Fit For Rivals "Damage" Video Shoot - Day 3

Wednesday, the final day of shooting! We arrived at our location around 9am and started to unload. We had a giant warehouse type room to shoot in for the band performance part of the video. I think everyone was excited to see this video wrap. We already had so much amazing footage, it was time to finish it off and bring in the band.





Thomas and Renee had been in town all week, but Jesse and John arrived with Ronnie Winter, lead singer of Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, on Tuesday night. This meant just a short time of hanging out and eating before an early bed time. After a long van ride to AZ with no A/C, I think the band was ready for sleep, but hungry to rock the next morning.

After the initial load in and set up of all the equipment, shots went relatively quickly. There were a few dolly and jib shots that took time to set up, but once those were done, the day went smoothly.





Jon Wilkes was on set to play drum tech and deaden the sound of the cymbals and toms as much as possible during playback. We had a really good time this day, the band got to cut loose and just concentrate on their performance. No more uncomfortable or tricky shots for Renee either… just a day of rocking out on camera.

In between some changes in set up, I managed to sneak in a quick photo shoot with the band. I really wish I had more time to spend with them. There were a lot of ideas we had for photos… but the time just went by so quick. I did manage to get a few shots I’m really happy with tho.

A little known fact: Ronnie Winter can perform a solid Hadouken.

By the end of the 13 hour day, everyone was exhausted. Water bottles and aluminum cans littered the set… guitars and cymbals were covered in blood… strings were slashed apart… and everyone involved was noticeably worn. But we were all in a good mood.

While watching playback of the dailies on set, we knew we had another day of amazing footage. Everyone was very impressed with all involved. The crew was awesome, ready to tackle any jobs that came up… Brenna’s make up made the band really pop on camera… the location was great for the aesthetic… and the band nailed it. Now it’s just down to Gus and I to shuffle through hours of footage and cut it down to an epic 3-minute video.

Thanks to everyone who helped out on set as extras and as crew

Cast and crew for day 3 of shooting:

Renee Phoenix - Lead Singer
Thomas Amason - Guitar, Producer
Jesse Carroll - Guitar
John Hartman - Drums
Ronnie Winter - Bass, Producer
Gus Holwerda - Director, Producer
Luke Holwerda - Director of Photography, Producer
Brenna Stephens - Hair and makeup
Jon Wilkes - Drum tech
Chris Herron - Producer, Crew / set construction
Brad Murren - Crew / set construction
John Clay - Crew / set construction
Joe Heinl - Crew / set construction

and check out myspace.com/FitForRivals for music and updates.

Fit For Rivals "Damage" Video Shoot - Day 2

The second day on the Damage video set takes place inside of a house. This setting is used for scenes from the past, just before the main character is committed and shackled in a straight jacket. The "flashbacks" give the impression that our character was in a bad place that she decides to get out of. All the shots from today took place in a bedroom and a bathroom. These were the sort of scenes that take 2 hours or more to set up, for 5 seconds of actual footage... but without them, there would be no back story for what’s going on.



The first scene was a "strange bedfellows" shot, which involved setting up a jib arm to hoist the camera 12 feet in the air inside of a bedroom, littering the set with bottles and underwear, and getting the dawn/dusk lighting to look just right while still keeping Renee's face semi-lit. We ended up letting in some outside light through the window behind the bed and through the front of the room, and we used a small soft-box to bounce light off the ceiling to the front of Renee’s face. After a little white balance tweaking, we ended up with something pretty believable.





After we moved from the bedroom scene, we went straight into the bathroom. We used another jib arm to hang the camera directly overhead of the bathtub. By this point in the video, our character has decided to take a nice relaxing bath with a handful of pills and reflect on the days events. A short while later, she is discovered floating at the top of the water in the bath tub. After a scream from her female acquaintance, a hulky rescuer charges into the bathroom and raises her out of the water. Actor Jose Rosete lends his giant image to the roll or our character’s savior.



After a few time extensive camera changes, we filmed a few more bath tub scenes incorporating some lip syncing of the song into the drama of the scene. Most shots were filmed at 24 frames per second, but to get a few arty touches, we over-cranked the camera and the CD audio by 100% and filmed Renee singing, then slowed it back down to give her motions a sort of delayed effect. The movement of her hair and the sloshing of the water will appear in slow motion, but her lip syncing will be in time with the music. A really cool and subtle in-camera trick.





