Last week we caught up with Girl Blue, one of the Capitol Region’s ever present talents, to record a video for her song “Six Moons”. Miss Blue and her song fit right in at our chosen setting, The Church, a new venue and event space nestled in the hills of Troy beside the RPI campus. On set we were joined by Jimi Woodul and Dan Dekalb of Dark Honey and their independent label Just Pretend Records; the entity responsible for the production of the song. Also on set was our friend Kiki Vassilakis, lending her light bending talents to shoot these behind the scenes photos. 

We arrived early that evening, and began setting up for the shoot. Relatively stripped down, production of this particular video was rather simple in concept. The process was a little tricky in execution, given the concept put forth by Arielle (Girl Blue). Flanked by dozens of candles, Arielle sat in the middle of the room, performing her song while we rotated around her using the RED mounted to a steadicam system. This meant we needed to hike an ARRI 650 up high in the balcony as a spot light, trained on her and dimmed to compliment the soft and warm light of the candles. Beyond that, we took another ARRI 650 and hid it near the alter at the back of the room. With that light we blasted a disco ball we had found dangling in the main chamber; projecting a pattern of reflected light on the alter and the high church ceilings. This was the perfect accent to evenly light the background and give the scene a dreamy sort of vibe for the performance. From there we were ready to shoot. Dan and Jimi rigged the room for sound, and the performance was recorded live. 

Of course everyone enjoyed themselves on set. The atmosphere at a shoot with Girl Blue is always relaxed and open for ideas and creative expression to flow freely. Also, when Dan and Jimi are around, there’s never a lack of goofing around and good times had. It’s always a pleasure to work with Girl Blue and pair a visual experience with her incredible work. She makes it easier to produce stripped down, live performance videos like this because she is such a talented performer. One can see the story of the song play out across the range of emotions and expression she is able to project as she performs.

Talent like this is important, and it is something that needs to be supported. Should the mood strike you, head over to Girl Blue’s Patreon and check out what she is doing and the kind of exclusive content she offers to her supporters. Then, if you are so moved, become a patron and help keep the music coming. As always, thanks for reading.