FINDING AND SHOOTING WITH A DONKEY
I found Kajal the donkey in a garbage dump, along with some of his pals. He was the only dark one, and the only one standing - the others were all grey or white and sitting or lolling around.
Donkeys apparently react only to two things. Food. and other donkeys braying, even if they're braying on a YouTube video. So the ipad and a rucksack full of carrots.
Explaining the video concept to the star of the shoot
Showing our star the YouTube videos I've downloaded of donkeys braying, in the hope that it'll make him perform, It doesnt, he slips through his rope and runs away!!!
The star is brought back by his managers and coaxed and cajoled with many carrots into getting ready for the shoot
All ready to rock and roll
Taking working selfies with the star of the shoot
We're almost buddies now, bonding between takes
Shaking some ass
CLICK ON A PIC FOR ITS STORY. CLICK ON "SHOW MORE" AT THE BOTTOM OF GALLERY FOR MORE PICS
1st April 2016
THE METRONOME/ BLOG POST 01
That's the photo-story of how I found and got a performance out of the hero of my video here, Donkey Kajal!
SONG LYRICS :
I met an ass, he said he had a dream
Of being a singer, he asked me, did it seem
Very likely, he'd be a superstar?
I said, let's step into my studio, its not far...
He sang his song repeatedly but still
he said the notes sound wrong, I said, just chill
We'll autotune your ass off, autotune your ass off
Let's autotune your ass off, autotune your ass off
I'm feeling nervous, he said, do I sound fine?
I said, relax and trust in Melodyne
Irrespective of the key in which you bray
In the end, Antares saves the day
So sing your heart out, lay your soul bare,
And then we'll pitch correct you till you sound like Cher...
We'll autotune your ass off, autotune your ass off
Let's autotune your ass off, autotune your ass off
Melodyne and Antares, incidentally, are two of the most popular pitch correcting softwares used by studios, producers and engineers in the music industry. And Cher was the first artiste to use the extreme form of pitch-correction refered to as Autotune, in her 1998 song, "Believe" - after which of course autotune became a rage, an essential tool in every sonic kit!
Trying to Autotune an ass is far from easy, or pleasant!! Its braying has such complex overtones that some pitch-correcting softwares simply refuse to recognize it as a "voice" of any kind! This song was undoubtedly the most challenging pitch correction job I've done to date. After all these hours spent working with all this untampered braying, I think I'm ready to take on any manner of vocalist in the future! Oh and its been fun generating ass harmonies for that last chorus!
Making the video for the song was a whole new challenge altogether. The entire donkey episode was shot by C.B. using a special wide angle lens that could fit in the donkey's enormous head. Bringing the donkey into my studio was CB wielding his magic VFX wand on a sky that served as a chroma screen that just wouldn't key!
It took a kilo and a half of carrots to keep the donkey focussed on its performance without shaking off the headphones or the giant shades. As suggested by a friend who was helping me out with donkey research, I'd taken YouTube videos of a donkey braying on my ipad, as that's supposed to evoke a sympathetic performance out of some donkeys - except that our guy just didn't buy it.
Hats off to Kajal's chief handler, Biju Dilip Singh Rana, for handling the entire two hour shoot in the most professional manner possible.
NEW EXPERIENCES :
1) Obviously, pitch-correcting a donkey, and shooting with a donkey
2) This video marks my very first PTC (Piece To Camera) - never spoken to a selfie video camera before