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Gavin James 'Cigarette Break' (live At Abbey Road) by Raja Virdi

Promonews - 30th Oct 2018

Raja Virdi has directed his biggest live session yet, this time for Gavin James at the famous "Beatles Room" in Abbey Road Studios.

Virdi captured the performance of Cigarette Break in a three camera multicam format – straying from his usual one take style – utilizing Panavision anamorphic zooms for slow push-ins, installing a plethora of tungsten lights, and placing James and his band within a huge circle track.

RAJA VIRDI:

"Creating this video was was a huge effort for all involved, but wouldn’t have been possible without the most hard working crew. I wanted this piece to feel real and raw in the room, slow cutting and letting shots breathe. People ask why I shoot one takers and it’s because I want the audience to see a live piece for what it is in that exact moment, but having said that, there is a time and place and this was certainly not it, but I still wanted the audience to be present in the moment, hence creative choices like the camera ops being seen in shots (and cutting to those subsequent shots in the edit) - it really gives a sense of this being a live piece in a non-glossy and over analysed style.

"As this was the first time we see Gavin perform with a full band (for a live video), I wanted to shoot this in the round to see the interaction between everyone and was therefore confident circle track and dolly was the best way forward. My DoP James Rhodes did an incredible job of lighting and shooting this, surpassing the image that that was initially in my head.

"We used Panavision anamorphic zooms on all three cameras because I had been influenced by old studio footage of Rolling Stones and Beatles (zooms on the lens) but keeping that look tasteful and still cinematic (hence anamorphic). The lighting style I wanted was cohesive with Gavin’s style of fixtures that would live on stage, which I championed early on (big thanks to PD Xander Mitchell for bulb positioning on the day) - Mole Beams, Sky Pans & bare bulbs are what we went for, so we littered the set with them, all controlled on the lighting desk via my cues."

Promonews - 30th Oct 2018

Tags

  • Director's notes
  • Live music video
  • Pop

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Credits

Production/Creative

Director
Producer
Byron McNally
Production Company
Khona Productions
1st AD
Mark McPadden

Camera

Director of Photography
James Rhodes
2nd AC
Chris Rogers

Lighting/Grip

Gaffer
Gavin Walters

Art

Art Director
Xander Mitchell

Wardrobe

Hair
Oliver Woods
Make-up
Carly Guy
Wardrobe
Nigel Greene

Editorial

Editor
Ed Cooper
Editing company
The Assembly Rooms

Grading

Colourist
Oisín O'Driscoll
Colour grade company
The Mill

Commission

Commissioner
Ryan Jafarzadeh
Label
Good Soldier

Misc

Other credits

2nd Assistant Director

Anastasia Chabanova

Focus Pullers

Ryan Parkins, Vlassis Skoulis

Grips

Ben Freeman, Darren Quinn, Garth Sewell

Camera Operators

David Wright & Jordan Buck

Camera Trainee

Rhys Warren

DIT

Alix Milan

Sparks

Lorenzo Guerrieri, Simon Willet, Jimmy Harris

Desk Operator

Daniel Walters

Audio Engineer

Paul 'P Dub' Walton

Audio Engineer Assistant

Paul Pritchard

Runner/Driver

Maddie Harris

Runners

Clara Butler, Nick Fore, Josie Smart

Promonews - 30th Oct 2018

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