View Full Version : Shooting interview in Northampton, MA


Charles Papert
October 1st, 2018, 07:29 PM
Back in the early 90's I was part of the Northampton music scene and shot a few music videos along the way. One of them ended up winning a Best of Boston award (and that is a whole other story). I'm currently remastering it for the 25th anniversary and doing an accompanying doc piece. Flying in this weekend to shoot interviews with the band. Our resource fell through, so I'm looking for someone who has gear and a few hours this Sunday the 7th to come help us. The band is the Big Bad Bollocks and they are still at it after all these years (playing that night in Holyoke actually).

Nothing crazy complicated--basic interview setup for three people (camera/lights/audio).

Any takers?!! DM me!

Chris Hurd
October 1st, 2018, 08:42 PM
Somebody oughta jump on this... it would be your chance to rub shoulders with the hardest working man in show business!

Charles Papert
October 1st, 2018, 09:09 PM
Oh cool, is he going to be there too?!

Restoring this video has been a wild experience so far...pulling materials from Beta SP camera originals, 1" master, DAT master soundtrack, and Hi-8 BTS footage...got a tape stuck in a machine, have managed dropouts galore but all the bits and pieces are reasonably intact now.

Gary Huff
October 1st, 2018, 09:29 PM
Are you kicking yourself for choices made so long ago or are you reasonable happy with the look given the resources available at the time?

Chris Hurd
October 2nd, 2018, 08:02 AM
Well, what else was he gonna do back then... shoot on film?

Chas, if I was up there, I doubt I could competently run camera, lights, or audio, but I could definitely fetch a latte whenever somebody wanted one.

Plus, I have the Domino's Pizza app on my phone. So I could handle that, too.

Hope to see the finished re-master and the new interviews when available. And for whoever helps you out, please get some BTS coverage of all this new stuff as well. Can't make a blooper reel without it!

Charles Papert
October 3rd, 2018, 07:11 PM
Are you kicking yourself for choices made so long ago or are you reasonable happy with the look given the resources available at the time?

It's a good question!

We shot Beta SP and had the master Filmlooked to 24fps (can't really say 24p as that wasn't a video format yet). I haven't seen it in a master format for many years. I recently had my old 1" tapes transferred and was pleasantly surprised at how well the image held up, which prompted this project. I used the pre-Filmlook master, brought it in Resolve as a 59.94i clip, de-interlaced and dropped on a 29.97 timeline to end up with a 30p master. It's MUCH better looking than the Filmlook version, which was a bit smeary. Up-rezzing in Resolve was actually quite good!

Outside of the tech stuff--I'm mildly impressed with what Mini-me pulled off back then overall. I've been going through and cleaning up bits and pieces of the edit that I was never particularly happy with (3/4" offline, yuck) and have many times second-guessed an original decision only to eventually realize why I did what I did. Kind of a trip getting back into one's head creatively a quarter century later.

One thing I do know...second day of the shoot was a good 16 hours, and I was directing, DP and operating Steadicam. I will never have THAT kind of energy again!

Gary Huff
October 3rd, 2018, 09:46 PM
We shot Beta SP and had the master Filmlooked to 24fps (can't really say 24p as that wasn't a video format yet).

I was doing that sort of thing in college with DSR-250s/PD-170s because there wasn't any option for 16mm (let alone 35). That was back when Magic Bullet first came out, and all it really did was try to adapt 60i to a film look! Haven't gone back over any of that footage, I recall it being merely "okay".

Jim Nogueira
October 6th, 2018, 07:23 AM
Just saw this; would have loved to help out. I am in Milford, MA. Honestly, I have been crazy busy anyway, and need the day off tomorrow. Good luck with the job!

Robert Lee
February 1st, 2019, 08:44 PM
Rats, I missed this posting and would have loved to have the opportunity to work with you. Feel free to reach out if you ever shorthanded and be glad to work with you. If you need me to send a list of gear I own let me know. You can check out my site to see samples of our work too. shalalalaproductions.com. :)