Music Video Q&A

I've had so many questions about the latest music video so I thought I'd answer some of them here...

Q1. Who directed it?

A: Me. Camera operators were myself, Eug (drummer in the band), and my wife Shanda. Most of it was handheld.

Q2. Where was it shot?

A: The postering shots were done on Whyte Ave in Edmonton (any Edmonton people would recognize the location). The brick wall/graffiti shots were done on Whyte as well (in an alley just off 104st). The industrial looking power line shots were done around 82ave and 25st.

Q3: Did you use a Mac or PC to edit?

A: A PC. I've been using Avid Liquid Edition to edit everything for the last several years. Don't ask me why - I just jumped into it. If I were to start over again I think I'd go with Final Cut Pro (have used it). I may end up getting a Mac soon though.

Q4: HD?

A: Yes.

Q5: Is it hard to direct and star in your own music video.

A: It took many efforts over many years to get comfortable with it. This time around it was very easy and fun but it took a lot of planning and thought beforehand (I actually wrote a treatment this time), and many failed attempts as well. In the past I've always tended to rely on effects to make a video interesting. It took a while for me to realize what makes a music video interesting to me (and others) and what makes it good for places like MuchMusic, MTV, etc... Which brings me to question 6.

Q6: Why did you do another video for Don't Change The Station?

A: Well, we do have 2 other singles in mind from Nucularboy so we could've just dove into doing a better video for a new song. BUT. When we spoke with MuchMusic, they said that the song was strong (which we agree with) and that it would have a better likelihood of getting played with a video that wasn't so dark as our first one. We're still just starting to get airplay for this song and didn't want to change horses mid-race so to speak. So, we cut our losses, learned from the mistake, and made a much clearer video! We'll find out in a week or so if Much will play it, but regardless, it's still a great marketing tool for the band thanks to YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, etc. People can associate faces with the song, and it's now part of our press kit as well. For the laser video, I wanted us to be shrouded in mystery. I simply did too much of it and now I have learned that I needed some foreground lighting just to show our faces a bit more. Oh well. Now that I've done both, I can say that in the process I learned so much about what to do and not do with music videos, and fell much more confident going forward with directing future MSO videos or even music videos for other bands/artists.

Q7: Are you interested in doing a music video for my band?

A: Yes. Send me an email mso at mysisterocean dot com (replace at with @ and dot with . and delete the spaces) for info. I've been doing professional video work for years but the music video medium has always been this elusive tricky thing for me for some reason. Anyway, I've cracked the code, got rid of the mental block I had, and am now ready to call myself a music video director (keep in mind I've directed many over the years, but only recently would I say I am one). I feel like the latest video shows what I can do and anyone interested should consider that video a "minimum level of quality" for any video they might want me to do for them.

Q8: Why didn't you just get someone else to do it?

A: Cause as it says in my blogger profile, I'm a megalomaniac.

Q9: Oh yeah, didn't you also produce the MSO album.

A: Yeah.

Q10: So, you're basically in love with yourself?

A: This interview is over! But yes. The answer is yes I do.