I’m beyond proud to present the video I created for Australian Metalcore/Powercore legends A Breach of Silence. Logistically this was one of the biggest clips I’ve created in my time working within the Music Video medium. Here’s a few notes on the filming locations, process and equipment used:
Story Elements:
The story footage was shot on a private production farm in the outer Brisbane area. With the help of Jacob Schneider (Actor/Photographer) and William France (Photographer/Musician) we headed off into the dark of night toward a private farm near Caboolture. I’d always wanted to film at a location with greenhouses so it was nice to finally make that happen. All moon light in the story footage is provided by a 1000 Watt Lupolux light at 2 O’clock, obviously the light would move with framing etc. I won’t lie it was amazing to finally get to film a big bonfire as well, another shot I’ve wanted to get for years! The only set specific gear was the Lupo and 2 x Fresnals for the greenhouses.
Dan’s Treatment:
Huge thanks to Frankie Nasso for booking someone to get the shots for us. Cheers!
Band Performance:
This part of the shot was logistically more intense than anything I’ve had to create thus far (bigger and better I hope). I recruited a close friend and very competent cameraman Adrian Pagano to assist on the night with lighting. Travelling further north, this time to Elimbah, we made our way to a HUGE private property and setup. The following lighting fixtures were used:
– 1200 watt HMI primary (lightstar)
– 1000 watt Lupolux
– 650 watt Lupolux
– 2 x 350 watt Fresnals (under Green GEL)
– 3 x Honda 20i Generators
Here’s a list of gear used of the shoot for anyone keen:
– Canon 5Dmk3
– Zeiss 35mm Flektagon f2.4
– Zeiss 50.m T*Planar f1.4
– Tokina 11-16mm f.28
– Genus Fader ND’s
– SmallHD DP4 EVF
– Jag35.com rigs
– Magic Lantern raw
– a shit ton of high speed cards
– home made snorii cam, the death rig
Today we would make our trek home, back to Brisbane, Australia for the final leg of the Misery Signals Australian Tour 2014. The thought of showers, loved ones, beds and bros was more than enough to nix any thoughts or inclinations of exhaustion. One last airport rush (thankfully the flight was delayed so we could eat and drink), Kavinsky blasting in my ear, and we were on our way. We picked up the van, as we had so many times on this tour, and began our drive to West End to load in and sound check. Tonight was to be an interesting one with a rather hectic schedule due to a second ‘secret’ show that would be held after the headlining set at The Hi-Fi. There isn’t a whole lot to say about the Hi-Fi show other than everyone killed it. I was behind merch most of the night pimping out MS wares left, right and centre while sinking cups of coffee and red bull to quell any thought of rest.
Misery Signals – The Hi-Fi, Brisbane
Misery Signals – The Hi-Fi, Brisbane
Misery Signals – The Hi-Fi, Brisbane
Misery Signals – The Hi-Fi, Brisbane
Misery Signals – The Hi-Fi, Brisbane
Misery Signals – The Hi-Fi, Brisbane
Misery Signals – The Hi-Fi, Brisbane
Misery Signals – The Hi-Fi, Brisbane
Misery Signals – The Hi-Fi, Brisbane
Misery Signals – The Hi-Fi, Brisbane
Lights out, roll out.
20 minutes after lights out at the Hi-fi we were making the short trip across the Brisbane CBD to Fortitude Valley to be greeted by Australia’s ‘Home of the Heavy’, Crowbar. This place is basically our answer Japan’s Hatsudai Wall or Rock Rock, it’s a no pomp, balls to the wall heavy music venue, so what better place to hold a secret show! After the second load in for the day I was dead to the world and the thought holding a camera for another set was not very high on my list of must do’s. So it’s at this point I said ‘fuck it’ and stopped taking pics for the evening. I instead mic grabbed, stage invaded, crowd surfed and in general let loose a weeks worth of frustration and stress.The below video of me was captured by Vanguard Touring competition winner Todd, who might I add was a really rad dude.
