Despite the lack of manpower, the video was done very professionally and was very elaborate in every aspect. We filmed in three main locations, being Ty's parents' garage in Farmington (which was designed to appear as a mechanics garage), Convicted Ink tattoo parlor in Orem, and Wendover, Nevada.
We made a two-day trip out of the Wendover shoot. The first day, from early morning until late at night, was spent out on the Bonneville salt flats, where we shot some amazing performance shots. It was very time consuming to load all of our equipment out there, and to carefully place our gear without corroding it with salt, but it was definitely worth it. As cool as the daytime shots were, they couldn't compare to the shots taken after dark, with Ty's special blend of pyrotechnics. Plus, with the help of Adam Boyd, our band's sound technician, we were able to construct an actual wall of fire behind us during a finale shot, which was as awesome as it was dangerous.
The second day we captured some footage inside the casino (which we ended up scrapping) and in the hotel room, followed by some scenes at the same airport where they filmed the movie Con Air with Nicholas Cage. It was a lot of work, but even more work for Ty and his companions, who turned the footage into a very professional music video.
Yesterday, I had the chance to return the favor to Ty as I worked on his crew for the making of the Becoming Everest--a hardcore band based in Salt Lake City--music video to their song entitled "The Red in Redemption." This video shoot was nothing like what was done for my band. Ty is now a graduate of Utah Valley University in filmmaking, and owns his own music video production company called the Tyjens Media Music Video Production Bureau. He has several more music videos under his belt and has transformed his sets into a completely professional outfit.
This video set had a 30-man crew, including Ty as the director, Ken as the chief cameraman, two assistants to the director, a lighting specialist, and several grips who set up equipment between shots. I felt like a fish out of water because I was one of a couple people who wasn't in the digital media major and working towards a career in film. Yet, I was lucky enough to have my cousin Jake--Ty's little brother--helping out as well. Not only did it make the process much more comfortable having somebody I knew working alongside me, but it was great to hang out with Jake and remember all the fun we used to have together as kids.
The first half of the day, or rather until about 5pm, we worked on the shots involving an actress from BYU. For quite a few of the scenes, I was put in charge of the air compressor, with which I would continually shoot her in the face, and she would fall backwards onto a large mat. I felt bad, but she didn't seem to mind.
For one of the last scenes with her, Jake and I actually had to work together, standing on stools and raining flower pedals down on her. I think they'll look pretty cool once the video is complete.
After the scenes with the actress were finished and she was free to go, we moved on to the shots with band. Most of the band members were pretty cool and fun to hang around with, especially the guitarist/screamer. He was a really nice guy and I enjoyed chatting with him between sets. He and the bassist were also the most grateful for all the work the cast and crew were putting in to making them a video with no cost to them.
The day of filming started at 7am, and I had to leave at 10pm to submit some homework that was due by midnight, but apparently the shooting didn't stop until close to 1am. Ty had actually arrived to set up much earlier than I did, arriving on set at 3:30am, and worked continuously the entire time. He's obviously a very hard worker and I can't wait to see where these videos being added to his portfolio will get him once he introduces himself to Hollywood and the major music labels.
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