If you haven't noticed, a Hammond B3 organist has a lot going on when he plays. One foot works the volume pedal, the other works the 25 foot pedals. Up top, both hands go back and forth between the two keyboards, and they toggle between a row of 36 sliding drawbars as they flip the Leslie Speaker into action. If he's singing, the B3 player is running his mouth too.
Murv Seymour's fingers: Captured this shot by sitting a digital camera on the keys of the organ and turning on the camera's timer.
How and the hell do you capture all the action going on when a B3 player is going full throttle? We knew we would need more than one or two cameras, and we knew it would take some creativity.
Joe ended up creating some real cool systems to capture the B3 being worked.
Shawn Brown: Shawn doodles around during shoot at WEDU-TV, Tampa FL. You may notice, Shawn's wearing sweatpants. He wasn't supposed to be on camera during this shoot. The music was so tasty, we ended up using some of it as a sound bed in the film.
In our shoot with Shawn Brown, Joe actually mounted a camera at the bottom of the organ to capture Shawn working the foot pedals. Because it was kind of shady down there, Joe also mounted a florescent light beneath the organ. When Shawn plays bass pedals, he likes to do it shoeless.
Pedal Cam: Joe mounted a florescent light beneath the organ, and another camera outside the organ to catch Shawn Brown working the foot pedals on the B3.
He actually complained, the florescent light was making his foot hot. Lol! Sorry, I just wish you could hear him complaining about it. There is no crying in playing the B3! Honestly, we appreciate "Ole Hot Foot" weathering the heat for us.
Pedal Cam: A shoeless Shawn "Hot Foot" Brown working the foot pedals during shoot at Riverbank Studio's (WFLA-TV) Tampa, FL
Joe also created a really cool mounting system to show an overhead view of the B3 being brought to life. The system allowed us to hang a camera above the organists head. It turned out to look really nice.
Joe sets up mounting system: Joe preparing the mics after setting up an overhead camera, and another camera to catch the foot pedals during Shawn Brown Shoot on Easter Sunday in St. Petersburg, FL in 2006.
Joe Mounts up system: Joe mounted a camera on wheels to capture the upper register of the Hammond B3 during shoot at WEDU-TV (PBS) in Tamp, FL
In some scenes, we actually had six cameras pointed at the action on the B3. We really wanted to give viewers a better sense of what it takes to play a B3.
Shawn Brown: This is an actual image from the camera Joe mounted above Shawn's head as he played during Easter Service in St. Peterburg, FL in 2006
We didn't just have the challenge of capturing shots of the organ, we had to get the other musicians in the band in action too.
Tom Leobold mounted a small camera above drummer Walfredo Reyes, Jr. Walfredo plays with Steve Winwood, Carlos Santana and too many others to name. The day of our shoot, he was playing with Shawn Brown and Guitarist, Wille Lomax in Tampa, FL.
Tom Leobold mounts camera: Tom Leobold mounts camera above drummer Walfredo Reyes, Jr. @ Riverbank Studio's (WFLA-TV) shoot with Shawn Brown.
Oddly enough, we ended up not even using the overhead shot of Walfredo in the body of Killer B3. We are thinking about putting together a DVD of all the music from the film. Perhaps we will use the shots then.
Walfredo Reyes, Jr. plays: Angle from up above as Walfreydo Reyes, Jr. plays with Shawn Brown.
One tool that really came in handy for us, the Glide Cam. A Glide Cam is like a floating tripod for your camera. After balancing a few weights around, It allows you to be on the move, while keeping your camera angle smooth.
Joe works Glide Cam: Joe works Glide Cam on Robert Kraut during Tony Monaco concert at Park Street Tavern in Columbus, OH (photo by Michael Ivey)
In motion pictures, you usually see a Glide Cam used in foot chase scenes. Sometimes you will see them used to simulate an actors point of view. How can you tell? All you have to do is look at the horizon or top of your screen. A Glide Cam provides a smooth look at action while on the move. Is the camera giggling up and down? Is the horizon of the shot smooth and steady? A smooth shot usually means a Glide Cam or some other stabilization system was used.
