As if shooting a music video for a world-famous band isn’t nerve-racking enough, director collective CANADA upped the ante for Phoenix‘s “Trying To Be Cool” released today by The Creators Project. The video, filmed entirely in live in full takes of the song, sees two film crews tackling the impressive task of continuously swapping shots every 25 seconds.
Behind the scenes of the shoot
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The video becomes a kind of filmic relay race as filming passes back and forth between the two crews. Each crew had to get all the shots they needed before a timer ran out—the countdown you’ll see in the background of the vid—then once it gets to zero it switches to the other camera crew, who must be fully preppped and ready to pick up the visual field of where the other left off, otherwise the video cuts to black. Then it’s a race against the clock to film their section before it’s back to the other camera .
Tough times for the crew, fun times for the viewer. It gives the video an unpredictable quality—you never know where it’s going next—and a breezy, swinging 60s-style tone as the camera swivels about recording the band before jumping to another angle.
CANADA are a group that like to keep things experimental—their music videos and commercials have a surreal and playful edge with a retro tinge, referencing classic films and mixing live-action and animation. Like their video for Justice’s “New Lands” which sees a retro-futuristic game of football being played, looked over by a robotic referee and his vintage-style computer vision.
Check out the video above and stay tuned for an exclusive behind the scenes video coming soon. To see Phoenix live, catch them on the following dates:
TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE
Friday, August 2: Montreal, QC @ Osheaga
Saturday, August 3: Toronto, ON @ Grove Music Festival
Sunday, August 4: Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza
Tuesday, August 6: Omaha, NE @ Omaha Music Hall
Wednesday, August 7: Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Friday, August 30: Portsmouth, VA @ Ntelos Pavilion
Sunday, September 1: Charlottesville, VA @ Ntelos Pavilion
Friday, September 27: Kansas City, MO @ KRBZ’s Buzz Beach Ball
Saturday, September 28: Chicago, IL @ UIC Pavilion
Sunday, September 29: Ypsilanti, MI @ EMU Convocation Center
Tuesday, October 1: Boston, MA @ Agganis Arena
Wednesday, October 2: Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
Thursday, October 3: Columbus, OH @ LC Pavilion
And if you fancy having a go at remixing “Trying To Be Cool”, you can, by downloading the stems for the track here.
Then once you’ve finished your remix, send it on over to us via Soundcloud using this DropBox widget.
