I had plenty of video portraits and moments for the music video but I really needed some hockey action!
We spent a day on a back yard hockey rink in Fort Saskatchewan and also spent a day renting out an arena to get some more action shots.
All of the characters in the film had to sign a model release so just shooting generic footage of a random hockey game wouldn’t work. I left all of my set-up action shots for the arena shoot.
The last day of shooting was street hockey which really brought everything together.
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The Journal's Ryan Jackson and Amanda Ash film pond hockey at Clayton and Crystal Amos' acreage near Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" in Edmonton on December 4, 2011. Brandt's song is the official anthem for the 2012 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship and the video, directed by the Journal's Ryan Jackson, will be played before every game. All the characters in the video are real Albertans who embody the spirit of grassroots hockey.
The Journal
The Journal's Ryan Jackson films pond hockey with the help of young Sawyer Amos at Clayton and Crystal Amos' acreage near Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" in Edmonton on December 4, 2011.
Left to right. Christopher, Amanda and Brayden Bellamy pose to be filmed by the Journal's Ryan Jackson the Jubilee Recreation Centre in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" in Edmonton on November 29, 2011.
Hockey fans Christopher, Amanda and Brayden Bellamy pose for a photo at the Jubilee Recreation Centre in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. on November 29, 2011 (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal)
Amanda Ash unloads camera gear at the Fort Saskatchewan Hockey Rink.
We made use of the whole rink!
One awesome thing about the Panasonic GH2 was how light it was with a 20mm f1.7 lens.
he Journal's Ryan Jackson sets up an overhead camera for the puck drop scene at the Jubilee Recreation Centre in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. for the official music video for country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" on November 29, 2011.
Overhead shot with the GH2 on a pole.
The Journal's Ryan Jackson films a puck drop scene with (left to right) Tyler Mrkonjic, Stephen Petruk and Steven Canduro at the Jubilee Recreation Centre in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" on November 29, 2011.
The Journal's Ryan Jackson films Tyler Mrkonjic's parents Frank and Kathy with the City of Fort Saskatchewan town council sitting in as extras in the background at the Jubilee Recreation Centre in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" on November 29, 2011.
Filming the brother referees.
Directing the proud father and son.
Directing the main character Tyler Mrkonjic.
My Zacuto loupe was too big and heavy for the GH2's viewfinder so I used a Rotolight 6" Articulated Arm to hold it up. Worked great!
Here was my "data cart" with 27" 1080p monitor and 4TB hard drive.
Gear cart. This thing was a huge timesaver.
Frame grab from my GoPro mounted on a hockey stick for street hockey.
Street Hockey. The narrow street and trees made for a nice clean yet suburban-looking background.
My shot list for street hockey.
he Journal's Ryan Jackson mounted a GoPro video camera on a hockey stick for the street hockey shots for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" in Edmonton on December 10, 2011.
Trying to squeeze in some shots of old timers hockey.
A screen shot of the hundreds of video cuts made in Final Cut Pro of the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" at Limbo Editing Services in Edmonton on December 11, 2011.
The Journal's Ryan Jackson in the editing suite with Adam Kidd, owner of Limbo Editing Services for official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" in Edmonton on December 11, 2011.
Colourist Joe Owens with Presto!Digital Colourgrade colour balances and grades the final version of the music video for country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" in Edmonton on December 15, 2011. Photo by Adam Kidd.
The first viewing of "I Was There" at the Edmonton Journal newsroom. It was my first time having a real audience.
All the people involved in creating the "I Was There" Music video. Left to right. Top to bottom. Adam Kid, Paul Brandt, Ryan Jackson, Shane, Deanna Smart, Amanda Ash, Sandra Marocco, Barb Wilkinson, Donna Christensen and Taryn Melnyk pose for a photo before Paul Brandt's concert at the Jubilee in Edmonton on December 12, 2011.
In conclusion this project was an amazing, challenging and rewarding experience. I met dozens of inspirational people from around Alberta and also made a new B.F.F. Amanda Ash. The Edmonton Journal and Calgary herald ran photos and Amanda Ash’s stories ran front page.
One of the most rewarding moments though was when they played the video on the big screen in the Saddledome during the bronze medal game and people stood and applauded!
My vision for the music video was to have video portraits or “vortraits” of people that embody the spirit of hockey combined with hockey “moments” that would trigger people’s emotions.
