The Pigeonhole Cafe Owner Rayner Lim from Singapore Shoots a Lomography Music Video for Shelves!

Presenting our latest LomoAmigo from Singapore! Rayner Lim, co-owner of The Pigeonhole Cafe filmed and edited a music video for local band Shelves using only Lomography cameras. The results are pure joy. We’ve got the awesome song stuck in our head now… beat beat bop bop can’t stop…

Name: Rayner Lim
Occupation: Co-owner of indie lifestyle cafe The Pigeonhole and freelance director / video editor
Location: Singapore

Hi Rayner! We love your cafe The Pigeonhole. Can you share with us your inspiration behind the space? Did your previous creative experiences as a videographer have any influence on the concept?
Hi guys, thanks for the interview. As for The Pigeonhole, we set it up such that we can use the café/bar as a venue to promote and host all sorts of creative events. Our events range from gigs to exhibitions and film screenings. We wanted a space that can help us grow our personal creative pursuits as well as gather like-minded people.

We didn’t really set out with a concept in mind. We wanted to create a comfortable space that is filled with stuff we like so we went around gathering vintage furniture, knick-knacks and out-of-print books to fill the space. The concept is really “stuff we like”.

Was this your first time shooting on film and Lomography cameras? How was your experience?
This is not the first time I’m shooting on film although it’s the first time I’m using a Lomography camera for an extended period of time. I usually shoot with rangerfinders, both film and digital.

It’s great fun shooting with Lomography cameras! I’ve only played with my friends’ cameras previous so I had to learn the quirks of shooting the Lomography way. Actually once I started, embracing the shooting styles of the different cameras (we used 3 cameras for music video – the LC-A+, Spinner 360 and LomoKino), and just went with the flow, it was really fun. I could concentrate on what I was trying to achieve in the shots and not worry about settings and other stuff that you would have to think about when shooting digital.

The only “problem” was that there is no review or re-do when it comes to film! But that’s part of the charm.

Why did you choose to shoot Shelves’ music video with Lomography cameras?
Well, the song was upbeat and had a great fun vibe to it and while I listened to the song over and over, Lomographic images kept coming up in my mind. The “shoot from the hip” and spontaneous feel of Lomography pictures seem to fit really well with the vibe of the band as well as the song.

Also, the album is released on vinyl. So the whole analogue approach was in line with the band’s DIY home-brew recording style and analogue loving record release.

What was your concept for the music video; what were you trying to portray?
I didn’t want to plan it too much. All I had was a rough idea in my head what kind of shots I was looking for and what situations I want the band to be in and that’s it. I really wanted to shoot the band as candidly as possible. I basically told them to go do their thing, be themselves and ignore me while I shot them.

I really wanted to show the spontaneous, fun loving side of the band. And boys being boys, it really wasn’t too hard to achieve. I guess I was trying to portray the band as fun and slightly mischievous, but also can be quite cool when they play their instruments!

What was the band’s reaction like when they say the first cut of the video?
They really loved it. They had no idea how it would look like because I purposely didn’t provide them with any storyboards or too much detail. I didn’t want them to act for the camera, so I kept a lot of details on how the video would eventually look away from the band.

They were really happy with it and we were all really stoked to premiere the video just before their set at the album launch.

Watch the music video for “(She Wakes Up To) The Beat” by Shelves, shot by Rayner

You must have spent a lot of time on the making of this video. How many rolls of film and how many shooting / editing hours were involved?
Wow, I lost count. I think we must have used about 40 rolls of film! I spent about 2 weeks editing the video, bit by bit every night. It was tedious because I was basically wrangling thousands of still images but the end result was worth it!

Any tips for Lomographers out there?
Don’t think too hard. Just load up your film, go out there and shoot. You’ll be surprised with the results you get. A lot of people are too scared to start shooting on film and Lomography cameras because they think it’s complicated, but trust me, it’s way easier, way more fun and so much more satisfying then shooting digital.

Visit The Pigeonhole at 52/53 Duxton Road (psst, it’s really near our Lomography Gallery Store too)
Check out Shelves , listen to and buy their music on Bandcamp or at The Pigeonhole.

The Lomo LC-A+ is known worldwide for its amazing features: automatic exposure, extended ISO range, and multiple and long exposure capabilities. Get your own Lomo LC-A+ now!

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Enter a new analogue dimension with the “LomoKino”:http://shop.lomography.com/cameras/lomokino. Lomography’s own 35mm analogue movie camera allows you to capture action and immortalize your story on film! Shoot 144 frames on any 35mm film and create your own cinematic masterpieces. Want to watch your movie the old-school way? We also offer the “LomoKino and LomoKinoscope package”:http://shop.lomography.com/cameras/lomokino/lomokinoscopepackage!

written by saysaysay on 2012-05-30 #people #videos #art #band #music #lifestyle #music-video #lc-a #singapore #shelves #cafe #analogue-photography #photographer #movie #gig #lomography-gallery-store #gallery-store #lc-a #analogue-cameras #lomoamigo #spinner #spinner-360 #pigeonhole #lomokino #lomokino-lomoamigo #rayner #rayner-lim #the-pigeonhole