A Blues Film: Michael Pickett- Where Toronto Meets the Mississippi

G

groveChuck

U-matic Member
Here's a film I made for Canadian Singer/Songwriter Bluesman Michael Pickett.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-wlYOlVu1E&fmt=18

It will autoplay in HQ.

He drives from Canada to South Florida every winter touring.
I filmed him in Miami in late February.

The film's like his music: stripped down, raw.
Tiny club, a dozen people watching.

Available stage lighting +3dB gain on the performance.
2 lights on the interview (1 on him, 1 on the stage).

If you like music (even if you're not a blues fan), he's a cool character, and a passionate performer.

11 minutes (well, 10:59 to fit it on Youtube!)

It's my first film posted at DVXuser.
Thoughts, comments, questions welcome.

Chuck
 
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Hey Chuck, wow man. Thats a very special film. I thought you did an awesome job producing this one mate. A well acomplished music documentary that had interesting content about a man who just loves to play and sing and you got the message across perfectly.

Thanks for sharing this mate.
Shaun
 
Thanks Shaun!

Just like he says, he "gets the hell out of the way" of the music, I wanted to get out of the way and let his music and interviews tell his story.

And like you said, getting across the message of the man and the music was my goal.

Thanks for watching!

Cheers,
Chuck
 
Thanks man!

I had a Senn G2 wireless plugged into the monitor out (RCA) of the PA.
In the profile shot of him performing, you can see it on top of the PA with the wire running down...

It was only one channel with the vocal and guitar mixed together.
The guitar wasn't as loud as I would have liked, so in post, everytime he wasn't singing, I raised the audio level on the guitar, probably over a hundred times.

But the sound was clean, so I was happy.

Thanks for watching!
 
Thanks!
Lighting was a Lowel Rifa softbox on him and a 250w Pro with a blue gel on his guitars for the interview.
Their "stage lighting" was 3 CFLs at the back of the stage (you can see them on the ceiling in the low angles), and a home floodlight overhead in front, which put his eyes in deep shadows, which I liked, even though I needed 3dB gain.

Thanks for watching!
 
That was Great Chuck !

That was Great Chuck !

Really nice job all around man.:D Its clear that you have a knack for telling a story. Yes, he's a very interesting character but it still takes great pictures, editing, and producing in this case.

You can give some people a compelling story and they just go through the motions. :furious3::violent5:

Then you give a guy a good story with a difficult setting to hold your audience and they can make it shine. Very Nice all around Chuck.

This was clearly not your 1st rodeo !:grin::thumbsup:
 
Wow, thanks man, I really appreciate it!

Sometimes, "In their own words" stories can be hard to tell, and in this one I had hundreds of audio edits to shape and tighten the interview.
My next to last version was 11:15, and I had to trim, trim, trim to get it to 10:59 for Youtube.

I was really happy with how the DVX footage turned out, and helped set the mood visually.
And definitely, I was limited by the location, and tried to keep the camera moving just enough to keep it interesting, but not too much to be distracting; always a balancing act.

Thanks for watching, and I hope DVXuser won't be billing you for your emoticon use! lol! ;^)

Thanks again,
Chuck
 
No Problem!

No Problem!

It's always tough to decide what to leave in, you know you made the right choice when nobody asks, " How long was that "? :cool:


The emoticon are on the house, but since you mentioned it, I guess I should have used less of them. I need to follow my own guideline when using them,:nads:
I had to use that last one. Love the animation, lol.
 
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