Well something a bit different from our last blog, no Miss Stockport but five handsome guys (Glen’s words not mine).
Ryan, Jack, Simon, Tom and Steven - Daystar
We were asked to film a music video for Manchester band Daystar, for their new single ‘Slip and Dive’. For those who aren’t familiar with Daystar, they are a young guitar driven 5 piece Indie Rock Band from Manchester who have just released their first album ‘Daystar’. The album was produced by Ronnie Stone who engineered Mansun’s Hit album ‘Attack of the Grey Lantern’.
Simon Monaghan of Daystar by Vivid Photo Visual
The location for the shoot was the Moolah Rouge recording studios in our home town of Stockport.
Behind the scenes at Moolah Rouge ©Bob McGowan
We arrived and set-up prior to the bands arrival, which gave Glen a bit of time to do his usual ‘Human Beatbox’ which he has to do whenever he sees an open mic, fortunately none of Daystar witnessed this so we didn’t instantly lose our ‘cool film crew’ image!
That happened later on when Glen asked the band to give a little more ‘Jazz Hands’ in their performance! To be fair to Glen he had threatened us in advance that he was going to use the phrase Jazz Hands so at least he stuck to his word.
Simon Monaghan of Daystar performing Slip and Dive - Vivid Photo Visual
The band arrived and despite the Lead Guitarist looking like Ollie Murs (only joking Ryan!), they were top lads. Laura Sellers, their stylist arrived and together they picked out the clothes for the shoot. Within 30 minutes we were ready to roll, or maybe 45 minutes as Simon decided the first jeans were a little too tight!
Ryan Arnfield of Daystar by Vivid Photo Visual
The room was pretty full with; the 5 piece band, the Vivid team, Dave Cooper and Phil Cuthbert from the bands management. A couple of photographers that knew the band, first was Bob McGowan who kindly has allowed us to use some behind the scenes shots on this blog.
Behind the scenes on Slip and Dive ©Bob McGowan
The second was Matthew Comer, who works closely with the band and has taken some of the stills on their first album. Finally, and to prove it wasn’t only a male only affair, was the stylist Laura, who worked really quickly and got the lads dressed and ready to shoot within record time.
Simon Monaghan of Daystar by Vivid Photo Visual
I think because the room was full it created a great vibe and the band really went for it, it’s not easy doing multiple takes and still looking like it’s your first.
Under The Spotlight - Simon Monaghan of Daystar by Vivid Photo Visual
We filmed the video with 3 cameras, and it took approx 3 hours. In-between takes or when I felt the other 2 cameras were enough, I managed to take a few stills of the band during the shoot, to share on the blog.
Jack O'Connor of Daystar by Vivid Photo Visual
The shoot went very smoothly, and although this was the bands first video shoot, they were very professional and passionate about their performance. I think the hardest thing for any band is playing live in time to the original album track. Live performances always differ, you hold a note back, extend a note out, add an extra drum fill etc…. you can’t do that when making a music video, it has to match the album recording, and they did this very well.
Steven Woods of Daystar by Vivid Photo Visual
By 10.30pm we were happy we had all the footage we needed so we packed up and said our goodbyes. It was down to us now to edit the video.
Simon Monaghan, singer of Daystar by Vivid Photo Visual
For the look and feel for ‘Slip and Dive’ we wanted a high contrast monochrome look, we’d filmed it with unsoftened fairly harsh lighting, with this in mind. It was a great video to edit and we have to say, although listening to the track 100′s of times whilst editing we still enjoyed listening to it. As someone said “it’s one of those tracks that conjures up images of youth dancing through the minefield of a paranoid drug influenced urban sub culture” I don’t think I could have put it better myself….in fact I know I couldn’t!
Tom Mallas of Daystar by Vivid Photo Visual
So to watch the HD version of ‘Slip and Dive’ by Daystar click on the video below.
This was Vivid’s first music video production and we really enjoyed making it. It added a bit of variety from our usual web videos and company profile videos. We wish Daystar every success with ‘Slip and Dive’ and hope to work with the lads again in the future.
If you want to see more ofDaystar, or purchase the single, here are some links;
http://www.facebook.com/daystarmanchester
http://www.myspace.com/1daystar
If you want to find out more about music video production Manchester, click on the Vivid Photo Visual link.