A post shared by Todd Hudson (@thirstforabetterend) on
The chaos of the evening was instead captured by photographer and good friend HarlraH Photography (https://www.facebook.com/harlrahphotography) whom I have asked to supply the following shots. All credits for the Crowbar shots, HarlraH Photography 2014.
Copyright – HarlraH Photography
Copyright – HarlraH Photography
Copyright – HarlraH Photography
Copyright – HarlraH Photography
Copyright – HarlraH Photography
Copyright – HarlraH Photography
Copyright – HarlraH Photography
Also a huge thanks to Trad and the Crowbar team for letting us party and blast out a set. 3am started to roll around, I was now dead or dying and needed to get my car and get home to have some sleep. So I disappeared into the night.
Crowbar – Brisbane, Australia
Today would be the last show of the tour, the last day the lads would be in town and my last chance to hang out. The events were being held at Brisbane All Ages venue, The Lab (one of the only AA venues and a rad place to boot); with a relaxed vibe filling the air of the last day. Today had a sombre feel to it, the toll of the previous nights events had started to show on some of the crew and band, but also the fact that we knew it was all coming to an end had started to chime home (well at least for me). Brandan Schieppati dropped in to see the show which was a welcome surprise and having a chance to have a brief talk about strength and conditioning with him was awesome.
For today’s show I had decided to forgo the usual live setup (5DmkIII cranking to High Iso) to instead use my AlienBee (Paul C Buff lighting) Flash setup to allow much better image quality, not to mention a faster shutter speed. The following is what happened:
Stories – The Lab
Stories – The Lab
Stories – The Lab
Stories – The Lab
Stories – The Lab
Stories – The Lab
Stories – The Lab
Stories – The Lab
Stories – The Lab
Stories – The Lab
Stories – The Lab
Misery Signals – The Lab
Misery Signals – The Lab
Misery Signals – The Lab
Misery Signals – The Lab
Misery Signals – The Lab
Misery Signals – The Lab
Misery Signals – The Lab
Misery Signals – The Lab
Misery Signals – The Lab
Misery Signals – The Lab
Misery Signals – The Lab
Misery Signals – The Lab
Misery Signals – The Lab
Misery Signals – The Lab
Misery Signals – The Lab
Misery Signals – The Lab
Misery Signals – The Lab
Misery Signals – The Lab
After the show was done and dusted we (Stories, Misery Signals and Crew) met up at a Thai restaurant off the main drag in West End and shared one last meal together before we would part. I’ve always found end of tour meals/meet ups to have this odd feeling where everyone is super positive but somewhere inside we all just don’t want to acknowledge that it will end. For me this means no more touring, no more crazy cities. It means being chained back to a desk for weeks at a time taking part in the monotony of life. I work a normal government based job and the thought of returning to the desk at the end of a tour is pure agony; post tour depression in full effect. Despite any of these feelings we part, a journey now ended.
The Crew (minus Dan Harper)
A HUGE thanks to Vanguard touring for taking me along on this trip. It’s been a pleasure and an experience to work with some of the best dudes in country, not to mention touring with one of my all time favourite acts.
Also here’s some video of Branden (Misery Signals) doing his thing. Sorry for the shaky cam at times, this is unedited footage of them live.
Good morning Canberra and good bye, I mean the day had to start somewhere. We took the return trek back to Sydney today, where MS would be performing at The Hi-Fi, a venue located near film lots at Fox Studios. I took the time on the drive to write a few of these entries and attempt to start editing the slew of photos I had been collecting since the start of the week. This is one of the time consuming parts of being a tour photographer; where the hell do you find the time to get everything done. I also work a full time job outside of photography/video work, so my life can get a little bit more hectic than it usually would at certain times of the year.
The drive was reasonably painless, minus the usual ‘we’ll be there in 5km, about 5mins’ only to find half an hour later we were still on the road. That’s part of the pain/fun of touring, getting lost or finding your way in a city you’ve never been too, or rarely visit. After collecting more gear we arrived, the usual unload proceeded and sound check followed. During this time I went and hung out with the lads from Stories for a bit to see what made them tick; under it all, genuine dudes. It was around this time that I also met Jared Liebowitz, a photographer from Sydney, who 1) does great work and 2) is a nice dude and really personable to boot. I’ll take this time to shout out to Jared as well for giving me a lift back to my accommodation in Newtown that night, you’re a legend.
