Sunday, May 15, 2011 at 05:18PM NLP Shoots Music Videos for Rick Ross, Wale, and Jadakiss
Blog written by: Jonathan Bregel
Directors: Drefilms & SpiffTV, Producer: Sway Mendez, Director of Photography: Jonathan Bregel
This week has been pretty busy between everything going on between Khalid, myself, and Next Level Pictures.
Last week I was contacted by producer Sway Mendez to DP some music videos for Rick Ross's new albim/mixtape entitled; "Self Made." NLP was contacted for this job based off of our past artist promo/docu/music video work. The directors called for a very raw/gritty approach to the visuals so I did my best to achieve that. Having Brooklyn and downtown Atlanta as our backdrop, I knew this look would be possible. All video work was shot on our new Sony F3 and Zeiss Compact Primes. I am really starting to fall in love with this setup because of it's lightweight and ease of use. We will be shooting a lot of documentary/commercial work with the F3 in the upcoming months.
At the end of the day, it was a pleasure collaborating with Rick Ross as he is truly dedicated person. After I shot the video last week for "600 Benz", Rick Ross saw the footage and personally requested that I come back and shoot his 2nd video for "Pacman." I was stoked that he had noticed a quality boost from the videos previously shot for his "Self Made" album/mixtape. That being said, the Boss would occasionally come behind the camera to check on the shots and give me reasons for why he liked specific shots. It's always great to get an outside perspective on the things we are shooting. The guy knows how to hustle. (As seen below in a grab from the video I shot for "Pacman.")
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Now that I am back and settled in NYC, I spent some of the day grading some of the screen-grabs. So far, the Rick Ross camp has been very happy with everything I have shot for them. There are a lot of projects on the horizon with this crew. Solid hustlers. Below are some more frame grabs from the video for "Pacman." Before viewing, I want to share a ridiculous story that happened on set:
I'll start it out by saying that we were shooting in a "Trap House." For those of you who don't know what a "Trap House" is, I'd suggest looking it up on Google. Below is a screen grab from Google Maps. You can see the dozen or so guys hanging around the Trap. #Sketchy.
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Below is a picture of my good friend and 2nd AC, Jimmy Costigan and I relaxing on set before all hell broke loose. Don't judge me because of my epic Ken Griffey Jr. shades and Bob Marley Tank:
Needless to say, this wasn’t familiar territory for my crew and I. This was something that I most likely never would have gotten to experience if it wasn’t for this video, so I am thankful for that. For the video, we had 4 performance setups planned for the day at this location along with some cinematic storyline. When I saw the location on the morning of the shoot, my head was exploding with shot ideas. It is very rare that I see a location with such real, raw, and gritty character. This "Trap House" was every DP/Directors dream. That being said, by the time we got through the 1st performance scene, shit decided to hit the fan when one of the "tenants" of the "Trap House" decided to demand money from the production. As my crew and I were setting up an epic portrait shot of one of the tenants, we heard some yelling from inside the "Trap." I was so focused on getting this shot that I just played it off. I think Khalid and I share a very similar mindset when we are stoked on a shot...we basically forget about the world around us and zone in on nailing the shot. This is both very good, and very bad. Given the fact that we were shooting in the hoodest of hoods I have ever been in, this was very bad. Right as I had my shot lined up on the dolly, I hear one of the "tenants" yelling and come crashing through his front door. Before I even realize what was going on, this guy had kicked the dolly along with various gear cases and HMI ballasts. If my hand wasnt on the camera, it could have been a really, really bad day. While he's doing this, he is screaming "GET THE F&*K OUT OF HERE" along with other racist comments. My crew and I all look at each other as if this is something out of a movie. 6 film crew guys, in the middle of a "Trap House", surrounded by about 30 "Trap House Tenants." Not good. I immediately grabbed my camera and ran it to the truck as my gaffer, Boyd Hobbs, and his g&e wrapped faster then a posse of superheroes. Just as we got everything back to the truck and were waiting for the producer to get back on set, the 2nd AC, Jimmy Costigan, had reminded me that some of our camera gear was in fact, IN THE CRAZY GUYS TRAP! While I'm pondering if my life is worth a couple Anton Bauer batteries and a charger, the 1st AC, Ben McLeod, notices that his truck is being blocked in by one of the tenants cars. Ambition is completely worn off at this point and I am fully aware that we may actually be in a lot of trouble. Ben, not really knowing what to do at this point, approached the guy who blocked his car in and nicely asked him to move it. The guy’s response was; “give me $400 and the car is yours.” At this point, the producer/problem solver, Sway Mendez, was right around the corner. Keep in mind that all of this went down in the 5 minutes that the producer was taking out money from an ATM in order to get us lunch. This was probably one of the longer 5-minute spans in my life. I felt like I was waiting for superman to come and save us. When Sway got back, he quickly resolved the issue. Not sure how he did this but I’m pretty sure it had a lot to do with swag and money. Ben got his car back, and I got my Anton Bauer batteries and charger back.
