My So Called Video

I have been hearing the new 30 Seconds to Mars’ song, “Kings and Queens,” for the last two months or so on Sirius. I thought it was a good tune, checked out the video on Youtube, and was like–Whoa!–the concept is eerily similar to the video I directed for The Airborne Toxic Event, “Gasoline.” Since “Gasoline” came out a year before “Kings and Queens” I can’t help but think something’s odd. Now, as you would expect 30 Seconds to Mars’ video had a huge budget, probably a huge crew and looks great. On the other hand, I shot “Gasoline” for next to nothing with a crew of two before the band was signed to Island Def Jam. It just makes you wonder, coincidence or not?

http://www.vimeo.com/6062571

Tags: 30 Seconds to Mars, Billy Johnson, music video, The Airborne Toxic Event

The Airborne Toxic Event Official “Gasoline” Music Video Finished

Today we finished editing the video for “Gasoline”.  This is for the second single off of the band’s debut album.  I don’t think it will be released for at least a few months.  Sorry, I can’t upload the video until it is released, a screen grab will have to do.

Tags: Directed, music video, Panasonic HVX200, The Airborne Toxic Event

The Airborne Toxic Event “Does This Mean You’re Moving On?” Live Acoustic released

It’s been crazy busy, I’ve only been back a few days from DC and haven’t posted any of the new releases of the acoustic series. You can check them out on the band’s myspace page if I fall behind.

“Moving On” was fun to shoot. Filmed in a Toyota Rav 4 on Sunset Blvd starting in Los Feliz through Silver Lake and ending in Echo Park. That is right, seven people in a Rav 4! I was sitting on the dash with my back crammed against the window and the rearview mirror digging into my neck. The band didn’t have much more room with five of them in the back. Only three mics, one taped to the seat for Noah, one taped to Steven’s leg and the one Mikel is holding. We shot five videos this day, “Does This Mean You’re Moving On?” was the last. What a crazy, long day.

The audio was recorded on a Sound Device 744T using a 302 mixer for the vocals. Video was shot on my Panasonic HVX200.

UPDATE:
You can now view this video in higher quality on my Vimeo Page.

Currently on YouTube the video is up to 130,000 views!

Tags: Directed, music video, Panasonic HVX200, Sound Devices, The Airborne Toxic Event

“The Airborne Toxic Event” Live Acoustic Series - Day 3 of Filming

Screen grab from the live acoustic version of "Innocence"

Today was day three of filming the live acoustic series for TATE.  And we are done!  We filmed 4 videos: “Innocence”,  ”Missy”,  ”Sometime Around Midnight”, and “Something New”.  It was a super long, exhausting day.  We started in Marina del Rey on a boat, then went to the Los Angeles river near East LA, then to downtown to film on a stage.  And, again, each song is shot in just one take with live audio.  

All the audio was recorded on a Zaxcom Deva 10 track hard disk recorder and we shot the video on a Panasonic HVX200 in 720P.

It’s late and I now have 25 takes (about 6GB) of audio to back up.  I’ll post the videos as the band releases them.

Tags: Directed, music video, Panasonic HVX200, The Airborne Toxic Event, zaxcom Deva

The Airborne Toxic Event “Wishing Well” Live Acoustic released

The first video is released for the live acoustic series. The band should be releasing one video a week up to the release of their first album.

This was the first video we shot in May. I walked into this not really knowing what the band wanted to do. Mikel basically called and said, “hey we want to shoot the band around LA performing live in one shot.” I thought it sounded like a cool idea. The first one I really wasn’t prepared for since he called the night before the shoot. I recorded the band on two mics with a Sound Device 302 mixer right into the camera. The audio gets much better on the next nine.

Eventually I’ll post the videos on Vimeo, so you can see a much higher quality version.

Tags: Directed, music video, The Airborne Toxic Event