Joelii's "Mami Linda" music video grabs

[Beat Takeshi]

Shot with the Brevis MP1 and Zeiss glass.

I met Joelii when I was managing Da Truth Spitters and we did a few shows together and a track. His energy level is off the charts with his fast paced lyrics, I don't know how he does it. His music is like a cross between Reggaetone and Pop sung in Spanish. This particular song is a dance/club song and is very catchy even though I have no idea what hes saying.
He told me a little story last night on the drive home where his mother sent out a sample CD out to a family member in the Dominican Republic and someone stole the CD from her and boot legged it. The next thing you know its all over the place and people are going wild for the music. The family member calls him and says you better get out here because your music is making waves. They go out there and when he gets to his old hood which he hasn't been to in 7 or so years, his friends are all pointing at him along with people on the street saying "thats the guy from the CD" (the CD had a picture of him on it). People kind of swarmed him asking his manager who he is and they were like, its your friend Joelii dummy. You don't recognize him?
People are running up to him asking for his autograph and taking pictures with him everywhere he goes out there for the next week. He then gets asked to do a sweet 15 (they do 15 instead of 16 out there) but its like 3 hours before his flight back is and doesn't want to do it but last minute decides to go. When he gets there girls are screaming and going crazy. He said..dude, I don't even know these people and the love me. Its crazy. Joelii is only 17 by the way.
Also, we were working with the SalsaMerengue.com people and last night they did a little shout out on NYC's biggest Spanish radio station that we just wrapped shooting and they actually played the track. The next thing you know the phones go crazy over there and they text saying dude, they love it!
Anyway, just wanted to share that with you guys.

Here is the song we shot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-sxxb_KWr8

BTS PICS: http://www.salsamerengue.tv/musica.php go to galleries and its the first album.



http://www.puffinfilms.com/Joelii_Mami_Linda/Joelii.34.jpg

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http://www.puffinfilms.com/Joelii_Mami_Linda/Joelii.37.jpg

[Beat Takeshi]

http://www.puffinfilms.com/Joelii_Mami_Linda/Joelii.39.jpg

http://www.puffinfilms.com/Joelii_Mami_Linda/Joelii.33.jpg

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http://www.puffinfilms.com/Joelii_Mami_Linda/Joelii.40.jpg

[reem12]

These are fire. what cam did you use.

[Beat Takeshi]

Thanks. This was shot on the HVX.

[reem12]

can you comment at all on the lighting setup?

[Beat Takeshi]

I rolled with two 2 foot 4 banks and two 4 foot 4 banks and an Arri kit.
The first shot I basically had one 4 foot above his head with 1 bulb on and another on the floor with one bulb on to reverse the light direction on the fore ground and back ground.
The second shot was set up like a light box all around her with the two 4 foots going down her body and the 2 footers around her head.
The third shot was a corner so not much to do there but try to find the right balance with the shadows to make it look ok. I think I used the two 2 footers right off each side of the frame.
The forth shot was set up like a box also with the 4 footers behind her. I may have shut some bulbs off here and there. We just held up a table cloth behind her.
The fifth shot had a 2 foot and a 4 foot on each side behind him to rim light. I also shot an Arri from the back with some green on it but you can't see it in that shot. I think you can see it on the girls dancing.
The sixth shot had a 4 foot on the right of frame and also a colored 650 waaaaay behind it. The room was the size of a big club, we just made it look like a seating area. On the left was a 2 foot and a 300 with another color for back rim.
The seventh shot had the two 4 footers above the crowd on the left and right and I had the 2 footers in front facing up from waist up.
The eighth shot was a 2 footer on the right above her but right out of frame and the other 2 footer was on the left behind us for slight fill but I wanted her to be kind of spot lighted but subtle.
Going down the balcony shot. I had a 4 footer on the left just out of frame and a 650 waaaay back out of another window on the same side. I had a 300 on the right through another window.
The shot with her wearing glasses was the two 4 footers up near the ceiling on the right the long way with bounce on the left
The shot where he is singing through the crowd I had a big strong dude hold the light over us as we dollied back. Both of us were riding the dolly since people kept tripping over him trying to get in front of the camera as we passed them. I also had 2 1000k one on each side with a color for colored rim lights. Its subtle also, one green and one magenta I think. You can see it better on the wide shots of the scene.
The last shot 4 footer on the left bounce on the right.

Hope that helped. The 4 footer had diffusion on it also. I don't know which though, it was on the kino already and I just lifted it when I didn't want it. I also varied using the egg crates depending on how concentrated I wanted the fall off.

[ecking]

Man your brevis footage is always among the sharpest I've ever seen. Great job and nice lighting breakdown. Lighting is something I really want to get great at and get down to a science.

[Beat Takeshi]

Thanks. I did have some issues with remembering to turn the unit on and checking everything I needed to check since I haven't been shooting with it as much. Lucky I have enough takes that I can use where I remembered to turn it on. The cool thing about music videos is that you can experiment with lighting all you want and get paid at the same time.
The next one with these guys is going to be sick and possibly shot in India.

[Jay Rodriguez]

damn aram, the stills look great! did u light and shoot this? I'm impressed. also, are all of these stills from brevis footage?

[Beat Takeshi]

Thanks. Yeah lit and shot as always. This is all Brevis and HVX footage.

[Beat Takeshi]

BTS pics added to first post.