SET LIFE AT BUDGET MUSIC VIDEOS
Well goodness me haven’t we been busy bee’s this weekend. My Sunday normally consists of a mountain walk and then my feet up with nice cup of tea but this Sunday provided a welcome change as I was at my first big gig with Budget Music Videos. with 2 hot coffees myself and Loraa (The Boss) headed down to the Rapture Dance group studios in Belfast. Before the fun began Loraa issued me some words of wisdom (The Rules!) Mainly keep out of her way when she’s filming, do whatever I was told and enjoy the experience. My role for the day was work behind the scenes and film, photograph the magic. I was relishing the experience and eager to do the job justice. Firstly we met with the dance group, a nice bunch of teens who did what was asked of them without any sarcasm or back cheek (are they really teenagers?) Their dancing was very unique and stylish, their impeccable ability on cues and timing shows they are well practiced
in their field.
We expected a nice sunny day but were given dull skies and rain, of course this is Ireland not the Bahamas (anyone got a free plane ticket there?). We were on a strict time limit as we had to film at the Belfast Botanical Gardens in the afternoon (No Pressure). Loraa and the two main characters went to film one of the scenes downtown whilst I prepared the equipment for the shooting at the studio. Apart from a fear of breaking something (by accident of course) I was confident my abilities would benefit the work and not incur the wrath of a stressed out boss. As I was behind the scenes I wanted to have plenty of footage so I filmed mainly everything, dancers preparing themselves, scenes, retakes. The studio stuff was very exciting to film and it was interesting to see the dancers give it their all so I made sure to capture it all as I know this experience will be helpful when working the next shoot.
Next came the band stand filming and that was where the fun really began. Nothing was spared for this we had lights, camera and a smoke machine. As passersby watched we went about it like mad, one of the required shots was a revolving shot around the bandstand so Loraa donned roller skates (Yes you heard right) armed with a camera she whizzed about gracefully apart from one little tumble (it’s okay she wasn’t holding the camera) everything was okay. So yes the day was busy and this was only a small shoot. I feel I handled my responsibilities well and didn’t break anything (until the next shoot). The dance team were a joy to work with, excellent in their field and hopefully we will work with them again the near future
Stay Classy Northern Ireand . Written By Bill Farrell
