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| Last updated: 5 June 2003 |
| Cartel Part 1 Filmed over a three week period during the summer of 1999, the Cartel video represented both a third venture and a third medium for the CherryPie team. Originally to involve Stephen, Martin, Neil, Ailish and Debbie, it ultimately only involved Stephen and Debbie, although Neil did provide input in the very earliest stages of the project. Filmed with the same VHS-C camcorder that had been used to record Admonition, and produced once again with no budget, the video has no discernable narrative, instead being comprised merely of a serious of images (which, for reasons to be later explained, have no real connection to the lyrics). However, with some genuienly fine shots and some undeniably excellent editing, the video certainly has its merits, even if it does fail to match the heights that were reached earlier in the year with Oedipus:A Context and Admonition. Idea Genesis: The earliest origins of the project can be traced back to late June of 1999. At that time, the CherryPie team were on their holidays from college, Admonition was awaiting editing, and Cassandra had just been cast, with Stephen, Martin and Andy trying to compile some sort of shooting schedule around everyone's holidays. It was during this organisation period that Keith Dixon, boyfriend of Stephen's aunty Tracy, contacted Stephen about making a music video. Keith had recently formed a four piece indie band called Cartel, and they were looking to get a video made to put on their upcoming website and to send into shows like No Disco to try and get noticed. With it looking more and more unlikely that the team was going to be able to actually get Cassandra shot during the summer, and with Stephen and Martin slightly dubious about starting another film while their first one still lay incomplete, the Cartel video seemed like a good oppourtunity to keep the team in work, whilst also requiring far less organisation. As such, it was somewhat reluctantly decided to push the production of Cassanda back to the beginning of the academic year in September, when organisation would be far easier, and instead use the core members of the team during the summer to make the music video. CherryPie Productions would be involved in its third project of the year. The first official meeting between CherryPie Productions and Cartel took place on July 10th, when Stephen, Ailish, Martin, Neil and Debbie met the band. The team listened to some of the band's material (Neil and Debbie liked it; Ailish, Stephen and Martin didn't), and Stephen explained some of the rudimentaries of filmmaking to the guys. Questions were raised by the team as to whether the video would be narrative or not, how literally it should interpret the lyrics of the songs, exactly what song was to be filmed etc., while the band members asked questions about using stock news footage, how the sound would work, what filmic methods would be involved, and the possibility of using some still images in the final film. Also discussed were the shooting dates. As it turned out, the band were only available for shooting during August, a month which saw both Martin and Ailish away on holidays, so from the very first meeting, the team was down to three. It didn't seem to matter however, as it would be a small and short shoot with minimal orgainisation, no skilled actors required, ready made locations, and, as all seven of the remaining participants were keen, everything looked like it would go smoothly. Then the trouble started. Preproduction: The first stage in preproduction was the relatively simple matter of deciding which of the bands 12 or so songs was to be filmed. As they couldn't decide which song they wanted, and despite the best efforts of Stephen and Debbie to convince them otherwise, the guys figured that the best thing to do was to record 3 songs, decide which one they wanted later, and then edit the material specifically to that song. This meant that it would be impossible to shoot a narrative video, as Stephen wouldn't know which song he was shooting for (not to mention the fact that the band had decided that doing such a video would involve too much work). Thus, as Neil was on board primarily as an actor, it meant that he wasn't really needed anymore, and so five became two. The next stage was for Stephen to study the three sets of lyrics so he could come up with a few relevant images which could be fit together in some way, shape or form later on. The lyrics were never provided, and as July rolled into August and the time to shoot drew closer, Stephen and Debbie found themselves in the situation of having to shoot a video which could possibly be cut to any one of three songs, and having no clue as to the lyrical content of any of them. With such sketchy detail, they decided that the shoot would simply comprise three locations; the recording studio, a live performance on stage, and some exterior shots of the band. The idea for using stock footage was jettisoned at this time, as the copyright laws involved were simply too time consuming to warrant getting bogged down in (the idea for the still images had also been rejected as Stephen had suggested that in editing a specific frame could simply be looped to create the same effect, thus avoiding uploading pictures and having to digitally cut them into the video). Dates were set for three consecutive Saturdays in August, and the CherryPie team was set to make its first music video. Production: The first day of shooting was Saturday, August 7th. The shooting that day involved all the stuff in the recording studio. Everything went pretty well during the shoot, and the band played the three songs twice to allow for maximum coverage. The live sound would be impossible to use (or cut) later on, but that didn't matter as the decided upon track would simply be laid down and the images then cut to that track. Also present in the studio was the photographer who had been hired to take pictures of the band to be used in the film. A friend of the band's lead guitarist, he is actually on screen in the finished version of the video for a split second (the guy wearing the basball cap backwards), as is one of his photo setups (the negatised shot with the band behind a gauze thing). on to cartel page 2 back to home back to products links page |