Joe works Glide Cam: Joe works Glide Cam on Robert Kraut and Tony Monaco during Tony Monaco concert at Park Street Tavern in Columbus, OH (photo by Michael Ivey)
Joe used a Glide Cam to shoot the Tony Monaco concert at Park Street Tavern in Columbus, Ohio. In the film, you will notice it during some of the smooth moving shots of Tony playing the organ.
Joe works Glide Cam: Joe works Glide Cam on Robert Kraut during Tony Monaco concert at Park Street Tavern in Columbus, OH. Oh yea, Robert Kraut makes a Stanky Face! (photo by Michael Ivey)
It was used even more to capture Guitarist Robert Kraut. Unfortunately, none of those shots made the cut in the film. I guess look for them on the DVD when Killer B3 the Music gets released.
That's all we got this go round. Check out our Youtube channel too, we have added some new clips this week. In fact, one of them is down below. Don't forget to like Killer B3 on facebook. You can also visit our website @ killerb3.com for the latest on KB3. Happy New Years everybody!
Where do you start when you have to condense a feature length documentary down to two and a half minutes? The beginning, I think.
Some of the many tapes from KB3 waiting to be put in the system
From what we have read, a movie trailer can can make or break the buzz created about your film. We have shot more than eighty hours of video over the five years we have been working Killer B3, and somehow, we still have one more shoot, which just came up.
We have been done with the rough cut of the film for a few months now. Still, there is so many things that need to be tweaked, not too mention getting the proper clearance for photos and videos used in the film.
While our extended trailer is getting a lot of great buzz, it's way too long to use as a theatrical trailer. You've seen theatrical trailers, they are the previews you see before your movie begins when you go to a movie theater.
The idea with a great trailer is to pull the best and most exciting pieces out of your movie and highlight them. It has to be captivating, fast paced, story oriented and a lot of other things we are still learning. Bottom line, the movie trailer should make you want to see the movie without taking more than it takes to heat up a Hot Pocket.
We are about half done with the process. In Hollywood, they hire specific editors to do movie trailers. In Tampa, when you are just a team of two, you create it in your underwear while watching Jerry Springer and snacking on Cheetoh's.
Joe's man cave & edit suite.
Be patient Killer B3 fans! Just like the movie, the theatrical trailer for Killer B3 is coming soon.
Meanwhile, Like Killer B3 on Facebook, and visit us on Youtube. We have loaded new videos from Killer B3 since our last blog.
Capturing the story of the B3 and its players on camera is an incredibly gratifying experience. When it is all said and done, watching this documentary gives us an chance to relive the passion of each artist. We have been amazed to find, when taken with a creative eye, still photos boil with the same level of passion.
Tony Monaco, Courtesy: Mike Ivey
Early on, I read that many filmmakers regretted not taking more photographs during the production of their films. Sure, these days you can make a still from video, but those images don't always enlarge with the same level of quality. We knew good promotional photos would play a key role in how we could eventually promote Killer B3. So, it was important to have stills that captured the excitement in the same way we experienced.
We went to Columbus, Ohio for our first out of town shoot. There we captured the always expressive, Tony Monaco. You will never see a more expressive organist than Tony Monaco. Tony wears the passion of playing on his face, and through his body.
Tony Monaco, Courtesy: Mike Ivey
Joe and I both worked camera during the Tony Monaco shoot at Park Street Tavern. It would have been tough to shoot stills and video. What were we going to do?
At the end of Tony's concert, we were pleasantly surprised someone had shot still photos all along. Michael Ivey had shot dozens of incredible photos during Tony's show. Mike was a friend of a friend who shares the passion for organ music and still photography. I had never met him, but we did communicate via email after a web introduction from our mutual friend, motivational speaker Greg Smith.
