BACK TO PROJECTS
In the summer (late June as I remember it) of 1999, I attended a week long �taster course� at the Hereford Art College. On this course we were to make a music video (covering the Film and Video course offered by the College) in the first half of the week, in the second half we then took part in a photography course working with pin-hole cameras, light-sensitive photography and black and white 35mm.
As this was 1999, the equipment we used for the music video was of course modest. As I remember they were VHS-C cameras which took full size VHS tapes (and a battery about the weight of a small mid-European car!). We were given free reign over what we would film and which song we would use. We were put into groups of 3 or 4 people (I was teamed with the guy I made �Night of the Living Ted� with, and two other guys who were from a Hereford high school). After a quick introduction into how to use the cameras, we were pretty much left to do what we wanted, at some point over the next couple of days however, we would also have a couple of hours each to play around with the animation studio.
We went down into the city itself and myself and a friend from my high school found ourselves abandoned (the other two Hereford high schoolers ran off to MacDonald�s!). However, this gave us freedom to make the video our way (not to sound up ourselves or anything, but the other two had absolutely no clue in what they were doing, they didn�t even seem to want to be there � for them it was a way out of a week of school!). So we went off and filmed for the whole afternoon and got some great footage (almost all in the �strobe� effect as we felt the actual look of VHS tape did not suit a music video, the strobe effect helped us disguise the limitations of the equipment we were entrusted with). The following day we finished filming (including our time in the animation studio) and then proceeded to edit the video (our other two group members were still unwilling to get involved and vanished when it came time to edit). Again we did not mind, if they didn�t want to be there, that was fine, it meant they wouldn�t jeopardise the project. The editing deck was a basic analogue machine linking two VCRs and two monitors � rather crude, but it got the job done � despite the rather decrepit VHS tapes we were supplied with). We decided to edit over the lunch break to be left well alone and not be impeded by any other music video makers in the overall group. By the time everyone else had finished their junk food in the city, we had completed our music video. We were then allowed to go back to the animation studio for the rest of the day and do whatever we wished. The leader of the film and video course was highly impressed both by our commitment and speed, but also by the finished product. Not to be pretentious or stuck up, but it was the best video out of the entire group by far.
I have since tele-recorded (the process of filming a monitor) the music video from my 2nd Generation source VHS and replaced the existing soundtrack with a new crisp version of the Iggy Pop track from a CD.
