Music Video Gives New Meaning to "Garage Band"

Written by: Murray Suid

Since the 1970s, the phrase “garage band” has referred to music groups that developed their skills in their family garages. The production of the music video “La Nostra Intersezione” (“Our Intersection”) introduces a new meaning to the term. The co-directors Alessandro Zanuttigh and Filippo Di Primio turned an actual farmer’s garage into an elegant set. There, the band Cinque Uomini sulla Cassa del Morto (Five Men on the Crate of the Dead) perform for their fans . Zanuttigh and Di Primio are the cofounders of a creative studio Broken Lens, which is located in Udine, a small city in northeast Italy.

An interview with Alessandro Zanuttigh follows the movie.

Interview with Alessandro Zanuttigh

MMM: How did you develop your filmmaking skills?

Alessandro Zanuttigh: Neither of us went to film school, I (Alessandro) while at university got a two months internship at American Film Institute There I decided to skip school and learn by reading books and making videos starting a “video company” with my friend. We continue studying on the internet and trying to improve our skills in every new project.

MMM: Are there any filmmakers whose work influenced yours?

Alessandro Zanuttigh: We watch a lot of videos as part of our work and take inspiration from them but I don’t think there is someone that influenced us more than others.

MMM: What led to this production?

Alessandro Zanuttigh: We started working with the band more than two years ago—they’re great musicians—and we’ve shot several of their music videos. It’s like we’re a team. Right now we are working on the pre-production of their new video which we hope will be even better.

MMM: Who came up with the concept?

Alessandro Zanuttigh: The band suggested the general idea of a party, and then we came up with the story inside that scenario.

MMM: How did you plan the shoot?

Alessandro Zanuttigh: There was a very rough script, with a little shot list for the scenes between the lead actors. Then we shot letting them improvise (especially with the projector) and the party scenes were almost real.

MMM: Could you talk about the role of the band?

Alessandro Zanuttigh: We wanted to show them playing, but not like the standard music video so we thought that they could be playing at the party—as part of it—but not on a stage. We wanted to share the feeling that the partygoers and the musicians were all connected. In that event they could find their intersection.

MMM: How did you cast the two lead performers?

Alessandro Zanuttigh: The band has a big following where we live so we posted a call of action on Instagram hoping that some of them wanted to do this. We were pleased that a lot of people volunteered for it.

MMM: So all the people at the party were fans of the band?

Alessandro Zanuttigh: Yes, and that includes the leading actors. They had no experience at all so we had a big rehearsal the night before the shooting. In the end, we were really surprised by them because they look just awesome.

MMM: Why did you decide to shoot with a smartphone rather than a traditional camera?

Alessandro Zanuttigh: Because we had to deal with a lot of people, we thought it would be good to use lighter equipment. We were also excited about trying to shoot with an iPhone because we niever did that. Now we often use the phone—with Moment lenses— for our projects.

MMM: Could you talk about the location?

Alessandro Zanuttigh: It was a garage of the singer’s grandma. It was really full of farm stuff like things to work in the fields. The band was great to get it completely empty and clean. (they also used it to record their first album) Then we decorated it with furniture the grandma had and things we all had at home to make it look like an actual house. It took an entire week to get all the stuff there.

MMM: The lighting adds a lot of visual interest. Would you discuss how that came to be?

Alessandro Zanuttigh: The day before the shoot we set all the lights. There were two LED panels with colored post-its on it. One was static and the other for following the actors. We worked a lot with the lights to get the best we could out of an iPhone and this helped a lot. We wanted, as part of the story, that the house physically tries to help the protagonists to find their intersection, together with the partygoers and the band. This is like some strange type of “communication/interaction” (the house to the people through flashing lights).

MMM: How long did the shooting take?

Alessandro Zanuttigh: We shot like from 6 pm to 11.30 pm. That’s because the “actors” were really just fans and and could not be present for a lot of days.

MMM: How big was your crew?

Alessandro Zanuttigh: Filippo and I were the directors and camera operators. We had a friend as an assistant and two lighting guys that work with the band at their concerts and they were great at trying to get us everything we wanted. This was only their second time working on a set.

MMM: How you approach the editing?

Alessandro Zanuttigh: We tried to tell the story and maintain good timing with the song, which starts slow and ends fast. Our editing apps were Final Cut foresting and DaVinci Resolve for color grading.

To learn more about Broken Lens visit them on Instagram and Facebook. Their website is www.brokenlens.it

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The editor of MobileMovieMaking have chosen “La Nostra Intersezione” as a Mobile Movie of the Week.

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Lyrics for “La Nostra Intersezione” (English translation follows)

Nello spazio che c’è io cado

tra il mondo che è per me e quello tuo estraneo

non c’è mai coincidenza

non c’è mai completa distanza

Vorrei fossi come me

no anzi è meglio se sei diversa da me

vorrei provassi quel che provo io