The actual shoot for the video took place in Warburton Victoria in May 2012. I spent the 1st half the day picking up my suit, the flags, globe of the world & packing in the guitars & PA & doing a final check of my list to make sure there was no late panic. We set off across town with the GPS loaded with the address for the house I had booked & arrived after dark, after knocking on a few neighbour’s doors found the accommodation, thankfully with the heater already chilling off the mountain cold. At dinner that night at the pub we went over the shooting schedule with Jerome, Jarrod & partners & got an early night. Arriving at the factory entrance the next day it was a hive of activity. Nic the site producer had the first set of locals arriving as we unloaded our gear & Richard had arrived with his truckload of trolleys & rails jam packed with lighting & scaffolding. Jerome pulled me aside to say the guy providing the lens apologised that the one we had booked was not available, but had given us (what I thought was a torpedo in a silver case) a $90,000 one to take it’s place! Maaaaan! A quick meeting to say hi & welcome to the crew of 10 & 20+ demonstrators the fun began. There was a method to the madness & started with filming the stairway scenes with the demonstrators. The smoke machine created the haze and Jarrod had us all laughing as he did his regular run around dissipating the smoke to just the right mixture.
With 5 locations around the site to set-up, organise & shoot & then pack-up this was repeated with military precision and minimal hiccups over the 14 hour shoot. The theory was to get all the crowd scenes done first so they could all be gone before evening & then the various shots featuring yours truly would follow. It was remarkable to see the clarity of vision that Jarrod & Jerome had as they organised and coaxed the locals to enough of a frenzy to simulate the love for Politicians we all haveJ. Jarrod gave me the nod & I started to get my make-up on & tried desperately to get that nice all over tan look that Politicians love. The extension of my face over my ears meant it took a little longer but then I was set to sing the song & dance the dance!
I did not count but I am reckon I sang the song at least 15 times, to my surprise with minimal re-takes because of muck-ups but more with pacing of zoom with movement of the camera synching. At one stage doing the guitar solo I thought we may have need an ambulance for the 2 guys pushing Jerome on the circular track around me. They had to get the timing just right so the fast forward zoom hit on the audio clicks! Looks amazing and well worth it. Some of other shots that needed special effects were the heater on my lap to stop the fog for the close-ups. The buckets of water ready to throw over me if I set my hair alight instead of the money & the mattress to catch me in case I skateboarded too far out of shot. It is easy to see how people can fall in love with making these things. There a few more photos to enjoy on my Neil Wise Music FB page https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.364224163664846.89210.359866040767325&type=3
Hope you have enjoyed sharing this blog & please stay tuned for the highlights of my recent World Trip & some of the mis-adventures that followed….
