A colleague of mine is a talented musician. Genuinely: multiple instruments, and one of the most pure live vocalists I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. So when Reichardt asked me if I would help him to create some cover music videos that he would subsequently use for promotional work. I said I’d love to help.

The first round of work shot three live acoustic songs at Ruma Studio in Sydney. I ended up doing it all. After we had set up some lighting, we blocked two cameras: a static Canon 7D, and a mobile 7D (sporting a F1.2 50mm & an F1.2 28mm lens respectively). We then shot three live takes of each song (two cameras, 3 takes = 6 shots to work with per song). In post, I then edited them together in Adobe Premiere, added the finalised audio Jon had made in Logic, applied some effects and titling in After Effects, and exported the final versions. This was one of those songs:

After this was complete, we scheduled a follow up shoot with a new song for the following year. Having learned how difficult editing three live takes could be for all involved, Reichardt came prepared with a pre-recorded version of the cover. This was purely a night to make a music video for that song – rather than being an entirely creative endeavour for all involved.

Taking a similar approach to the first shoot, I did all the work again. Jon and I discussed the details before hand, and we agreed that a different music genre required a different feel. He wanted something a little grittier, harsher. Having played each instrument in the cover, we decided to shoot him doing the same thing – this enabled me to block out a static shot and a moving shot for each instrument.

Once again, post production was all done within the Adobe Creative Suite – and the final product was his cover of All of the Lights: