Mr Bones | Tiny Victories

Mr Bones is a music video I directed for the band Tiny Victories.  Since I pretty much bliss out to their music, I looked at several psychedelic films from the 60s onward, particularly Roger Corman's The Trip, Psych-Out, and the more modern Enter the Void.  

With practical effects in mind we filmed eye makeup glitter floating to camera as particles, utilized lots of film roll-outs (Nice Shoes does film transfer, access to plenty of those), and flashed LED lights into the lens to create flares.  The DIY approach to visual effects developed into a nice style.  I didn't like the thick frames on the off-the-shelf projection screens so we built our own.  The two screens were featherweight so we could hang them from the ceiling grid easily with a minimal crew.   

This process gave the video a retro vibe while reflecting the band's organic approach to electronic music.  The music has an analogue feel to it, yet when you see Greg and Cason live, their main instrument is a table packed edge-to-edge with samplers and drum machines (and some live drums too).

Beyond creating the music video, I extended the filmed content to become part of the band's live performance.  Deploying interactive projections playing through VDMX and controlled by iOS (via iPhone, iTouch, and iPad), the iOS devices can transmit touchscreen commands and live video over Wi-Fi to a laptop.

Credits

Production by Nice Shoes
Artist: Tiny Victories 
Starring: Harpreet Shinger

Director: Brian Levi Bowman
Producer: Jen Cadic
Director of Photography: Rod Lamborn
Editor: Tony Dolezal
Designer: Kit Lam
Colorist: Ron Sudul
Screen Fabrication: Andrew Pandolfino