As the doors neared so did the fun, everyone was seeming to loosen up; tour was nearly done, people would get to see their loved ones and hopefully get to sleep in your own bed. There was an energy in the air that hadn’t occurred yet this tour and it seemed to be toxic, I mean it could have been my perceptions through a haze of bong smoke (self inflicted) but I dare say people were just in a more relaxed mood.
That mood in part was helped by Karl’s new drinking game, throw the coin in the bin, that simple. One corner of the green room had a large garbage bin, the other side couches, from said couches we were to throw a 5cent piece with the aim of getting it in the bin. If you land a shot you can nominate someone to drink, the nominated then gets a chance to bounce the punishment back if they land a ‘redemption throw’, if not drink. Thus was to be the circle of life for the next few hours until closer to MS hitting the stage. I learnt a few things during this game, 1) Karl isn’t good at his own game, 2) Karl is good at drinking beer really fast, 3) Ryan and I both scull like girls.
Stories and MS both killed it tonight, the crowd loved it and following the shows events I got to catch up with two of my closest mates who reside in Sydney. Stories were particularly hectic tonight, one part being it’s their hometown, the other that they (to me anyway) really really want to do something with the tunes. I dare say they will; and more quickly than some might expect with their signing to UNFD a good start for sure.
Misery Signals – Sydney, May 2014
Misery Signals – Sydney, May 2014
Misery Signals – Sydney, May 2014
Misery Signals – Sydney, May 2014
Misery Signals – Sydney, May 2014
Misery Signals – Sydney, May 2014
Misery Signals – Sydney, May 2014
The next day would be an express Opera House visit then home for the last two (3?) shows; Misery Signals would be back in the city I first saw them and a secret show would be had at Crowbar, the best venue in the country.
A first time for everything, that’s what today would be all about. In years of playing in bands and photographing them I’d yet to venture in WA, NT or SA but have always wanted to see more of this beautiful country. Today finally provided that opportunity. Adelaide struck me as an odd city, decriminalised green, churches everywhere, openly active street Graf culture, shisha bars left right and centre and some seriously cool modern architecture (I wish I had the time to take some shots). It reminded me a bit of Brisbane about 15 years ago before the population boom; almost makes it a big country town.
Greg – Adelaide May 2014
Tonight MS would be playing Fowler’s Live, a venue in the Adelaide CBD, surrounded by an inner city University campus. The facilities at Fowlers were amazing; the green rooms overflowing with the local drop and decent Wi-Fi that meant I could do some last minute catch up on work. A cold beer, a smoke and some caffeine in system and I was ready to rock and roll. Camera in hand I captured the night. Misery Signals blasted through their set, which I don’t think I’ll ever tire of nor want too. Tonight Craig and I also had a go at lights, which was more chaotic than I expected, but provided a great amount of entertainment.
Kyle – Adelaide May 2014
Karl – Adelaide May 2014
Ryan – Adelaide May 2014
Karl passing the mic – Adelaide May 2014
Greg saluting the crowd
After the show:
Karl after a hard nights work – Adelaide
We had a 9am flight so after the show I took the time to get some more editing done and crash for a few hours, if even that. As the sun cracked, we stirred and the ramblers again got rambling.
…………………………………………
May 15th (Sydney/Canberra)
One flight, a van pickup, a gear pickup and off we were from Sydney Airport to the Australian capital, Canberra. I love the drive to Canberra, something about the countryside between Syd-Can reminds me of the days of The Man from Snowy River or an epic western, I recommend driving it one day yourself. Taking over about a third of the way I put on some Joe Rogan Experience and cruised on one of the coolest stretches in this country.
