The Dodo's-Black Night Video Behind the Scenes

The Dodos - Black Night
Frenchkiss Records
humble
Directed by Ariel Danziger

This post has been a long time coming...so here it is. February 14th I received a phone call that a makeup artist was needed for a music video shoot on February 15th. My first reaction was to turn the offer down...especially in such short notice. I hadn't done a film shoot in several years. The hours are long and tedious, and as a makeup artist we are generally the first to arrive and the last to leave, there's a lot of "hurry up and wait," the food provided is mediocre at best, and as an fx makeup artist I tended to get stuck on low budget, "more blood", film school shoots...let's just say all fingers pointed to "no." But Ariel convinced me to give their project a second chance, quoting it as a "labor of love." And it was just that.  

I was sent the treatment and song...there aren't many songs that from first listening really catch my attention, but "Black Night" did, and was the number one reason I finally said yes to the shoot.  And I'll admit...I'm glad I did, it was a great experience and the perfect "come back" to film. Aside from the long hours...which is to be expected...this shoot made up for all the bad experiences I had in the past. 

Despite having just met, I really felt that the entire crew worked really well as a cohesive team. It's always nice to be on the same page, both artistically and professionally, especially with folks that are working closely by your side, such as my fellow makeup artist Shylene Roselyn and costume designer Danielle Gold.

And the food was amazing.

The space we were shooting in was a huge, old, multi leveled warehouse on Bryant St. in San Francisco, absolutely amazing.  Cold, but amazing. There were so many different environments.  Brick walls, wood floors, rust, rot...everything you could want in a single space.  Far from glamourous. Though in exploring...a guilty pleasure I have during down time...I had to think what was this space originally used for and how did it look back then. 

Applying makeup to Meric Long.  Simple, yet striking, especially in black and white.

 

Shylene Roselye applying makeup to Logan Kroeber.  The look we were going for was a 1930's bartender.

Charles Villyard made up as a bum, was by far my favorite makeup of the day, although only seen in a few cuts during the video. There was never much down time since there were so many extras and each one had a very specific character. I definitely respect the amount of detail that was put into every aspect of this shoot...big or small. It shows the level of professionalism. 

So as makeup artists we are supposed to have everything on set...from toothpaste, to combs, to pain killers.  Between Shylene and myself we had everything covered...but ironically neither of us had any hair gel. And Joy's hair wasn't having it with hairspray...so thinking on my toes I used pros-aide (prosthetic adhesive). Needless to say that curl was not going anywhere.  

This picture's just too funny. I was trying to show Forrest how to smear his lipstick...don't ask.

Spencer as the "boxer." Although prosthetic makeup is my focus, my second love is "out of kit" fx makeup. A key factor in saying "yes" to this shoot was that Ariel wanted realistic cuts and bruises...something that I don't often hear in the world of film. I was happy to oblige.

Extras 

Makeup by Shylene

Makeup by me

On the set

Want to see more photos of the shoot?  Click here.