Meet Laurent Danis, a camera based in Paris, France and a member of the StudentFilmmakers Filmmakers Network. See Laurent’s Network profile to connect.
Shot on DSLR: New Music Video, “White Bird,” by Laurent Danis
“There’s your chance at every corner. Don’t lose your will and your passion because at the end you’ll see, hard work always pays!” ~ Laurent Danis
Laurent Danis grew up in the south of France and is now working in Paris. “It’s a move that everybody has to do in the country because most of the industry is in the capital,” says Danis. The film crew shot rock band Divine Pilot’s music video, “White Bird,” in Bourgogne. In regards to the location, Danis says, “It’s a very beautiful region in East France, a lot of green and nature. The members of the music band requested to shoot there because of the lake and the quiet areas around it.”
StudentFilmmakers Magazine: How did you land this project?
Laurent Danis: That’s a funny question.
Well, the thing is I knew the bassist of the band back from my first year of college. We were close friends at the time and shared the same classes, same friends, in few words: same student life! Three years later, he didn’t know that I was now living in Paris; but he found me by chance on a social network and then ask me if I was available to work on the video of his new band.
SFM: Did you go to film school?
Laurent Danis: Well, I graduated from high-school with a degree specializing in physics and chemistry. Thanks to this I’ve been introduced to the basics of optics and chemistry of the film. After that I went to college where I graduated with a BA in Fine Arts specializing in cinematography. That was a pretty good experience back then because I was introduced to a lot of different kinds of films I didn’t know about. Plus, I also made my first student movies, which really made me realized. “Hey! That’s what I wanna do!” I completed my degree with a year abroad too. I went to the Technological Institute of Athens (Greece), to learn the basics of photography. Best year of my life. Honestly, I never learnt that much about how to process a film, the rules into the studios and laboratories, etc. After this experience I got accepted to a film school in London, but I didn’t go because I had better opportunities in Paris where I worked for TV, rental houses and laboratory. But don’t think that was an easy choice! Even in France now it’s very difficult to find job if you want to be in the business.
SFM: Tell us about the concept for the music video, “White Bird.”
Laurent Danis: The concept came from the band themselves. They wanted to shoot something with them close to the nature, with a kind of “muse,” if you could say, that will come and dig them up one by one to end up on a raft playing the song. They actually wrote with the director the original script of the video, but I have to say that was quite a challenge because we had big spaces to cover, and not that much equipment and a very few crew!
SFM: Could you describe your process of collaborating with the director and the band to shoot the music video, “White Bird?”
Laurent Danis: That was actually the first time that our director made a video so I had to be extremely close to him to be able to solve his problems and make him understand our possibilities. The band remained very close to both of us, and that was very nice to work with them. They had a pretty good idea of the kind of visual they wanted. They helped with the equipment, found most of the answers we were looking for and they were very curious about the process of filmmaking. At the end they couldn’t wait to see the final video!
SFM: How would you define the “look” of the music video, “White Bird”? And, what things did you do to achieve that look?
Laurent Danis: Well, when I first read the script I was like, “Oh my God, we’ll be in the middle of nowhere. How are we gonna make it?!” We arrived on set one day before the shoot, which was good, because I saw all the places, the woods, and the lake. I was able to understand in what conditions we’ll be shooting and how we’ll do it. The band wanted very cold colors, and dark characters and cinematography.
But, unfortunately for them, I fell in love with the lake! So, I proposed to use both cold and hot color palettes. The storyline remains cold but all the instrumentals hot. First they loved it, when then, I told them, “Okay, so tomorrow morning we start shooting at 5am to take advantage of the sunrise and mist on the lake!” They made a totally different face! But it was worth the shot and everybody was glad with the results.
SFM: What was your camera rig setup?
Laurent Danis: We mainly used the DSLR Canon 5D Mark II because we wanted to shoot at 1080p. Some of the scenes were in low light conditions and also because we had a limited budget. We also used different lenses such as 12-24mm, 24-70mm, 80-200mm, 28mm and 50mm. Some shots were actually recorded with a Canon 60D because this one can help to slow-motion up to 60fps in NTSC mode.
SFM: How did you approach camera movement and capturing movement for scenes?
Laurent Danis: Most of the scenes were shot with a simple tripod. All the others with a shoulder mount that we built ourselves based on the design of the famous ones. But I have to say that when you’re shooting a band on a raft in the middle of lake from a small boat, if you do slow movements with the oars, you don’t need a complicated and expensive stabilization system.
SFM: Did you shoot with any filters, or use digital filters in post?
Laurent Danis: We used digital filters in post. This means we had to shoot very neutral pictures in order to not have a dominant color and to give us room for post-production treatments.
SFM: Real-world challenge and solution…
Laurent Danis: Well, during the night shoot, we didn’t know why but most of our lights exploded. We really had a lack of light at the end and no time to change them. So we simply decided to use car lights with gelatin. And it worked.
SFM: Could you tell us a little bit about the next music video you are shooting?
Laurent Danis: Well after “White Bird,” I was approached by a British rock band for a project to promote their new album. All I can say for now is… “be prepared” to see the night lights of Paris!
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