Steel White Table

This is the first video I’ve made, music or otherwise. My friend, Mike, wanted a video and I wanted the experience of making a video, so I said I’d make it for him. I was hoping Mike would give me something a little less earnest and hoksey folksy to work with, but “All Have Gone Astray” is his video and I was just glad to have the chance to make any kind of video.

Hearing the song for the first time about 20 minutes before we began filming, I didn’t have any concept for it in mind. Mike came over and I filmed him playing the song a few times, and then we went outside and I filmed Mike walking around St. John’s, down at the harbour front, behind alley ways, whatever I thought might look interesting. After filling up one 60min miniDV tape, I called it a wrap and went home.

The footage was then transferred to my PC, and I used the bug-infested Movie Maker 2 (which I’ll never use again) to edit the video over the next 5 days, working on it a couple hours every day. Once I got into editing the video, I regretted not having planned some of the shots; more well-shot footage to choose from would have made it so much easier. But I did my best and worked with what I had. I’m most pleased with the opening and closing shots — the camera moving up the guitar neck and out the window. And that’s my girlfriend, Jenny, balancing the sword on the end of her nose.

Making this video was a good learning experience. I still wish we’d done a more rockin’ song like “Come Away From That” (which you can request at Whole Wheat Radio). But considering the circumstances and the limited resources, I’m generally pleased with how it turned out. (Update: This is the instrumental version.)

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