Kickstarter video

[Charles Papert]

I'm directing a video for the band "Stealing Heather" that is really more of a short film around the theme of domestic violence. We needed to put something together to raise money on Kickstarter and I had the interesting challenge of presenting something to do with the theme in about 15 seconds that would make a visual impact yet be relatively quick to shoot. It's got little to do with the actual video we are making, although most of the actors will be the same.

Can't See You - Kickstarter.com Campaign Trailer on Vimeo

To simulate the motion-control effect, I used my old Spider dolly and Flextrack, taped down to the floor (to prevent being knocked around by the actors) and had my one other crew member pushing it regulated by a click track and hash marks alongside the track. I shot each piece of action a few times with the camera on different places in the track.

It came together quickly enough that I didn't have an extremely structured game plan--came up with the various pieces of action on the day and hoped for the best in the edit. Of course, the edit was unusual in that everything was tied to the position of the camera, so I had to stack the clips on the timeline and make choices from what was available at a given place. Without excessive planning, there was a bit of a logjam at one point where I had to choose between five or six great moments, and a deficit at the end where I had to repeat a little bit but I think the idea comes across.

Ultimately the point of this is to raise working capital for both the video and subsequent campaign so I would ask that if anyone is inclined to donate, I would be most grateful. I think the final product is going to be pretty amazing and of course we hope it will make a difference.

The Kickstarter page:
Can't See You: The Loss and Preservation of Innocence by Stealing Heather — Kickstarter

[Eric Stemen]

That's pretty awesome, thanks for sharing your work-flow on the project!