"Hero", music video shot on RED
 

This is a music video I shot for directors Juliet Landau (probably best known for her role as Drucilla on "Buffy") and Deverill Weekes. They wanted a very simple camera treatment with minimal cutting and for the look to be reminiscent of classic black and white photography (George Hurrell) and expressionist black and white films (F.W. Murnau).

We shot on RED with the 18-85 and tungsten fresnels--very limited grip and electric equipment and personnel (thanks to virtually no budget)! It was a challenging shoot but I thought the approach and performance was unique.

Godhead - The Hero Music Video

This looks fantastic. I love the atmosphere. The lighting of her dress is particularly interesting.
They seem to be glowing and bathed in light. How much of that is lighting and how much is done in post?

Thanks Richard.

Much of the look was created in-camera; I did net the back of the lens to soften and glow slightly but we continued the look in post somewhat. The video was broken into two halves and shot continuously with a fixed lighting setup for each half (about 5 units on the grid and 5 on floor stands), then I finessed the lighting for the close-ups. I had minimal crew and equipment so it required some creativity, and we shot pretty quickly.

Well, that was bizarre. :) You did a great job of making the singer look like a tortured beast. I found it interesting that you used his facial features to your advantage in one shot by lighting from above and creating hollows for eyes. Creepy…

This reminded me of an ice dancing routine--even the lighting, somewhat. It’s also the first time I’ve been given an example of netting the back of a lens so that was really interesting.

The photos posted on the Web page help so much in seeing how you lit the half with the floor stands! Every time you share with us, Charles, I learn so much. Thank you.