Chinx needed a music video for the first single from his newest EP, I’ll Take It From Here, and called in an international group of talented filmmakers and other artists to help him make something special. The track, “Feelings”, features French Montana, and is shot in his childhood neighborhood among other New York City locations.
Following the artistic direction of the cinematographer, I was in charge of the Lighting Design. The Lighting Designer is responsible for the overall lighting design, but delegates the implementation of the design to the Gaffer and the Key Grip, which in this case was also my responsibility.
The Gaffer is responsible for managing lighting, including associated resources such as labor, lighting instruments and electrical equipment.
The Key Grip is the head grip, in charge of the labor, and non-electrical equipment used to support and modify the lighting. Grip equipment includes, but isn’t limited to, stands, flags and gobos. The labor, in other words the crew, consisted of a few grips as well as other crew members filling in when needed.
In one interior shot I was also the Dolly Grip. The dolly grip is a dedicated technician trained to operate the camera dolly. This technician places, levels, and moves the dolly track, then pushes and pulls the dolly and usually a camera operator and camera assistant as riders.
Exterior shots used natural light with the aide of bounce boards and flags. All of the interior shots used every lighting and grip equipment available. Among the notable setups, one of the apartments required several overhead lights in a 6×20 space, which needed to be out of the camera’s line of sight. Another equally challenging setup required lighting an entire apartment for daylight shots in the middle of the night. The crew was impressed, and happy with the successful results.
In under 72 hours, the video was viewed over 1 million times.