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