SIREN

So, one has a plan but we all know about plans ... especially with me.

Time and personal circumstances curtailed me from making the video for the song Siren, for the Kmag Video Competition, that I had originally conceived.

So it became a challenge to get the video done in just a few days, without onscreen talent, and of course with no budget. My interpretation of the song remained the same: A woman pushed to the breaking point by indifference and making a sudden break and would she be missed at all.

In this version of the video, my camera became the actress, as did dozens of unknowing women in the streets of Toronto. Once again, my city was essentially a character in one of my videos.

This competition had no restrictions on with what format the video had to be in. My original idea was to use the Canon XL1 and shoot it in standard def, mostly because with that camera I have a lot more control over exposure, focus, contrast etc. But when this became another run and gun production, the Sony Handycam became my weapon of choice. As did Collette's Nikon D-80 SLR.

I'm happy with the final product; it's shot at 30 fps (frames per second) instead of 25 fps so it looks like video, not film. Some of the interior shots could have used some colour grading but I was not going for the "film effect". To the contrary, I played with some of the shots to make them more "video like" with almost the colour saturation of old VHS.

Many of the shots in the video have been affected and I'm hoping that these affects/filters add to the language of the video. With the exterior shots, the crowd shots specifically I wanted to create a sort of unsure, unreal, confused impression ... the camerawork should add to this inpression as well.

For the interior shots I built filter effects that (hopefully) give a sense of nostalgia, or things left behind, perhaps even a dream like effect.

Watching the video myself I began to wonder if I have some kind of fetish for ladies shoes ... but the intent with these shots was to give the story a more universally female skew.

I'm not completely happy with this finished product but the deadline is fast approaching and I could have fiddled with it forever. But I am also happy with it, I think it conveys the emotion of the song.

You tell me







HD version here