We soon found out that this crazy guy who had flipped out was not an everyday member of the trap. I honestly felt very safe up until this guy decided to demand money from the director and kick our gear. The members of the "trap" community were all very respectable of our property and accually helped us carry a lot of our gear from spot to spot. I threw 1 guy $5 at the beginning of the day and I swear he was one of the most loyal PA's I have ever worked with. Good people, bad habits.
At the end of the day, I was mostly disappointed that we only got to shoot in 1 of the 4 performance setups at this “trap house.” I think the average person would have just been happy to be alive…I was of course happy to be alive, but pretty bummed that we didn’t get to capture the character of this “trap house.” Definitely not an opportunity that pops up everyday. Enjoy!
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I wish I had a great story about the "600 Benz" shoot but the truth is that it went very flawlessly. However, it did rain the entire day but it accually played out very well for the look that the director wished to achieve. At one point, we had the F3 on a jimmy jib, wrapped up in a trash bag. This was my first time working with Mikey Jib's from NYC Jibs. The guy is simply a beast. Below is a shot of his setup along with some screen-grabs from the "600 Benz" video.
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Check back soon for more updates!
-Jon
Reader Comments (19)
SICK! Sick! Sick! Story. It's good that you guys were safe in the end and kept a clear head in all of the commotion. The image stills are amazing. Great lighting and composition.
Also how do you like the F3 compared to other cams you've recently used?
Damn bro! I am still loving those grades! I'm glad it got you more work! haha Sounds like your getting a taste of rap videos now =)
Love your work man!!inspires me to keep working towards getting to this levels.n yeah,as Gabriel asked,how do you like the f3 compared to others??
Sick boys - you guys have lighting and grading nailed - digg it!
Gabriel - We love the f3. I would personally go to it before the redMX for a lot of the docu-style shoots we are doing. The high ISO's are like no other camera.
Tony and Salomon - Thanks! Looking forward to working with you guys on more upcoming shoots! Keep killin it.
seriously guys...your work is incredible
love love love your grading, i seriously need training in grading, doesn't help a whole lot being color blind either haha :(
Amazing Work Guys! And also an amazing and truly funny story!!!
Respect,
Will Power
This entry was epic in every detail of your introduction to the "Trap Life." It pays to always roll with a credible person of the environment in which you shoot. Sort of like an interpreter of some kind. Incredible grades on the grabs. Just noticed in the "600 Benz" video the car is actually a "550 Benz" but I guess it doesn't matter considering the quality of shots and compositions. Nice work guys! Welcome to the hood. If ever you need a hood translator give me a holler. I'm keen on "Trap" lifestyles and happenstances that may render an ass whippin'. Cheers!
Shots are looking great, looking forward to seeing the finished video.
Are you using the same F3 with the S-log update?
Cheers
Had to give you props on daring to shoot in a trap house! Knowing that what you did manage to get filmed was as authentic as it gets is the real payoff. I know from experience: just finished principal photography on the indie feature Hit a Lick in May (the title alone lets you know the kind of scenes we had to shoot) and your blog post brought back some similar memories that are funny now but weren't so funny at the time. Fortunately my co-producer/co-director Tye Banks had grown up in some of the various hoods so he was able to diffuse any drama before it really popped off, but I know there were plenty of times when the crew wondered what the hell had they signed up for.
We had to wrap sooner than we wanted for some scenes as well, but if we had to do it all over again we would still use those locations because what our DP was able to capture could not be duplicated. He shot with a Canon 5D Mark II so even the raw footage looks incredible!
At the end of the day, if you want real, you gotta shoot real. It sounds like you came to the same conclusion as well. Thanks for sharing and looking forward to the video.
- Hylandah
(Dale) No one indebted for others, while many people don't know how to cherish others.-Cartier glasses for cheap
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