Expansive Sci Fi Music Video Cozey Created with Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton June 13, 2023
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Filmmaker and musical artist Mitchell Abraham, the creative force behind the Aerosol Jezus music project, knew he wanted to create a unique and compelling music video for his single Cozey. Usually, with limited budgets, concepts end up being simplified and diminished to a simple artist performance, but Abraham was determined to avoid that trap. Instead, he joined up with cinematographer Zach Ostapchenko, using a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K digital film camera with DaVinci Resolve Studio editing, color grading, visual effects (VFX) and audio post production software to create something truly out of this world.
The shoot spanned locations as diverse as the jungle, snow covered mountain tops and vast deserts, none of which were created with VFX techniques. We sat down with Abraham to discuss the concept of the music video, how he achieved such amazing visuals, and the value of finishing in DaVinci Resolve Studio.
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Where did you get the idea for this video? The credit for the story's origin goes to my younger brother, Robert Abraham, an incredibly skilled writer/filmmaker in his own right. He pitched me the rough idea for the video: a spaceman lured through a jungle by a floating red diamond, hypnotized into removing his suit, and ending with him singing catatonically as he's spun up in a spiderweb. The concept paired beautifully with the song Cozey, which is about seduction and one's willingness to be seduced.
How did you manage to travel to so many diverse locations for the shoot? Honestly, with my car, staying in budget motels, and keeping the production to a two person crew: myself and cinematographer Zach Ostapchenko. Zach initially came aboard as the DP but quickly took on multiple roles since we'd set up each shot and then I'd have to get in front of the camera.
Adding more crew members would've destroyed the budget because there was a lot of waiting around for the weather to cooperate. It was tough, but it allowed us time to experiment, which was necessary since much of the shoot took place during magic hour.
Planet hopping wasn't part of the original outline, though. During the first week of the shoot, Zach and I realized we were missing essential character/story beats. Our character needed a flaw, one we could visually convey, that would lead to his seduction and eventual downfall. So, we introduced the idea of obsession. We outlined the story in our grungy motel room, and the result is pretty close to the final video.
Of course, in hindsight, our solution (having the protagonist scour the galaxy compulsively searching for elusive gems on desolate yet distinguishable planets before finding the motherlode in the jungle) was completely insane. Whatever the reason, be it ambition, naivety, or just plain lack of sleep, we decided to tackle virtually every environment that has plagued filmmakers throughout history, all for one music video. Because, you know, how bad could it really be?
What made you choose the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K for the production? For this project, I needed a motorcycle, not an 18 wheeler. We found ourselves climbing mountains and trekking miles into the jungle, which required something lightweight and nimble to reach locations that would've been out of reach if we were using bulky gear. The Pocket 4K has a great sensor, fantastic color science, and outperforms most when it comes to low light performance. It's such a great price for all that value, and that means you're not lighting cash on fire renting an expensive system daily. I didn't just buy a great camera; I bought more days on the schedule.
What matters is what's in front of the camera. If the camera is big, that means a heavier tripod, heavier gimbal, and so on. With Zach operating mostly solo, the Pocket 4K was the perfect choice. Plus, I can't stand menu diving, and Blackmagic Design's operating systems are the best. We needed to move fast, set up as many shots as possible each day, and the ability to switch settings quickly and confidently was crucial.
Did you shoot Blackmagic RAW, and if so can you talk about what value it brought to the project? Blackmagic RAW is outstanding. We shot everything Constant Bitrate 3:1, which might have been overkill, but I wanted as much information as possible to assist with VFX, since most of our shooting was lowlight. We also rarely had time to shoot color cards, so being able to adjust ISO, temperature, and tint settings in post production was crucial, particularly for matching plates and tweaking shots to stitch things together.
Moreover, the highlight recovery feature is incredible. I'm not sure how it works, but it's amazing. We used cheap headlamps within the red diamond to light it up, which caused intense hotspots at higher ISO levels, but highlight recovery effortlessly removed them.
Can you talk about any particular scene that was a unique challenge to shoot? The spiderweb sequence was difficult. It was the only thing we shot in a studio. It was too complicated to do on location, and we needed safety measures to ensure I wouldn't fall and break my neck. Also, the wrong gimbal was delivered that day, so we had to manually achieve the 180 degree camera rotation by spinning a Steadicam rig while I was lowered.
I did extensive research to make sure Zach and I were safe and prepared for each location. We had gotten through b
