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HDV:What You NEED to Know
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 The
Austin Music Network Music Video Awards
are a pretty big deal in the great state of Texas, entries from all
around the area compete. Mother of South by Southwest, this area is a
breeding ground for great talent. At the 2005 awards held on March 3, the
audience was in for a surprise. Raymond Schlogel, a newcomer to the video
production world, was as calm as could be when they called the award
recipients. He knew he didn't stand a chance of winning. He was just glad
to be there. When they named
his production of the Ryan DeSiato video for second place, he was ecstatic
and surprised.
He never dreamed of (but won) first place
as well.
 Truth
be told, Schlogel felt that his inexperience would prevent him from winning
anything, and he almost didn't go to the awards ceremonies. He had two music
videos nominated in the competition, and each must have captured the eyes,
ears, and votes of the festival attendees because they won in an
attendee-balloted vote. (no judges)
Underground Planet, Ray's
production company, produced Brandon Jenkins' video entitled "Down
in Flames," and was shot entirely with a couple of Canon XL1s
cameras on two locations over the course of a couple days for a budget of
less than $7500.00! (Imagine what this guy could do with a real budget)
This was Underground Planet's second video for Brandon Jenkins; the video
"Austin" took first place at last year's awards for "Best New Artist."
Ray isn't known in Austin for his monolithic production truck full of
lights, generators, and production crew. In fact, he's pretty well just a
one-man show that has some good connections and can get the job done right.
Better still, Ray has an eye for the viewfinder and for the edit bay.
 These
days, anyone with a few bucks can buy a computer and some software and then
hang out a shingle as a video production company or an editor. But knowing
how to cut and how to tell a story are two very different talents that few
possess; Ray has both, and that's very rare. His education in commercial
arts has paid off, as he clearly has an eye for design elements and image
flow.
Having just jumped into the video
production world less than 36 months ago, Ray is essentially a newcomer to
the game, but he's been prepping for it his entire life. "Well,
I had always painted and drawn and whatnot growing up and I took a couple
commercial arts classes in High School. Then after moving to Austin from
Chicago, I had been part of a couple TV show's on access some years ago and that kind
of planted a seed. At the time though, I just wanted to " direct " more or
less and refused to get into the technical work. On the job front I was mostly
doing graphics stuff, web design and that kind of thing when I caught " Evil
Dead " on cable one night. It just kind of got me thinking that I could make
a movie or something. It was a pretty loose thought actually, but I started
reading up on cameras and equipment trying to get a handle on what it would
take and that week I bought a Canon XL1."
From there, Ray couldn't turn
back.
Grabbing the Gig:
Schlogel got the gig by sending
a bundle of emails to various bands in the area that he knew of, asking them
if they needed any work. At first, he was feeling a little rejection in
light of the resounding silence following the mailing blitz. "Then
I got
an email from Patrice Pike saying that her manager had forwarded my email
and would I be interested in working with her. For those who don't know
she's a legend here in Austin between her solo stuff and her days with
Sister 7. I was blown away. I mean, she had had a vid on VH1, been onstage
with Sarah Mclachlan, Dave Mathews. So that little live clip became
technically my first 'Music Video.'" From there, Ray has been able to
develop a bit of a name in the Austin music scene, and began attracting
other acts to his lens.
I asked Ray what else
he's done to garner attention in the market, because preditors
(producer/editors) around the country are always looking for new ways to
bring in work. He spends a lot of time in nightclubs talking to acts and
potential clients, and says, "Being
in Austin has been a huge plus as we have so many talented bands and a good
deal of live music venues."
One of the creative
elements of the "Down in Flames" video are a series of shots of "photographs" featuring
motion video of the band, burning up in flame. "We
simply printed out some blue squares, hung em from some metal clips and wire
dangled off a tree in my back yard, set them on fire and then chromakeyed
out the blue. We did end up going through quite a few different types of
paper and various flamable mixtures to get it to look right but it turned
out great." Ray's creativity didn't stop there. In the video, every shot
presents the band enveloped in flames. Given the title of the song "Down in
Flames," this proved quite appropriate. It also looked incredibly
difficult to achieve, particularly given the budget that Schlogel spoke of
having to work within. "We ended up building up the
inside of the drums with concrete blocks, putting a metal plate on that, and
than wood and rocks which were doused with a mixture of gasoline and oil and
set aflame. Leaving all the space below it gave air room to move around and
push the flame up. The problem was that we would only get about a minute and
a half burn so it took quite a few takes to get what we needed. The
explosions were out of the barrel I mentioned, and than the ground on fire
in one of the closing shots was just a last minute idea on the last take
which was done by pouring the last of the gas we had in a half circle around
the band."
Conception:
According to Ray, the entire
band and his crew of friends were responsible for concepting the video, and
much of the content was conceived at the last minute, on the set. Ray is shy
to take credit for conceiving the video, but the band gives him full credit
for it. Ray additionally gives a lot of credit to Michael Hall, a sculptor who just
"happened" to have a couple of gun barrels from WWII era battleships on his
property. The most difficult part of the shoot (aside from an assistant
getting second-degree burns) was dealing with the fire ants that prevented
anyone from sitting down without getting eaten alive. Initially, finding a
location was a challenge as well. "We
looked at a location or two and my friend and sometime producer introduced
me to Michael Hall, he an amazing sculptor who has a foundry just outside of
Austin. He also just happens to dabble in pyrotechnics. Can you ask for more
? So we drove out to his property and basically pitched him on the initial
concept and asked if we could use his land and, oh, by the way, how would
you
like to blow some stuff up ?"
