Jayel Draco’s News Blog

So Corinne Alexis Hall and I have been working steadily for the past couple of weeks building our muppet-esque costumes for the music video  “History Lessons” by Dinosaur Feathers. We were hooked up with the band when we won first place in SILVERSOUND Music Video Festival + Band Battle for our work in Cockroach Hotel (written and Directed by Christopher Piazza). Dinosaur Feathers won first place in the Band Battle part of the festival. The two first place winners where hooked up and given a budget for a video which would headline next years festival in August.  The Video for “History Lessons” was conceptualized, written and presented by the talented Writer/Director Christopher Piazza. I can’t say too much about it, but I’m quite certain it will be well received.

Yesterday with our costumes complete we started our day in Monroe, NY accompanied by a small crew of 8 at 5:30 AM. Outside in the snow all day until sunset Corinne and I Puppeteered our hearts out for the camera. With special thanks to the work of “super-on-it” Assistant Director Sara Blake, the first day of shooting was completed on schedule with time for a few extra shot thrown in for good measure. Today I awoke with the sharp pain of deep tissue exhaustion snaking throughout my back, arms and legs.  The pain subsides as I focus on confidence in the knowledge that we gave it our best. I also find myself comforted by the knowledge that we have a week and a half of recovery and costume repairs until the next day of shooting.

The next day of shooting will be the 23rd. A warm indoors green screen studio is where Corinne and I will do the rest of our Puppeteering for the special effects shots. The day will be divided between the filming of our puppeteering and shooting Dinosaur Feathers performing. So in theory it should be a significantly easier day for us. After that Corinne and I will have our work cut out for us as we will be animating special effects and compositing them into the video with Photoshop, Flash, and After Effects.

I’ll fill you in on how the 23rd goes.

Keep Rockin. . .
=j=

Neil Halstead’s “Elevenses” Premiered today on 99dollarmusicvideo.com.
This video was made with a $99 budget, 24 hours, and a production team consisting of: Christopher Piazza, Sara Blake, and Jayel Draco.
It’s my pleasure to show you “Elevenses”.

Neil Halstead’s “Elevenses”

The latest music video that I worked on with Director Christopher Piazza for Neil Halstead’s “Elevenses” was a fun down and dirty job. My job was threefold. My first task was collaborating with Chris to figure out how to make the special effects in his video idea work using less than $100. My second task was to make the costume fast and cheap then stand by on set as Wardrobe, Art department and effects director. The third part of my task, on the post-production side,  was using compositing techniques along with some fancier cgi sorcery to compose some quick effects that look top grade. I’d say it was a fun project to have worked on.
“Making of Elevenses” | 99DollarMusicVideo

The Premiere of the behind the scenes is currently being shown on the front page of 99 Dollar Music Videos. The video itself will premiere on Thursday.