As a photojournalist with the Edmonton Journal I wanted to stay true to my roots as a journalist and make sure that all the characters in the film were real people and not actors pretending to be hockey fans.
We put a call for nominations in the Edmonton Journal and got about 100 responses. We contacted the best 20 and with the amazing help of project organizer Taryn Melnyk we created a shooting schedule that would allow us to film as many characters as possible in one month.
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Here are some of my favourite behind the scenes photos from filming in Calgary, Edmonton and Spruce Grove. All of the portraits are actually video frame grabs from the Panasonic GH2. Untouched and uncoloured except for the first one.
Zamboni driver Jeff Huebner poses for a photo at Signal Hill Outdoor Arena in Calgary, Alta. on November 17, 2011. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal)
Zamboni driver Jeff Huebner poses for a photo for Ryan Jackson at Signal Hill Outdoor Arena in Calgary, Alta. on November 17, 2011
I had a notebook with me at all times and sketched out my shots.
In the fury of shooting it is easy to miss shots to be sure to write them down!
The Journal's Amanda Ash holds on to the back of an Olympia Ice Resurfacer while driver Jeff Huebner does laps around the rink at Signal Hill Outdoor Arena in Calgary, Alta.. while filming the official music video for country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" on November 16, 2011.
The Journal's Ryan Jackson films Donald Boykiw while he floods the hockey rink at Willowridge Community Centre in Calgary, Alta. for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" on November 17, 2011.
The Journal's Ryan Jackson films Donald Boykiw while he floods the hockey rink at Willowridge Community Centre in Calgary, Alta. for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" on November 17, 2011.
The Journal's Amanda Ash, left, and Ryan Jackson setup lights before filming hockey player Carolyn Boykiw, 16 for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" at at Willowridge Community Centre in Calgary, Alta. on November 17, 2011.
The Journal's Ryan Jackson films Carolyn Boykiw, 16 for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" at at Willowridge Community Centre in Calgary, Alta. on November 17, 2011.
Carolyn Boykiw, 16, poses for a photo at the Willowridge Community Centre in Calgary, Alta. on November 17, 2011
The Journal's Ryan Jackson, left, and Amanda Ash film Tim Schneider with his two sons Craig, 8, and Matthew, 5, in their back yard rink for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" in Edmonton on November 14, 2011.
Tim Schneider with his two sons Craig, 8, and Matthew, 5, pose for a photo with their back yard rink in Edmonton, Alta. on November 14, 2011. Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal)
Thumbs up for snow! This was the first night we actually got snow! Good timing.
The Journal's Ryan Jackson films Dean McCarthy with his son Nathan in their back alley in Edmonton, Alta. for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" in Edmonton on November 21, 2011.
The Journal's Ryan Jackson films six-year-old Nathan McCarthy with his table hockey set in his home in Edmonton, Alta. for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" in Edmonton on November 21, 2011.
Nathan McCarthy, 6, poses for a photo in his home in Edmonton, Alta. on November 21, 2011
The Journal's Ryan Jackson films sledge hockey players at the Donnan Arena for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" in Edmonton on November 22, 2011.
My shot list for sledge hockey.
The Journal's Amanda Ash flexes her muscles after moving over five hundred pounds of camera gear before filming sledge hockey with Ryan Jackson for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" at the Donnan Arena in Edmonton on November 22, 2011.
The Journal's Ryan Jackson films a sledge hockey player at the Donnan Arena for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" in Edmonton on November 22, 2011.
A rare photo of Amanda and I together! Since we only had a crew of two people I was usually behind the lens.
The Journal's Ryan Jackson films old timer hockey player John DeGraaf at the Knights of Columbus Sports Complex in Edmonton, Alta. on November 23, 2011 for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" in Edmonton on November 23, 2011.
Old timer hockey player Jack Evans poses for a photo at the Knights of Columbus Sports Complex in Edmonton, Alta. on November 23, 2011
The Journal's Amanda Ash interviews old timer hockey player Jack Evans at the Knights of Columbus Sports Complex in Edmonton, Alta. on November 23, 2011 for her Spirit of Hockey Audio Project. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal)
Spruce Grove Saints fan Marlene Spidla, 69, at Grant Fuhr Arena in Spruce Grove, Alta. on November 30, 2011
The Journal's Ryan Jackson films Spruce Grove Saints fan Marlene Spidla, 69, at Grant Fuhr Arena in Spruce Grove, Alta. on November 30, 2011. Jackson used a hacked Panasonic GH2 camera with a Canon 300mm lens. Using a 7.4x crop mode Jackson was able to get the equivalent of a 2220mm lens and film Spidla from across the arena for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" in Edmonton on November 30, 2011. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal)
A mosaic of portraits from Paul Brant's "I Was There" Music video by Ryan Jackson, edmontonjournal.com
Finally. Speaking of Characters. Journal reporter Amanda Ash interviewed all of the characters in the music video and you can hear what hockey means to them and how they embody the spirit of hockey. The Faces of "I Was There" <-- REALLY COOL!