 The
other video making waves in the Austin world for Ray is a project he did for
Ryan DeSiato. A very different but no less filled with empassioned creativity is "Make
Believe." This piece takes place in a jet and airplane hangar, but
is interspersed with a lot of very well-planned and placed stock footage. I
recognized some from our friends at Artbeats. "We
bought quite a bit (of stock footage) and did a whole lot of digging
through public domain footage. There were a few images that I really wanted
and those proved to be the hardest to find. The song has a strong
statement when you listen to the lyrics and I needed strong imagery to get
that across. But to me it was a fine line because I didn't want to hold back
but I also didn't want people to turn the channel or turn it off thinking "
that's just sick". In the ended the use of color and effects helped to
offset the brutality just enough to be palatable but still retain its
integrity."
The
differences between the two videos is fairly marked. The "Down in Flames"
project is very production oriented with few post-production techniques
employed whereas the "Make Believe" project relies heavily on the
post production power of Ray's NLE system.
Speaking of post production nonlinear editors, Ray Schlogel uses Sony Vegas
5 software for his editing axe.
On Using Sony Vegas
Software:
"I love
Sony Vegas. It gives me freedom to create without being caught up in a lot
of technical voodoo, without having to be a slave to the software. There's a
quote on the VASST site about how
editors don't want to be dominated by technology, editors should be able to
dominate their software or something like that, and Vegas allows me to dominate
the software. Vegas helps me work creatively instead of having to figure out
workarounds for small features that are often missing from NLE systems. I did mess around
with Particle Illusion for parts of Brandon's video for the meteor at the
end, but everything else was
done in Sony Vegas 5." Ray credits the DMN and Sony community forums for
his rapid adjustment to using Sony Vegas as his first real editing solution.
(You can find Ray on the DMN Vegas and Sony Vegas forums posting under the
name "Muttley") Schlogel
further comments, "I
had tinkered around with Acid with no real purpose at all so I was familiar
with, then, Sonic Foundry. I loved Acid and its ease of use and while Vegas
was not exactly the leader in the NLE market in the game at the time, my
thinking was: Editing used to be film and scissors, as long as I can make
cuts I'd be happy. Of course Vegas was a whole lot
more than that, and even more so now. Vegas was a fast learn, and
it's got tremendous training tools and community support."
Post
Production:
"Make Believe" uses several compositing tools and filters found in Sony
Vegas to form the glue that binds the video sequences together. Television
sets displaying footage on top of amplifiers moving to closeup shots of the
musicians faces could be quite jarring, especially when going from a "Leave
It to Beaver" type of stock footage to an unshaven lead singer. Schlogel
judiciously inserted filters and FX to bring the two different formats,
color spaces, and various resolutions seamlessly together. He uses
interlacing and gridding in a very creative way to tie it all up so that the
viewer never feels like something came from left field.
I asked Ray about
the challenges shooting on a tight deadline had created for him and what had
inspired the sequences that led up to "Make Believe."
"I
really wanted to do something that felt less confined than a club or
something like and also had wanted to shoot at Austin Studios for awhile.
They were
awesome, they gave us a great deal, and the space we ended up getting was where
Mike Judge (creator of
Beavis and Butthead for Fox) had just finished shooting his next movie. The big circle on the
floor is apparently from the oval office set they had. Anyway, I knew I
wanted to do dolly shots around the band, which ended up being me on the
back flap of a pickup holding on with one hand and shooting with the other.
We also knew we wanted to work in other footage, so we came up with the four
TV's being placed on the half stacks ( amps ) pointed at the band. We shot
Ryan the night before at my office and edited that with stock footage the
day of the shoot to be played back on the TV's. The only challenge was the
editing the night before the actual shoot where the band is seen with the
televisions. The only reason time was a factor was because we had the studio
available for such a short period. But we worked fast and got it done."
Gear
List:
You'd think that with this level of production quality, Schlogel has a huge
crew and truck. Underground Production's gear list isn't the longest list in
the world and definitely not that impressive, but it seems to serve Ray very
well. He easily makes the most of what he's got. Both shoots
encompassed about the same equipment package;
A group
of friends that act as crew whenever he needs them, plus a couple friends
that are production assistants with some chops and knowledge of the
business, plus who ever happens to be hanging out with the band and willing
to lay extension cords or light matches.
All in
all, Ray Schlogel is achieving the dream of many videographer/editors,
through a mix of very hard work, dedication, and ambition. Success doesn't
come easily. Most importantly, he's developed the talent of being not
just a gearhead or technogeek, but has a great sense of storyflow and
storytelling. I know that if a time comes for me to shoot another music
video for one of my records, I'll likely be calling on Ray and Underground
Planet to submit a concept and project. His work impresses me. View it and
you'll quickly see why.
 To
close this story, it's noteworthy that the Brandon Jenkin's video "Down
in Flames" was just named "Video of the Year" by the Oklahoma
Film Festival. Ray also won honors in Oklahoma last year with the same
artist.
Ray is currently at work on a 20 minute short for
Michael Hale, who used
to play for Patrice Pike and now plays for Ryan DeSiato among his many
projects.
I
asked Ray where are he, Underground Planet, and Sony Vegas heading next;
"I'm
hoping someone will tell me cuz I have no idea ! I just keep plugging away.
It's what I do."
Brandon Jenkins
"Down in Flames"
Ryan DeSiato
"Make Believe"
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- Congrats to you, Ray!
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