Lomographer Shoots Double Exposure Music Video in 16mm

Los Angeles-based filmmaker and lomographer Danny Brown has shot a fantastic double exposure music video composed of silhouettes of classical dancers against the cityscapes. Check it out!

Earlier this week, we expressed how much we loved getting in touch with our community members. We also shared the story of Danny Brown aka dannyisok and his project, a double exposure music video!

Using a Krasnogrosk 16mm camera, Danny managed to shoot around a total of 400 feet of film, featuring the Los Angeles cityscape and dancers performing in time to the Canopy Climbers' single, Far.

Awesome, isn’t it? Now, let’s hear what Danny has to say about the experience.

How long have you been into photography?

I started to get into photography when I was a freshman in high school in 2001. Back then we still had a real photo lab. That’s what I loved about photography. Getting into the dark room and developing your own prints was so exciting. Even when digital took over the market I was still an avid film user.

We saw the music video that you made. It’s really cool! Can you tell us more about it?

Far was written and recorded by Canopy Climbers. [ … ] I chose to shoot on film mainly because with a digital camera, you can’t shoot double exposures. That effect can only truly be done on film, unless you want to do it all in post and let’s face it, that’s lame.

After I shot all the texture shots, which was made up mostly of cityscapes and lights, I had to roll the film back onto itself and reload it back into the camera. This was difficult since it was 400 feet of 16mm film. I went into a dark room and by hand, had to spool all that film back onto another spool.

Along with those surprises, a mistake did happen. One of the rolls of film wasn’t loaded perfectly. The film needs to be pressed against the gate pretty firmly using a pressure plate. I think the film was just barely offset and not flush against the gate. This mistake made shots, specifically of lights stretch out and streak [ which you ] can see towards the end of the video. It made for a great effect, something I’ll definitely keep in mind for any future shoots.

Why make it in double exposures?

I wanted that element of surprise. [ … ] The double exposure gives it that little something extra. I chose to shoot scenes of LA because I really love this city [ … ] not because of it’s Hollywood glamour which everyone sees, but rather the grittiness [ to it ]. I’m not saying LA is a gross place, within the grit is beauty. I think that the graceful dancing overlaid with the dirty city shows that LA really is a beautiful place.

What was the most challenging part in shooting the video?

Spooling all the film was annoying, but I don’t think there were too many challenges. I had some awesome dancers that were very excited to be a part of it [ … ] in addition to a great camera crew. Everyone knew exactly what they were doing, which made this shoot so smooth. You need a good crew, especially when shooting on film.

How about tips and advice for our fellow lomographers out there who are also interested in shooting their own videos?

Shoot a lot! When you do, use many different film stocks, and keep track of certain information. I keep all my negative scans on my computer with notes attached to each roll that told me what camera and lens I used, the film stock and how I processed it. Whenever I want to achieve a look similar to what I’ve done before I can go back and look at that information. Maybe that’s breaking some sort of lomo-rule, but the lomo-look is so great. I don’t understand why more filmmakers haven’t used that to their advantage yet.

written by geegraphy on 2012-09-26 #news #videos #music #film #music-video #analogue-photography #double-exposure #lomography #analogue-lifestyle #danny-brown #canopy-climbers