Canon EOS 60D x2
Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L
Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L
It's amazing what can be done with minimal equipment and a great team. This project is another collaboration between the very talented Dark Nyte of N87V and myself. We had the pleasure of working with a fantastic production manager this time, whose constant "let's-make-it-happen" attitude helped make the video what it is. The same goes for the actors, who took their roles seriously yet still made the story light-hearted and comedic. And of course, the artist himself, who came up with the cool concept.
We shot everything on just two DSLRs and lenses, along with some basic stabilizing equipment. It took about 100 hours total worth of shooting, editing and color-grading to complete this video. The night before we went to shoot, Dark NYte and I had looked up some references to other great boxing scenes, particularly the "Rocky" movies and a great piece by Philip Bloom called "Portrait of a boxer". I was disappointed after the shoot that our shots had looked nothing like "Rocky" or Mr. Bloom's work. Funnily enough, the footage grew on me once I began editing, and now I only wish we had more time to display the best clips in their entirety - perhaps something I need to do as a personal side project. Anyways, the 24L as always shines, but I've gained a new-found respect for the 50L. At f/1.2 it's very hard to keep something in focus but the amount of detail you get in a close-up and the creaminess of out-of-focus objects in the shot make it easily one of my favorite lenses.
I understand now that good videos not only help viewers enjoy a song more, but they also help everyone involved in a project gain new fans. So to our new fans, welcome to the beginning of something great. But first, I need sleep, badly.
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Director: Stark N. Karim
Cinematography: Asfar Khan
Production Manager: Ravi Marwah
Special thanks to Brian Jaffe (interrogator), Jonathan Charles (undercover cop), Zachary "Zungry" Ochoa (boxer) and Badness (you know who that was).