PRINTS // 360° Video for “Come and Go”

December 19th, 2011

FRIENDS!

I’m outrageously psyched to share the first video from PRINTS for the song, “Come and Go (feat. The KickDrums).” As you probably noticed, the video is quite a bit wider than your average video – that’s because we shot it using a single-point capture 360° panoramic video camera! Think of it as ULTRA widescreen… as if you’re looking in all directions at once. When one character steps off the screen on the left side, they simultaneously enter the screen on the right side – it’s a real mind-melter, and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you watch it in full-screen mode to get the full panoramic effect.

The video has already gotten a wonderful response on the web, with features at both Paper Magazine and The Atlantic!

I co-directed the video with my super-talented pal, David Sosnow. David is the co-founder of Kogeto and specializes in making 360° video camera lenses. The company has gained quite a bit of notoriety lately for their DOT, an attachment that allows you to shoot 360° video with your iPhone (TechCrunch and USA Today articles).

I met David serendipitously through a mutual friend (and the video’s co-producer), Tavit Geudelekian. From the very beginning, we wanted to capture the senses of euphoria and over-the-top joyousness of the song. It’s also quite epic in nature, feeling both fast and simultaneously slow, and we knew that slow-motion video would lend itself perfectly to that sensation. As Tavit, David and I discussed the technology David was pioneering at Kogeto, we knew instantly that we had to work together, and that 360° would be the perfect way to create the fully-immersive video experience that the song needed.

As we sketched out possible concepts, we kept coming back to one basic issue: in order to fully-exploit the 360° technology, we had to keep things interesting in all directions at all times. If we didn’t have some kind of action or character movement occupying the full 360° spectrum, we would have giant empty spaces on screen. Our challenge was to come up with something visually-compelling that would surround the camera in a circular form at all times. The image of ladies dancing in a circle first occurred to me on the subway, but it was critical to keep things beautiful and other-worldly, as opposed to crass or heavy-handed. We hoped to achieve that beauty and mystery by the identical costumes. And by having the one blonde actress in a different outfit, we hoped to create a sense that they were a team or unit of some kind with a fearless leader.

We shot the video over the course of two days on location in Brooklyn, first in May 2011 (with the ladies), and then in June 2011 (with the singer, Alex Fitts). Remarkably, our only expenses in making the video were the rental of the dolly ($70) to hold the camera for the walking shots, and then meals at both shoots (thai food & pizza, respectively). David and I then painstakingly edited the video over the course of about 3 months at David’s Brooklyn apartment. We worked incredibly well together and were able to push each other and take the video in different directions. It was a true collaboration, much like the recording of PRINTS.

As we were editing, we thought it would be best to keep the overall image “flat.” With 360° video, there are some players that enable the viewer to pan around the full 360, themselves (for example, see here). We were concerned that by giving the viewer too much choice vis-a-vis which direction to follow, it could feel overwhelming to watch. We also believe that the image is most stunning when you can see the full 360° all at once. We will be making a pan-able version available soon, but we wanted the definitive version of the video to be “flattened.”

David and I poured our hearts and souls into this project, and we had an incredibly fun time making it. None of it would have been possible without our amazing actors & friends, and we are so happy to finally be launching it into the world. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did, and if you have any questions at all, please feel free to comment below – I’ll be sure to reply ASAP.

Lastly, if you’d like to grab the MP3 of “Come and Go,” here’s a link: bit.ly/Wilkis_CAG

Thanks!
A

Entry Filed under: December 2011, PRINTS, Press, Video