I spent about two months on this project. The first month was mainly pre-production, gear selection and testing, script-writing and preparing for the second month when we did most of the principal shooting.
Our first real day of shooting for the music video was Paul Brandt singing the actual song. I had filmed him singing in the recording studio in Nashville but I felt that we really needed him in a hockey rink with a guitar on the ice. Paul lives in Cochrane so Amanda and I arranged to get him on the ice for a couple hours.
Country music star Paul Brandt poses for the "I Was There" song iTunes album cover for the official theme song of the 2012 World Junior Hockey Tournament at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre in Cochrane, Alta. on November 9, 2011. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal)
When I said “a couple hours” I really meant it! Paul was extremely busy with his cross-Canada tour about to start so we only had him for two hours!
Amanda and I spent four hours setting up all of the lights, cameras and doing test footage. I had originally envisioned recoding Paul in multiple locations but in the end we only had time for three takes of him standing on the ice and three takes of him sitting.
No pressure!!!! Did I mention I was using a brand new hacked camera and had only shot one music video before?
I strongly believe in the 7P‘s: Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance
I had spent a month of non-stop research, writing, testing, planning, scripting and practice to ensure that nothing would go wrong. And thank God I did!
Paul Brandt was such a professional! He’s made nearly two dozen music videos before and knows what he’s doing. When editing the footage, Adam Kidd with Limbo Editing noticed that he tipped his guitar up and did the same moves at the exact same time for each take.
Paul was also just a super nice guy! He stopped to sign autographs and talk to any fans that came by. He didn’t have any kind of ego or image problem …. he didn’t need to! He already knew how to look good!
Shooting test footage of my wife Ashe with our dog Mr. Woofertons. I was deciding between using Canon D-SLRs or recording uncompressed 422 video from my Canon XH-A1. I ended up using a hacked Panasonic GH2 which blew both of them away.
I did a ton of research and also tested a lot of gear before starting the project. I already had a Canon 5D Mark-II and 1D Mark-IV which are fantastic for video but also have some drawbacks.
Canon D-SLR drawback #1 was Aliasing and Moire which are strange patterns that appear in objects like fences and nets and also in clothing like hockey jerseys. Since a music video about hockey would contain plenty of both I knew this would be a problem.
Drawback #2 was the rolling shutter of the CMOS sensors on Canon D-SLRs. Basically D-SLR video looks great until you start moving the camera and then you get what is called a “jello effect” where the video looks weird. One rule with music videos is that the camera is ALWAYS moving.
Drawback #3 was just that Canon D-SLR video looks like Canon D-SLR video. There’s nothing wrong with it but it seems like everyone is shooting with 5D Mark-II’s now and I can always tell when avideo is shot with one.
The best part is that a guy named Driftwood has hacked the firmware allowing you to shoot MUCH MUCH MUCH higher quality video.
How does it work? Basically the GH2 records standard 24 Megabit (Mbit) video out of the box. However the camera is capable of shooting over 170Mbit/sec video and also capturing Intraframe (also known as GOP1) where every frame of video is an individual still image instead of other codecs that only record full still images every few frames and then guess the frames in between.
I read reviews of how the hacked GH2 fared well against the $80,000 Arri Alexa and RED Camera. Not that it’s better than those cameras, but pretty damn amazing compared.
The aliasing-free GH2 solved Problem #1, the Intraframe codec produces much smoother motion which solved Problem #2 and the higher resolution and bitrate solved Problem #3.
The only drawbacks of the GH2 were:
The sensor was half the size (a 2X crop instead of the 5D’s 1X full-frame sensor) so a 24mm lens would become a 48mm lens. It would also be harder to achieve the narrow depth of field look but would be easier to manually focus since I would have more depth-of-field.
