Taiyo Na - Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother)- GH1 Docstyle Music Video at DVinfo.net

Gary San Angel · February 10th, 2010, 10:27 AM

Hi everyone.

Just wanted to share a docstyle music video with the GH1 for New York based artist Taiyo Na for his song Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother). It's a music video dedicated to not only immigrant mothers but all our moms. And I wanted to finally share it here.

The process of this film was a community based one so much of the footage was shot by youth and adults who had very little experience using a camera. So in many respects this piece is a different kind of music video not that aesthetics are thrown out the window but that it is a much more process driven creation. The piece was shot with two GH1s with much of the stock lens footage on auto focus. Although I hate working with autofocus, we just didn't have the time to teach people how to use the camera, the goal was more here's a camera point and shoot with it. So in a way this is an experimental process, so yes from a technical stand point some footage shows some of the GH1's issues and problems.

But I wanted to post this MV to show that sometimes we focus too much on the pixel peeping and the things that are lacking about a camera and not enough time on the content or heart of a piece. Ultimately, we've said it many a time. We are telling a story. If that story is powerful enough I think then sometimes we can look beyond the negatives and see the real possibility of doing a lot with so little.

And that's sort of what we did with this music video. Looked at using what we got now and to push it as far as we could to tell a compelling story. As many have said many a time in this forum, it's not the camera but what you do with it that counts.

It got picked up today for a film festival in Los Angeles my home town so I just wanted to share it here on the forum.

Much respect,

Gary

YouTube - Taiyo Na - Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother) - Music Video - Chinatown / Love Park Philadelphia

Matt Hoecker · February 11th, 2010, 08:32 PM

Very mesmerizing song. At first I didn't like it's simplicity and how different it was, but along with the video it's powerful.

Gary San Angel · February 12th, 2010, 03:20 PM

Thanks Matt for taking the time to check out the piece. I'm glad you shared your candid feelings, though it's a little different and simple, I'm glad you got a sense of what we were trying to do.

John Flores · February 13th, 2010, 10:18 AM

Thanks for sharing - I'll be sure to show my mom on Mother's Day!

Very interesting to hear about the process as well. There's something compelling about "keeping it real" and often it's hard to peel away what we know to produce something that feels authentic. I had a client - a local college - ask us to produce testimonials of students to attract incoming freshman. We turned the challenge around, put a dozen cameras in student's hands, and had them create testimonials of their peers. The results weren't technically great (although one student framed some very nice shots...a budding cinematographer LOL) but very much in the voice of the student.

Once again, well done and thanks for sharing!

Gary San Angel · February 17th, 2010, 07:32 AM

Thanks John for checking the piece out and the process we took to get there. I do agree and think that there's something valuable about being able to show some of the "rough edges" so to speak in both the film style and also the content. I think there would not have been a way to film the kind of personal intimacy from "the mom" footage if we had a larger camera in front of their face or even another camera operator who they were not familiar with. Because it was their own son or daughter that was filming them I think they were just themselves.

We were going to screen the MV last night for the Mayor of Philadelphia at City Hall but too many long winded speeches so they unfortunately axed the screening. :( Oh, well.

Glad to post the info here and the MV here though. :)

February 10th, 2010, 10:27 AM	#1
Gary San Angel New Boot Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 16	Taiyo Na - Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother)- GH1 Docstyle Music Video Hi everyone. Just wanted to share a docstyle music video with the GH1 for New York based artist Taiyo Na for his song Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother). It's a music video dedicated to not only immigrant mothers but all our moms. And I wanted to finally share it here. The process of this film was a community based one so much of the footage was shot by youth and adults who had very little experience using a camera. So in many respects this piece is a different kind of music video not that aesthetics are thrown out the window but that it is a much more process driven creation. The piece was shot with two GH1s with much of the stock lens footage on auto focus. Although I hate working with autofocus, we just didn't have the time to teach people how to use the camera, the goal was more here's a camera point and shoot with it. So in a way this is an experimental process, so yes from a technical stand point some footage shows some of the GH1's issues and problems. But I wanted to post this MV to show that sometimes we focus too much on the pixel peeping and the things that are lacking about a camera and not enough time on the content or heart of a piece. Ultimately, we've said it many a time. We are telling a story. If that story is powerful enough I think then sometimes we can look beyond the negatives and see the real possibility of doing a lot with so little. And that's sort of what we did with this music video. Looked at using what we got now and to push it as far as we could to tell a compelling story. As many have said many a time in this forum, it's not the camera but what you do with it that counts. It got picked up today for a film festival in Los Angeles my home town so I just wanted to share it here on the forum. Much respect, Gary YouTube - Taiyo Na - Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother) - Music Video - Chinatown / Love Park Philadelphia

February 11th, 2010, 08:32 PM	#2
Matt Hoecker New Boot Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Eugene, Oregon Posts: 14	Very mesmerizing song. At first I didn't like it's simplicity and how different it was, but along with the video it's powerful.

February 12th, 2010, 03:20 PM	#3
Gary San Angel New Boot Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 16	Thanks Matt for taking the time to check out the piece. I'm glad you shared your candid feelings, though it's a little different and simple, I'm glad you got a sense of what we were trying to do.

February 13th, 2010, 10:18 AM	#4
John Flores New Boot Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Somerville NJ Posts: 10	Thanks for sharing - I'll be sure to show my mom on Mother's Day! Very interesting to hear about the process as well. There's something compelling about "keeping it real" and often it's hard to peel away what we know to produce something that feels authentic. I had a client - a local college - ask us to produce testimonials of students to attract incoming freshman. We turned the challenge around, put a dozen cameras in student's hands, and had them create testimonials of their peers. The results weren't technically great (although one student framed some very nice shots...a budding cinematographer LOL) but very much in the voice of the student. Once again, well done and thanks for sharing!

February 17th, 2010, 07:32 AM	#5
Gary San Angel New Boot Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 16	Thanks John for checking the piece out and the process we took to get there. I do agree and think that there's something valuable about being able to show some of the "rough edges" so to speak in both the film style and also the content. I think there would not have been a way to film the kind of personal intimacy from "the mom" footage if we had a larger camera in front of their face or even another camera operator who they were not familiar with. Because it was their own son or daughter that was filming them I think they were just themselves. We were going to screen the MV last night for the Mayor of Philadelphia at City Hall but too many long winded speeches so they unfortunately axed the screening. :( Oh, well. Glad to post the info here and the MV here though. :)