Upon arrival in Canberra I proceeded to get us lost in a rabbit warren of side lanes and streets. The venue tonight is the ANU Bar, ANU standing for Australian National University. It’s a very American style campus, wide walkways, big trees and students always seem to be up to something even into the early hours of the morning. It seemed to help that weed is decriminalised in ACT so there was always a chilled out vibe emanating through the air. Finding the venue wasn’t so chilled but we got there in the end and we loaded in as per every night.
Adam Brown – Aeon of Horus
Andy – Aeon of Horus
Benny – Aeon of Horus
Carlo – Aeon of Horus
Pete – Aeon of Horus
Once loaded in I was greeted by some very good friends, Aeon of Horus, who would also be supporting tonight; incredible band, check them out when you can. One of the most rewarding things about tour, if you can find the time, is being able to catch up with mates everywhere and tonight would be no different. I should say a big thanks to everyone who helped me out on this tour or gave me a floor, bed, corner or whatever to sleep on or in, it’s beyond appreciated. Tonight was also a great chance to have a decent meal and relax a bit more as the venue is within walking distance of a lot of great food options.
Stories took the stage, a group of awesome lads from Sydney, Australia, and what I witnessed was awesome. They play something heavy, dark but still retaining melody reminding me of a younger, more fine tuned Vildhjarta. Below is some of the chaos they bring to the live arena and also the first time I took shots of them on the tour.
Stories – Canberra May 2014
Stories – Canberra May 2014
Stories – Canberra May 2014
Stories – Canberra May 2014
Stories – Canberra May 2014
Misery Signals were now up, the crowd was ready, moshing ensued.
Ryan – Canberra May 2014
Branden – Canberra May 2014
Karl – Canberra May 2014
Karl – Canberra May 2014
Branden – Canberra May 2014
Kyle – Canberra May 2014
Ryan – Canberra May 2014
Greg – Canberra May 2014
Greg – Canberra May 2014
Ryan – Canberra May 2014
Dan Harper (all round mad dawg) who was along for the tour was part of the reason this could happen every night, he’s a fun human and a great drum tech (Misery Signals drum tech) who’s talents were essential in making the show happen each night.
Dan Harper – Drum Tech/Mad Dawg
The night ended like any, Sydney was next.
Note: If anyone is wondering why I don’t write a lot about Misery Signals performance? I think the photos and video speak for themselves and if you’ve read part one your more than aware how highly I regard them as musicians.
Tonight is a dark evening, the streets of Chinatown are cold and crowded as I make my way to a nearby Apartment building, the fourth floor though I could be wrong. Streets are filled with the sounds of commerce as I snake my way past a small crowd into a near by building. Carefully positioning myself in a window overlooking a Chinese ornamental garden. In hand an attaché case, it’s contents both as cold and calculated as the world they inhabit. From within the confines of this room I assemble my messenger of death and move toward the windowsill. Placing the rifle down I align myself with the sights and hold my breath as a shot is squeezed off into a local businessman. Within seconds I’m running through the building, down the back alleys and eventually to my escape. Real life this was not, it was the world of Agent 47.
Hitman (2000)
It’s late 2000, around December from memory and the above was my first experience with Hitman: Codename 47, the game from creators IO Interactive. I liked it, a lot, and while it may have been a little rough around the edges and the AI was average at best; it held so many ties to the staples of Genre cinema and French Film that I couldn’t let go. Sometimes suffering under it’s own attempts to be something wholly substantial and yet so stylish that the later out weighed the former. Its story, while interesting, can be a tad on the convoluted side. Your handler Diana could be both frustrating and engrossing in equal parts. There were glimmers of genius hidden within this beast, yet it struggled to escape. This was the first point in my gaming life where I felt freedom to decide my path of choice, do I take the role of the aggressor, do I stealth in and let no one know or do I only take out my target of choice and negate all other casualties. It was up to the player to initiate acts of violence; the provocation was solely yours.
