Powertools - Creating an Experimental Music Video

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Creating a Grungy Music Video

Earlier this year we worked with King Khamen on creating a grungy music video that was experimental and dynamic. Few things beat collaborating with my friend and hip-hop artist King Khamen. The truth of both our arts is what we always try to express freely with as few limitations as we can impose on ourselves.

This usually means using very limited gear and finding the expression in the moment.

Experimentation. Flow.‍

The result is usually somewhere closer to the artistic intention of the moment. We took inspiration from the beautiful black and white look in movies like Akira Kurosawa’s High & Low, Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker and the black and white sections of Wong Kar-Wai’s Fallen Angels. These films each made use of strong compositions to maintain the visual interest.

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However, there was one movie that defined the entire premise of the Powertools music video. For the sped-up sequences we we’re inspired by Shinya Tsukamoto’s Tetsuo: The Iron Man. This is a film that combines experimental time-lapse techniques with grungy film stock. It creates an incredibly dynamic effect that is both disorienting and energetic. For Powertools this was the perfect reference to pay tribute to.

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Capturing the Moment

In our second collaboration with King Khamen we wanted to explore the explosiveness and intensity in his music. We captured its rawness in this experimental music video that makes use of low-quality equipment to put the listener in the headspace of the track.

We were both looking to capture lots of motion. By setting the shutter-speed slightly slower that usual I got lots of motion-blur in the footage. As all the clips were going to be processed in compositing with camera noise, getting a soft focus with lots of motion blur only adds to catching the grain pattern.

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It was nice to read an editor at PromoNews.TV say

Leonardo Verkoelen speeds through the streets in perennially effective time-lapse mode to capture King Khamen performing his banger Powertools in a gritty old school style.

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The Process

The most important aspect to get right on this project was the final look. We were looking for a 16mm film look that was very rough and grainy. I broke down the process of achieving the look in After Effects and DaVinci Resolve in the following video:

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However, it was not only about the post-processing. The tools we used were taken into consideration as well to make sure that the footage we got would lend itself well to post-processing.

We shot the project with a Canon 60D without a lens attached to the body. We used moldy Minolta Lenses from the 70s by focusing them manually in front of the body while shooting handheld. This process was incredibly run and gun. I was literally holding the lens in front of the body and trying to aim the camera sensor at the lens. This process is what causes all the distorting footage as well as the continuous light leaks.

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We knew how much we could achieve inside compositing and we had a strong reference of the look we were after. This meant we could trust on our instincts and let the equipment capture the image.

For my work in VFX-compositing I use a variety of film grains and digital noises to match assets with their backplate.

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The noise used in Powertools can be found in the Free Digital Camera Noise pack, and includes an After Affects Grain Control set-up.

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Photographs from the Shoot

The Powertools music video was an amazing project to work on. It was a true testament as to how you can create a specific look with the minimal of tools at your disposal. We had a fun day and even took some disposable camera pictures :) 

Here are some stills photographed on the day of shooting :)

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Conclusion

Creating an experimental music video is mainly about understanding the purpose and creative intent of the music you're visualising. Then by working together with the artist you can define a look and style that conveys that feeling while being achievable within time and budget. It is wonderful to have such a close collaborator as King Khamen who puts as much trust in us as that we put trust in him.

This way we can rely on each other to get the desired effect we dream of.

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