Dad Fad – Music Video Shoot

Here’s a video I did with my good friend Alan Adams.  Alan is not only a creative singer-songwriter, but a talented videographer and commercial photographer.  Al and I team up on many photo and video projects.  He’s a great guy to know and work with.  It’s truly a blessing to know him.

Every once in a while, we’ll take some time to set up the camera, lights, and audio, to record a few of his songs.  To me, this song is among his best.  It shows an intimacy not often shared between people.

Doing projects like this are extra special to me.  As I was recording this, I couldn’t help but think that this video will someday be the most valuable thing in the world, to his now teenage daughter.  Someday, Al will be gone from this earth, but hopefully, the video will survive to express the love he feels.  What I would give to have a video of my father expressing how he felt about me.  These projects are truly special, and I’d love to do more of them.

About the Music video

From a video perspective, one of the things I really like that I did was to set up the backlights where I did.  The backlights make it look like it’s really on a stage.  As I mentioned above, we’ve done these recordings a few times now and I really think I nailed the audio setup.  On the first couple of attempts, I wasn’t quite happy with the voice / instrument balance.  The voice never came through as I wanted it to.  It’s like they competed.  With this video, the sound of the voice cuts right through the music, and to me, sounds very professional.

I loved the harsh lighting on Al. I felt like I was pushing the envelope a little with the light ration, but overall, I think it works. The only thing I’m not crazy about is the background on the wide shots.  I think I overlit the canvas.  Live and learn…

Overall, I’m really happy with the lighting, the sound, and the performance was amazing.