The smaller sensor produced more noise at high-ISOs compared to the Canon so I would need more light
The extremely high quality 176Mbit/sec produced 1 gigabyte of video per minute and required expensive Sandisk 32GB Extreme SD cards. A 32GB card would only hold about 30 minutes of video therefore I had to buy five of these cards at $150/each. Of course the price dropped right after I bought them!
The menus and functions of the GH2 weren’t as friendly as the Canon D-SLRs.
However the GH2 mainly excited me because the hack had only recently come out and it allowed me to capture quality that would make people ask “What did you film that on?”
So I bought two Panasonic GH2‘s and loaded them up with Driftwood’s 176Mbit patch. I bought a 4/3rds mount to Canon EOS adapter off ebay which allowed me to use all my Canon prime and zoom lenses and also control the aperture with a built-in iris.
For the music video I tried to use my prime lenses as much as possible including:
Canon 24mm f1.4L
Canon 50mm f1.2L
Canon 85mm f1.8
Canon 300 f2.8L IS
When I needed a zoom lens I popped on my Canon 16-35L which became a handy 32-70mm lens with the 2X crop and my 70-200 f2,8L which was an amazing 140-400mm lens!
I also purchased the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 which came in handy a few times but is WAY overpriced for what it is.
I purchased two Interfit Monstar fluorescent light kits. Each light has three massive 150-w bulbs for an equivalent of 1,800 tungsten watts without the heat.
Unloading all the gear at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre in Cochrane, Alta. to film Paul Brandt singing
I wanted to light almost everything in the music video for maximum quality as well as dramatic effect.
As you can see from my portfolio I love to light my portraits and I also wanted a consistent look all through the video.
I used two Interfit Monstar lights with 48-inch Octoboxes for the main lights. For fill lights I used three 500 LED video lights I got from eBay.
I bad to bring hundreds of feet of power extension cords as there was only one power outlet in the whole arena!
The lighting and camera setup for Paul Brandt singing the song "I Was There" at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre in Cochrane, Alta. on November 9, 2011. Jackson used Panasonic GH2 cameras running the Driftwood 176Mb firmware hack and Canon prime lenses for the entire film.
Other gear I used was:
Ikan VX7e 7″ HDMI HD monitor which was a HUGE help for manually focussing as well it has a false-colour exposure guide which helps prevent you from blowing out highlights.
A wide matte box which helped block lens flare and also keep snow off of the lens. This item proved surprisingly necessary for filming with video lights.
Fader Neutral Density Filters. You always want to keep a 1/50th shutter speed with video so an ND filter helps you stop down the light so you can shoot at 1/50th shutter at f1.2 outdoors in the sunlight if you want.
15″ Apple MacBook Pro i7 Quad Core for reviewing footage and converting the GH2 AVCHD footage into ProRes422 HQ. That meant for every minute of video I shot I would get 1GB original + 1GB converted ProRes422HQ video
Here is a better look at my Panasonic GH2 with a 4/3rds to EOS lens adapter and an Ikan VX7e monitor on a Kessler Pocket Dolly.
I used the amazing Cinemover slider for my second GH2 camera on a plank of fir wood. I used fir because it doesn't warp. I had the kit lens on the GH2 for this photo but used the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 for the actual shoot.
You can see the mark I made on the ice for paul to stand on. We did multiple takes and needed Paul to be standing in the same spot every time. He was such an experienced professional and did the exact same moves every take.
Journal photographer Ryan Jackson takes still photographs of Paul Brandt for the official iTunes album cover for the song "I Was There" at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre in Cochrane, Alta. on November 9, 2011. Photo by Amanda Ash, edmontonjournal.com
Paul Brandt takes a break from filming the "I Was There" music video to pose for a photo with some fans at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre in Cochrane, Alta. on November 9, 2011.
Amanda Ash packing away the video lights at the end of the day.
We used the Edmonton Journal minivan to lug our gear around. Even with the back seats taken out it was completely full.
Before heading back to Edmonton we stopped for supper and reviewed the raw footage. It was a huge milestone in the project because we had a "base" for the video with Paul singing on a hockey rink.
Here is the end result. The next blog post will be about filming the characters.
This blog post is Part 1 of my experience filming the Paul Brandt “I Was There” Music Video for the Edmonton Journal. Later posts will cover filming the actual video. Today’s post is about traveling to Nashville to capture Paul recording the song.
