#vayden

Vayden “Eilly” Johnson

Vayden “Eilly” Johnson, age 85, of Greenbush, passed away Monday, March 28, 2016 at LifeCare Medical Center in Greenbush. Funeral services will be held at 10:00AM, Saturday, April 2, 2016 at Grace Evangelical Church in Strathcona. Visitaion will be held after 6PM, Friday, at Collins Funeral Cha...

Early september 2013 I had an email in my inbox from Armin, guitarist of the Los Angeles Rock Band Vayden. We knew each other from their europe tour back in 2011 and stayed in touch since then. They were in need of a music video, and so we started throwing ideas and concepts around. The shooting should become part of a 6 week-long trip to the United States in september and october 2013. An exhausting but rewarding experience, that led me two countless places, people & situations I’ll never forget.

Two weeks before the shooting I met the guys in their rehearsal space in LA and we talked about final decisions and production details - I was already in the US for 2-3 weeks at that time and in between several different productions. The band organised the entire production by themselves, while I was able to focus on the rest. Being a one-man crew in a situation like this from time to time can be challenging but very, very fulfilling - In my opinion it also helps to experience every single department of filmmaking from time to time. Working with bigger crews can lead to a very limited perspective sometimes. It brings you back down on earth when you are responsible for shooting, directing, lighting & editing without any assistants.

Like I would do with our producer team in germany, I started making schedules, call sheets and shortlists with Armin. We shot 3 days in a row, from really early in the morning to late night - and even though it was a stressful experience it was definitely worth it. The precise preparation made it possible to shoot the entire idea with a tight budget and schedule - but its always a lot of up and down, back and forth until the happy end where everything works out. One of my biggest fears is to overstrain myself with a project. 

Our main actor John Hines played a huge part in realising the project - not only with his great performance but also by helping to organise locations and props. E.g. the balcony the band plays at is actually our protagonists balcony.

Equipment //  The video was shot on the Sony FS700, I mainly used the 35mm f/1.4 Wallimex Lens and the 14mm f/3.1 Wallimex lens. We had a Kinoflo four bank for some interior scenes and used a simple reflector for everything else. Most shots were taken with the Glidecam-2000 which turned out to be the best investment in years. In combination with the Sony FS700 its the perfect setup for lightweight and flexible shots with a steadycam-look to it.

Obstacles // Besides the extremely ambitious production scale (considering the small budget and time frame) the main difficulty turned out to be self-made. I wanted the entire story to be told backwards, but still connect some shots with seamless transitions. It really takes some outside-the-box thinking sometimes to get to your result. And I am more than happy how everything worked out. 

The finished Video can be watched here:

https://vimeo.com/81805999