the legend of looney
by Colton Dillion | Apr 12 2016
We shot this music video through the low-budget Music Video firm Niteskool for up and coming Chicago Hip-Hop Artist, Jordan Looney. We spent 4 months in pre-production, brought together the most talented filmmakers on campus, and successfully shot one of the most challenging treatments ever presented at Niteskool.
We took the most amazing and exciting things we've ever wanted to do, and threw them into the mix. We have Time Freezes, Walls of Light, Underwater Rapping, Slow Motion Blacklight Parties, and so much more, all cut and smashed into a single continuous take. None of these effects or sequences have ever been attempted before in our budget range, and from what we could find, have only been done with budgets in the six or seven figures.
While the foundation of many of the most amazing effects are done in camera, the VFX goal was to provide seamless areas that tie our sequences together into one continuous shot. From Time-Frozen Beer Pong and Scott Pilgrim-esque Force Waves to Transforming Characters and Underwater Aquariums, we spent months parring our process down to achievable effects with ground-breaking results.
Niteskool was extremely fortunate to work with some of the best and brightest young filmmakers, designers, engineers, and artists from the surrounding Chicago-Land area as well. It has been an entirely collaborative project with incredibly talented individuals coming together to make an efficient, enthusiastic unit.
RED One MX: Borrowed from Northwestern's Film Cage, the RED One was utilized to capture the low-light backlight party section at 120 fps, and to retain incredible amounts of data in our Wall of Lights sequence.
RED Scarlet-X: Rented from a Northwestern students production company, the light-weight Scarlet was latched onto the steady-cam for our Time-Freeze section, allowing us to smoothing explore the space while still capturing far superior resolution and data.
GO PRO Hero 2: We shot a 30 second bit completely underwater using the Go Pro underwater housing. The camera performed well beyond expectations, but to put the difficultly of this shot in perspective, our camera operator -- who was a member of the northwestern swim team -- required a snorkel to complete the shot. Jordan Looney on the other hand held his breath the entire shot, showcasing how those new-school hip-hop lungs can spout more then just killer lyrics.
Build
We built over 1200 square feet of walls, a process spearheaded by Master Carpenter Marek Ranbom and Head Erector Jason Dillion. Construction took over a week and a half, and we utilized Northwestern's Engineering Shop to its full extent. With the skills of Master Engineer Frank Cummins and Sigma Chi Fraternity’s stream of building apprentices, we also constructed a low-cost replica of the light-bar from the Shining in the same time span.
Design
We also had an extremely talented creative design team lead by Sarah Sherman and Amanda Scherker. From Unicorn Fish Tanks and Pizza Walls to a Map of America constructed with CD's and a Black Light Murals, they transformed our production from looking like a cheap shmogusborg of wood to a professional set that shone under the detailed lens of the RED Camera.
VFX
Headed up by Kashif Malik and Taylor Culbertson, the VFX in this video are extremely complex and challenging. Kashif and Taylor, who've been working together for four years, threw the Kitchen Sink into this video.
While the foundation of many of the most amazing effects are done in camera, the VFX goal was to provide seamless areas that tie our sequences together into one continuous shot. From Time-Frozen Beer Pong and Scott Pilgrim-esque Force Waves to Transforming Characters and Underwater Aquariums, we spent months parring our process down to achievable effects with ground-breaking results.
Niteskool was extremely fortunate to work with some of the best and brightest young filmmakers, designers, engineers, and artists from not only Northwestern University, but the surrounding Chicago-Land area as well.
Pre-production was a two-tier system with Taylor Culbertson leading the technical, visual, and editing front and Greg Uzelac leading the creative one, including art direction, costume design, and set and production design.
It has been an entirely collaborative project with incredibly talented individuals coming together to make an efficient, enthusiastic unit.
Pre-production was a two-tier system with Taylor Culbertson leading the technical, visual, and editing front and Greg Uzelac leading the creative one, including art direction, costume design, and set and production design.
We took the most amazing and exciting things we've ever wanted to do, and threw them into the mix. We have Time Freezes, Walls of Light, Underwater Rapping, Slow Motion Blacklight Parties, and so much more, all cut and smashed into a single continuous take. None of these effects or sequences have ever been attempted before in our budget range, and from what we could find, have only been done with budgets in the six or seven figures.
While the foundation of many of the most amazing effects are done in camera, the VFX goal was to provide seamless areas that tie our sequences together into one continuous shot. From Time-Frozen Beer Pong and Scott Pilgrim-esque Force Waves to Transforming Characters and Underwater Aquariums, we spent months parring our process down to achievable effects with ground-breaking results.
Niteskool was extremely fortunate to work with some of the best and brightest young filmmakers, designers, engineers, and artists from the surrounding Chicago-Land area as well. It has been an entirely collaborative project with incredibly talented individuals coming together to make an efficient, enthusiastic unit.
RED One MX: Borrowed from Northwestern's Film Cage, the RED One was utilized to capture the low-light backlight party section at 120 fps, and to retain incredible amounts of data in our Wall of Lights sequence.
RED Scarlet-X: Rented from a Northwestern students production company, the light-weight Scarlet was latched onto the steady-cam for our Time-Freeze section, allowing us to smoothing explore the space while still capturing far superior resolution and data.
GO PRO Hero 2: We shot a 30 second bit completely underwater using the Go Pro underwater housing. The camera performed well beyond expectations, but to put the difficultly of this shot in perspective, our camera operator -- who was a member of the northwestern swim team -- required a snorkel to complete the shot. Jordan Looney on the other hand held his breath the entire shot, showcasing how those new-school hip-hop lungs can spout more then just killer lyrics.
Build
We built over 1200 square feet of walls, a process spearheaded by Master Carpenter Marek Ranbom and Head Erector Jason Dillion. Construction took over a week and a half, and we utilized Northwestern's Engineering Shop to its full extent. With the skills of Master Engineer Frank Cummins and Sigma Chi Fraternity’s stream of building apprentices, we also constructed a low-cost replica of the light-bar from the Shining in the same time span.
Design
We also had an extremely talented creative design team lead by Sarah Sherman and Amanda Scherker. From Unicorn Fish Tanks and Pizza Walls to a Map of America constructed with CD's and a Black Light Murals, they transformed our production from looking like a cheap shmogusborg of wood to a professional set that shone under the detailed lens of the RED Camera.
VFX
Headed up by Kashif Malik and Taylor Culbertson, the VFX in this video are extremely complex and challenging. Kashif and Taylor, who've been working together for four years, threw the Kitchen Sink into this video.
While the foundation of many of the most amazing effects are done in camera, the VFX goal was to provide seamless areas that tie our sequences together into one continuous shot. From Time-Frozen Beer Pong and Scott Pilgrim-esque Force Waves to Transforming Characters and Underwater Aquariums, we spent months parring our process down to achievable effects with ground-breaking results.
Niteskool was extremely fortunate to work with some of the best and brightest young filmmakers, designers, engineers, and artists from not only Northwestern University, but the surrounding Chicago-Land area as well.
Pre-production was a two-tier system with Taylor Culbertson leading the technical, visual, and editing front and Greg Uzelac leading the creative one, including art direction, costume design, and set and production design.
It has been an entirely collaborative project with incredibly talented individuals coming together to make an efficient, enthusiastic unit.
Pre-production was a two-tier system with Taylor Culbertson leading the technical, visual, and editing front and Greg Uzelac leading the creative one, including art direction, costume design, and set and production design.