Country music star Paul Brandt records the official theme song “I was there” for the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championship at Ocean Way Studios in Nashville, Tenn. on October 24, 2011. Journal photographer Ryan Jackson is shooting the official music video and will be traveling around Alberta for the next month capturing junior hockey players and fans.
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So one day I go to work and ask one of my editors what my next project will be. “Your shooting a music video for the World Junior Hockey Championship….. oh and Paul Brandt is singing the song…. oh and you actually have a budget!” she says.
I was amazed! A few months earlier I had seen that the New York Times Magazine was creating music videos to go with stories and I thought that was so innovative… and now here I am with the same opportunity!
I had filmed the music video Pearson “Purity of Heart” and it was one of the best experiences of my life.
This was going to be a chance to really push my cinematic skills and create something cool.
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The Edmonton Journal and the Calgary Herald were going to be official media sponsors of the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championship and our marketing heads and editors wanted to do something innovative and different.
The idea was that we would use the power and reach of the Edmonton Journal and Calgary Herald to get submissions for ideas and inspiration for Paul Brandt to write a song about hockey. The theme was to be “I Was There”
Chorus radio, which was another official sponsor would help pay for the recording of the song in Nashville and then they would get the song for their radio stations.
Hockey Canada helps pay for the music video and they get a theme song and theme music video to play before all of the World Junior Hockey Games.
The Edmonton Journal pays for me (through my normal salary) to spend two months working on the music video with the help of staff writer Amanda Ash.
The Journal owns the music video and gets exclusive behind the scenes photos, blog posts, tweets and stories for the paper.
A newspaper creating a music video is also very innovative and shows the Journal is pushing to become more than just a “snoozepaper”
Paul Brandt benefits by getting tons of promotion at the same time as his new album and concert tour begins.
Albertans and the Journal’s readers benefit through participation as we used crowd sourcing to help write the song and also find characters for the video.
So the whole project was pretty win-win for everyone and I got to shoot a music video for the Edmonton Journal!
The following are some behind the scenes videos and photos from recording the song in Nashville. We didn’t end up using any of the footage of Paul in Nashville in the final music video for continuity sake. It was still worth going down there though to meet Paul and discuss ideas for the film.
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I've always thought of Nashville as a Country Music city but it really is a Music City. Bands of all genres go there to record.
Ocean Way Studios which is a old historic church that has been converted to a large recording studio.
The interior of Ocean Way Studios. Perfect for large bands and orchestras.
A fun video reporter Amanda Ash shot of our travels in Nashville. Pretty cool.
There was a surprising lack of signs that just said Nashville so I took this one at the airport.
Journal reporter Amanda Ash pushes videographer Ryan Jackson's 250-pounds of camera gear into the hotel before filming the official music video for country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" in Nashville, Tenn. on October 22, 2011.
The AT&T building in Nashville looks like a transformer!
The food in Nashville was amazing in a bad-for-you kind of way.
Here is a short time lapse of Amanda Ash and I setting up the video lights for Paul Brandt.
Test photos of Amanda Ash in the studio.
Test photos of Ryan Jackson in the studio.
We checked out the Country Music Hall of Fame which really opened my eyes and ears to the historic importance of country music.
Country music star Paul Brandt records the official theme song "I was there" for the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championship at Ocean Way Studios in Nashville, TN on October 24, 2011. Journal photographer Ryan Jackson is shooting the official music video and will be traveling around Alberta for the next month capturing junior hockey players and fans. Keep an eye on Journal reporter Amanda Ash's blog The New Black for updates and information on the music video. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal)
Country music star Paul Brandt is interviewed by Journal staff reporter Amanda Ash at Ocean Way Studios in Nashville, TN on October 24, 2011. Brandt was there to record the official theme song "I was there" for the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championship. Jackson is shooting the official music video and will be traveling around Alberta for the next month capturing junior hockey players and fans. Keep an eye on Journal reporter Amanda Ash's blog The New Black for updates and information on the music video. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal)
Country music star Paul Brandt (left to right) poses for a photo with Journal staff reporter Amanda Ash and staff photographer Ryan Jackson at Ocean Way Studios in Nashville, TN on October 24, 2011. Brandt was there to record the official theme song "I was there" for the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championship. Jackson is shooting the official music video and will be traveling around Alberta for the next month capturing junior hockey players and fans. Keep an eye on Journal reporter Amanda Ash's blog The New Black for updates and information on the music video. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal)