We got Renee out of the tub, let her take a break for a while… up to this point her footage has consisted of many hours in a straight jacket and many hours underwater. We filmed a few quick cutaway shots of pill bottles and facets before we moved on to the final shot of the day.



The last shot is a semi “practical” special effect. We positioned Renee in front of 2 mirrors and turned one of them slightly towards the camera, giving the effect of 3 Renees at once. And through some eye line trickery, we could make it appear that the reflections in the mirror were looking at each other and laughing or yelling… then later on in post, we could cut the frame into 3 sections, and have 3 different takes of Renee on screen at the same time. Its called a “practical” effect because there is no CG or green screen involved, its purely a camera and editing trick. The effect will make the character appear even more crazy, and the performance we got from Renee was outstanding!



At the end of the day, we all plopped on a couch and watched the dailies. And after nearly every other shot someone would yell out “This one shot could be the whole video itself!” Which is a testament to Renee’s great performance and all the teamwork involved in putting this video together. None of us can wait for it to be complete!

Wednesday is our final shoot day, and it is purely a band-rocking-the-f*ck-out shot in a huge warehouse. It should be rad. Look for Ronnie Winter, lead singer of Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, to make a cameo as the band’s bass player for the video.



Thanks to everyone who helped out on set as extras and as crew!

Cast and crew for day 2 of shooting:

Renee Phoenix - Rock Star Lead Singer
Gus Holwerda - Director, Producer
Luke Holwerda - Director of Photography, Producer
Thomas Amason - Producer, Crew/ set construction
Chris Herron - Producer, Crew / set construction
Jose Rosete – “Rescuer”
Alysia Holwerda – “Female acquaintance”
Brad Murren - Crew / set construction
Brenna Stephens - Hair and makeup

...and check out myspace.com/FitForRivals for music and updates.

Fit For Rivals "Damage" Video Shoot - Day 1

My friend Thomas Amason and I have worked on a few projects in the past...most notably, "The Zoo", a nearly network-ready comedy cartoon, starring the voice talent of numerous rock stars. Thomas' other big project is his band "Fit For Rivals"... who are in talks with a number of major labels. We are currently shooting the band's first music video. The song is called "Damage" and the video is turning out to be amazing!

For a number of weeks prior... Thomas, the band, my brother Gus, and myself have been working on preproduction and script writing. The video in a nutshell is about a girl who has found herself in a bad situation, which has led ultimately to her insanity, resulting in a forced residency locked inside a padded cell in a loony bin, straight jacket and giant needles included!

There will also be a live band element taking place in a large silver walled warehouse. But for the first day of shooting, we focused solely on the loony bin / padded cell scenes.

As the weeks of preproduction came together... makeup and costume applied...and the set was constructed, it very evident we were on the right track. Everything was looking amazing.

We built a padded cell with 8 foot tall panels, 7 feet wide, and roughly 11 feet deep. The cell itself became almost another character of the video... and once lead singer Renee Phoenix was encased in her buckle-laden straight jacket, the scene was incredible. Shot entirely in full-HD on the RED One camera system, every image of the video is spectacular, and every detail is enhanced to it's fullest.

Renee's demented, tossled appearance for the padded cell scenes really made the image of a mad young woman really pop. Her hair and makeup was handled by HD makeup artist Brenna Stephens, girlfriend of Red Jumpsuit Apparatus' drummer, Jon Wilkes

As we wrapped on day 1, after a 15 hour straight shoot, we knew the footage was looking awesome. We definitely have something magical. Now it's on to day two... flashbacks to the moments right before the jump into insanity!

Thanks to everyone who helped out on set as extras and as crew!

Cast and crew for day 1 of shooting:
Renee Phoenix - Rock Star Lead Singer
Gus Holwerda - Director, Producer
Luke Holwerda - Director of Photography, Producer
Thomas Amason - Producer, Crew/ set construction
Chris Herron - "Doctor" extra, Producer, Crew / set construction
Brad Murren - Crew / set construction
Brenna Stephens - Hair and makeup
Mike Vallone - Crew / set construction
John Clay - "Mental Patient #1"
David Hayes - "Orderly"

...and check out myspace.com/FitForRivals for music and updates.