Instant Video #33 —Lucky by Radiohead, ukulele cover by Tammy Lin Foreman (3 min. 2009) Directed, shot, and edited by Lester Alfonso for the collaborative weekly video project that ran from 2008 to 2010.
Check out also: The Instant Video Showcase and Before Instant Videos featuring videos prior to the Instant Video project and broadcast on CBC’s ZeD TV. Audio tracks are available for purchase on Tammy Lin Foreman’s Bandcamp page.
Summer Hours
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
What was once a weekly deadline, a busy summer slowed it to a steady every two weeks or so, we make an Instant Video. And I’m okay with it, for now. There’s a good reason. And for this idea, yes, it’s totally my fault. Put the chain-cuffs on me. I made Tammy do it! I just really thought she needed to do a cover song. Maybe even do a few cover songs. Let them take it down.
So, download it while you can. The Head of State has called for me by name.
Last year, around this time, Tammy and I were lucky enough to see Radiohead perform in Parc Jean Drapeau in Montréal with a huge crowd. It was an unbelievably blissful concert, hearing the rain-soaked chorus of 35,000 people sing with “The Best You Can is Good Enough,” complete with unexpected lightning, rainbows and fireworks in the backdrop. This was our first time seeing Radiohead perform live and we quickly became even bigger fans from before. And we were already really big fans.
This video is our love letter to to Radiohead. We love you! Thanks to our friends Jeremy and Jacquie, we are able to execute this “simple canoe idea” to interpret the song “Lucky” – a ukulele variation, complete with Hawaiian get-up. Tammy has also been heard elsewhere singing other Radiohead songs Karma Police and Bulletproof. We’ve been trying to shoot this video for weeks. Jeremy told us about the bridge down yonder and how going under it might give the audio an interesting effect.
It turns out: it really does. (Listen with headphones. No post-production treatment was done to the audio. This is a completely live take recorded with a wireless microphone.)
And I have to just plonk the camera on the tripod and “guide the shot” with a canoe paddle. We do five takes going under the bridge each time either too fast or too slow. On the sixth take we decide to come under and go back under to maximize the audio effect. I’ve never quite controlled the camera like this before. Row, row, row, your boat. Life is but a dream.
The lucky seventh take is the one that gets uploaded.
Lucky by Radiohead I'm on a roll, I'm on a roll This time, I feel my luck could change Kill me Sarah, kill me again with love It's gonna be a glorious day Pull me out of the air crash Pull me out of the lake I'm your superhero We are standing on the edge The Head of State calls for me by name But I don't have time for him It's gonna be a glorious day I feel my luck, it could change Pull me out of the air crash Pull me out of the lake I'm your superhero We are standing on the edge
posted by Lester Alfonso at 9:20 PM 0 comments