It’s ideals were as sophisticated as they were crude. Yet out of this mixed bag of gaming we saw an anti-hero of a man whose origin we had yet to experience. He was the figure of the cold and calculated man he was Agent 47. With his uniform of Black, Red and White and his branded neck, he was the constant within the ever-changing worlds of Hitman. From the first game on we were given a character that would not be redefined from game to game. He would be the pillar of stability in an ever more traumatic and crazed world and he would stay true. The symbolism of this was not lost, as there are few games where the character has not received visual upgrades from game to game. The shortcoming of his first foray was to be easily overlooked when the challenge of the hit was at hand. The rewarding experience that was learning the maps, hunting your prey and finishing the job were just so satisfying.
The other stand out was the often dark and suitably subtle score of Jesper Kyd. Now if you don’t know who Mr. Kyd is then you need to really 1) do your homework and 2) get every soundtrack he has ever worked on (Assassin’s Creed, Borderlands, Hitman series, Forza etc.), as few other sound designers are able to draw comparisons to both Vangelis and a gamut of classic composers in one fell swoop. He cemented the character, made him whole and made the world that much more confronting with his dark electronic score.
Hitman: Silent Assassin
After two quiet years 47 returned in 2002’s Hitman: Silent Assassin. While the previous game had suffered from various glitches and some lack luster reviews, it was soon to be overlooked when the sophomore effort from IO Interactive was unleashed. This was a true masterstroke of gaming; the controls while still stiff had somehow been tightened up. The levels while previously diverse and creative were now artistic and intense both in design and mass. This sequel placed 47 as the now retired killer, now settled in a humble lifestyle in a monastery. Soon to be pulled back into the seedy underworld by villainous figures. This game rang true with me, from its epic scope to its pseudo Django Strikes Again inspired warrior monk story. A true homage to the work of both Puzo and Corbucci. This was a refined and beautiful ode to both it’s predecessor and to what many had desired from the original. The brilliant thing was IO’s ability to retain the no hand holding approach of the original, yet add more dynamic options to reach your outcomes. The dark electronics of the original had also now been replaced with a soaring and grandiose score again provided by Jesper Kyd. It’s classical inspirations as well as cinematic score influences were an audio delight. This still holds as the greatest adventure of Agent 47.
Hitman: Contracts (2004)
The next release would be Hitman: Blood Money in 2006, and before you get all upset and say what about Hitman: Contracts from 2004. Well I’m going to cover those two together as Contracts was essentially a remake of levels from the original and some new levels. Though I’m not going to lie, it was nice to see The Meat King. Its story took place between two levels of Blood Money. 47 is out cold and Contracts plays out as a video gamers best of in his head while tying up some loose ends from previous games and creating new open ones. Blood Money on the other hand was a true sequel progressing 47’s gameplay further with the addition of the Tension meter as well as a larger agility set for the player. It’s colours more vibrant along with it’s locations; the streets of New Orleans a standout for sure. The Tension meter was an interesting concept and added that much more challenge to the 47 gameplay formula. It’s implementation meant that guard and civilian awareness carried into your next mission thus intensifying your experience if took the run and gun approach. The question was were gamers willing to go that extra step and man up to it? Sadly I don’t think many people bought it.
Hitman: Blood Money (2006)
It wasn’t until late 2012 when we would find out how 47 had fared from his previous adventures. The character was back finally in Hitman: Absolution, the dynamic elements were intensified from previous experiences with a now more versatile and reactive game engine. This was a brilliant return that rode the knife edge in it’s difficulty levels, if you took the easier road you had a Batman Arkham Asylum style detective mode that would help you in your quest for vengeance. On the harder side you had a no holds barred, hands on experience where you could approach the game as if you would one of the originals, just you, your suit and your twin ballers. The only element that really stuck as lame with me was the lack of Jesper Kyd’s score, who sat out on this affair. This was a just and fare return for the hitman and hopefully it’s not so long before we see him again this time.
Hitman: Absolution (2012)
In an era where everyone is used to the slap dash release schedules of the latest Call of Duty or Zombie inspired shooter. It’s refreshing to know that within the gamut of sequels there is still a few series waging a war on ever simplified gaming and I’m glad to call Hitman one of them.
Col B Cadell Photo & Video 