Creating a Music Video on a Shoestring Budget

In 2013, I was commissioned to produce a music video for the band Smoking Martha. The brief was to create something "in the style of No Doubt" and inspired by the movie Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

Sign Fabrication Specialists - The workshop converted to a temp film set.

We had to work with a very limited budget, just enough to cover the costs of the set framework, backdrop, and halogen work lights, which we used instead of traditional studio lighting.

preparing to shoot

I had access to a sign workshop where I had previously worked. They graciously gave us permission to move the equipment aside, paint the floor, and build a custom set, providing everything was reset back to normal for the following work day.

The band members help build the custom set

The concept was to have silhouetted go-go dancers appear in the background while the band performed in the foreground. To achieve this, all in camera, we built an aluminum frame, clad it in photographic background paper, and used it as a rear projection surface. The silhouettes were created using two Kodak slide projectors I had in storage, which provided a controllable and focused light source.

makeshift studio lighting helped produce a professional look

We used four sets of two halogen work lights for the rest of the set, with photographic umbrellas and reflectors to soften the harshness of the lights. Thanks to digital cameras, we could adjust the warm light by simply white-balancing in-camera. The entire clip was shot using a Canon 5d mkII, in 1080p, 30fps.

The set ready to shoot

For the black-and-white scenes featuring the go-go dancers, we again used the work lights and shot directly into a slide projector at the dark end of the workshop.

Adobe Premiere cc, the editing software at the time, had limited color-grading options, so I decided to process the footage in Photoshop instead. Though it was a painstaking process, it allowed for incredible control over the color and the addition of film grain.

adding realistic film graid the old way, using an analogue print as a reference

The Photoshop Process:

The basic process involves exporting video clips or entire sequences from Premiere as individual frames. Important! Make sure the files are named in order using a consistent naming convention, e.g., scene01_0001, scene01_0002, and so on.

Next, load a few individual frames from each scene into Photoshop and edit them until you're satisfied with the look. I primarily used the Camera Raw Filter, as it allows you to save presets. Using my analog film prints as a reference, I aimed to match the grain to the tribute aesthetic of Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

Once the color and grain are perfect, I record the process using Photoshop Actions. Then, using the batch feature, I apply the action to the entire folder of frames for each scene. The result? A new folder filled with beautifully graded frames.

Back in Premiere, I import the frames as a sequence by selecting the first frame and checking the "Import as Sequence" box. This reloads the graded frames as a video clip for further editing.

In the end, both the client and I were very happy with the final product.

For this project, I handled the entire process: producer, director, DOP, editor, and lighting, creating everything necessary to achieve the desired result within the given budget.