Making the
Video
Title: "Do
The Right Thing" from the album of Betti
Gefecht
Direction, cinematography, editing: Andreas Havlik, Play
It Loud Productions
Storyboard: Anjin Anhut, Indoor-Location:
Landy-Team Hamburg
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Runs on Windows Media Player, WinAmp and Apple Quicktime.
Download recommended for flawless playback...
In the end of september we shot the video for my song "Do The Right
Thing" in Hamburg.
Andreas Havlik, the director of the clip (and a great person I'd like to
add) had encouraged me to think about a scriptin order to have the video
tell a little story besides the pure singing performance.
So I came up with the idea of me walking the streets of Hamburg, following
a trace of dropped roses, meeting different loving couples on my way...
some dancing... some walking hand in hand... some kissing... finally meeting
my Mr. Right at the end of that rose trace.
--- Starting at the rose trace in the storyboard... and in the video.
My outfit BTW caused several almost-car-crashes... ---
And though this wasn't guaranteed to win an oscar for best original
script, it turned out to be complicated enough: Besides myself, there were
9 (nine!) other persons appearing in that story. And not only that each
of them could afford just one or two hours at a very specific time to do
the job, it all had to be done in just one day. Quite a piece of organisation
and logistics, but we made it because of the patience and enthusiasm of
all participants... like for example Sille und Gunnar:
--- Perfect mambo on a stormy bridge in Hamburg...---
For more than one and a half hour, my friend Sille did her mambo turns
with her husband Gunnar, miserably shivering in her off-the-shoulder dress.
Neither the cold wind nor the neverending stream of curios onlookers would
make them lose the beat. And all the time Sille was smiling and looking
just gorgeous. Respect!
Couple No two was the easiest shot. Like all the cast, Bjoern and Sven were
no actors but -- and that was very important to me -- actually a real loving
couple! So in spite (or maybe just because) of their lack of acting skills,
each couple had their "moments"... which I really hope the camera
did capture.
--- Little obstacle in my way, quickly overcome... ---
When we did the singing scenes, we literally ran the risk of getting arrested:
the location I had chosen turned out to be private property. The very moment
when Andreas had pulled out the last element of his tripod, this lady appeared.
She had that I'm-In-Charge-Here-Look and a clipboard (both meant to scare
the shit out of us, I suppose) and informed us, that the official license
to shoot there is available for the bit of 500 Euro.
We politely thanked her, politely waited until she had left the place, politely
got our asses into the shelter of the next wall and started shooting...
and guess what? We got away with it.
--- Second verse, third line... ---
When darkness fell, we were on safe ground at last: final shooting in
the old landrover garage of Carsten and Claudia who also had their appearances
as "the third couple". Direction: just do what you use to do!
Only problem: They were supposed to stop kissing on command... we needed
a lot of takes until they managed that trick. They just stuck to each other
like glue! However... here I finally meet my Mr. Right:
--- No doubt: I like what I see... ---
I don't know what the residents might have thought, but round midnight
the whole thing one more time got really loud... to get us into the right
mood, Carsten put his speakers into the window and turned the volume up.
Dancing time! Freimann showed how to get into the groove when wearing an
Armani suit, Anjin and Tess, both impersonating oily mechanics, showed their
sexiest moves (including the cheered flicflacs performed by Tess), and last
but not least the three of us did a small choreography. A true feel-good-outro!
--- five, six, seven, eight! ---
--- the satanic mechanics, and: Tess doing his thing! ---