Music video: Final Kings – Lesson # One

As a part of his thesis, Häfi produced a music video for Final Kings, a regional nu metal band. I was also involved, as camera operator.

The video clip was shot on a location called “Crash“, a discothèque in Freiburg. It was chosen because it is well-known in the region and provides a great sinister atmosphere. We also had already been in contact with the staff when we were producing a short documentary, “Was für’n Mario?”, about its “CEO”.

For a student’s production, the team was remarkably large. Besides the director, there was a director of photography, the camera operator (myself), two light technicians, a make-up artist and many more helping hands.

Almost every piece of equipment from the studio of our university was deployed. We used two cameras (Sony DCR-VX2000), a dolly, a handyman, a crane and lots of light sources.

Also unusual for a student’s production: There was a budget. 250€ were available.
Häfi showed in his thesis, that this production would have cost 6388.62€ “in the real world”. Fortunately, the team worked for free and there wasn’t any rent for the equipment (excluding the light). Only costs for light, tapes and food had to be paid.
So finally, of the 250€ only 358.23€ were spent.

The Crash-Team offered us about 2.5 days for shooting inside their location. We needed every minute – as usual. In those 2.5 days, the Crash was an interesting sight: Everywhere were spots, cable, boxes, cases and people. Occasionally, a crane was seen gliding over the dance floor, or a dolly running in circles.

Too bad that I was so busy shooting the video, so there was no time for shooting lots of photos. *g*