It was filmed in late September 2012 in Victoria Park in Kreuzberg, Berlin - the night before I filmed the Marzipan Marzipan video. We only filmed for two hours. Then we had no more petroleum for the "feuer peu"-things. It was a full moon, but you can't see that in the video. The camera does not pick that up when it's video. Especially with the lense I had at my disposal. The park didn't have any electrical lights, which was what I hoped for. Still, the moon managed to cast shadows from the trees. It was that bright.
We filmed on the plateau below the monument and above the waterfall which allowed us to use the rather "gothic-looking" gates there. I hadn't noticed the gates the first time I was there. Nice bonus.
The full moon had the park well-lit, so some people were actually taking a night time stroll in the park. But they didn't interfere with the filming, which was nice. We filmed from about 23.30 to 01.30 and I had to act the part of "director". Hadn't thought about that. "Stand there", "Do this", "Move over here", "Do that again". Got to remember to get in character for that the next time. Although, the video I shot the next day in the middle of the Berlin Marathon didn't require many instructions. In the end, two quite different videos.
With the night time video I had to film things closer to the fire than planned. It simply didn't give off enough light to illuminate anything in the background even close to the fire. I should also have had a more light sensitive lense for the camera. But I don't have all the necessary equipment yet. And it's still a learning experience. All in all I am quite happy with the finished video.
I used natural light only. Kind of in the spirit of the band - old-fashioned, Victorian, analogue and so forth. Actually, Stanley Kubrick only used natural light in his "Barry Lyndon" film, if I remember correctly. But no further comparison, just now. ;-)
The original idea for the video came when the "fire girl" Lisa did a performance on the terrace at Kugelbahn when the band had their release party there earlier in the year. There she performed to the recorded version of "The Gambler". But for the video we chose "Satan Said". Fits well with the infernal visuals, no? :-)
Below is a picture I shot with a slow shutter speed to catch the monument in the moonlight. Luckily the camera was on a tripod.
If you're interested in the album you can download it at Bandcamp, Amazon and iTunes. Or buy the LP at SOPA, Pale Music or Rillbar etc. You can find the links on the album website.
L