Jimmy Smith, Jr., Courtesy: Mike Ivey
Turns out, Michael Ivey wasn't just a hack photographer, he is an accomplished media professional, who shoots big time TV commercials on film and video. Somewhere in there, he finds time to take still pictures too.
We were lucky. Mike's photos exude so much passion. With the click of a button, he captured the spirit of Tony's performance, and the other musicians in Tony's band. If all artistic types supported each other through service, like Mike Ivey did for us, so many more cool projects could be put out there. I mean, this guy just showed up and started shooting. The only thing he asked for was the proper courtesy credit for his photos. Nice job Mike. Thank you so much for helping us.
Robert Kraut, Courtesy: Mike Ivey
Me and Joe ended up taking some photos of our own. I shot some of Shawn Brown during a show in New Port Richey, Florida. While I got some nice moments, my ratio of good photo's too bad ones was pretty low. That's why I have low standards and a high success rate.
Shawn Brown, Photo: Murv Seymour
Make sure you visit the Killer B3 photo gallery on our website to see more photos by Michael Ivey. You might be surprised, we have a lot of non-B3 photos from the production of Killer B3.
Louis Tsamous, Courtesy: Mike Ivey
Check out our Youtube channel too, we have added some new clips this week. Don't forget to like Killer B3 on facebook!
Well, I feel like we have turned this blog into myspace. I mean, we started off with great intentions, and then we just kind of let things sit for awhile. Trust me, this wasn't our intention.
We started working on Killer B3 almost six years ago. We had no idea how much work it would take to get this puppy up and going.
Somehow, 84 hours of tape, almost six years of time and all of our savings later, we have made it to post production. Yep, the film is actually done. We are just tweaking some things, and we're going through the tedious and expensive process of clearing music and photos used in Killer B3. Here is a link to our extended trailer. A theatrical version will be coming soon.
Joe and I are really sorry we abandoned the handful of people who have been tracking this project. Most of you probably have been getting updates from talking to us, or from our post on Facebook. Yep, we've got a like page on Facebook now. You can find it by clicking Here.
I probably should have written about this, but our website has been up and running now since this past summer. Just go to www.killerb3.com Also just yesterday, we went live with our youtube channel, which will eventually feature lots of content you won't see until the documentary is released.
So far, we have applied to five film festivals. We had to back off submissions for a few reasons. First, it's expensive. Secondly, we need to raise funds to help offset the cost. You will be the first, well, the third to know when we get our first festival invite. now that the film is mostly done, things are starting to really get exciting.
I will make this commitment to you the people, I will do my best to update this blog at least once a week, or as often as we have something new to report about our progress. Truth of the matter, we just have so few resources, and so few time, we find ourselves doing everything. But, building a relationship with our audience is simply a must that will happen on the regular.
In fact, the next blog I write will be about how we were able to get this feature length film written while I worked from a cruise ship. You ever wonder how long it takes to edit a hour and fifteen minute documentary? I will write about it next week. In fact, I'm going to try and update this blog at least two times week. It's fun and therapeutic to write, and it's just cool to keep everybody in the loop.
It's been a while. Sorry. Joe and I have been so busy surviving in this struggling economy. As you know, we've been funding KB3 with our own funds. This has limited our progress at times. Hopefully, we've still got a few followers keeping up with our blog.
We're happy to report,we're headed to editing! I've been logging the 100 plus hours of tape. We just recently finalized a the script format. We're focused on getting Killer B3 ready for the 2011 documentary season.
We started this project over five years ago. A lot has happened since then; to us and some of the people featured in Killer B3. You'll be able to see it all when KB3 debuts early next year. Here's a little clue to one of the struggles.
We still need to find some funding help. So, if anybody here's anything, drop us a line.
We promise to keep you up to date more frequently.
Sorry, it's been way too long since our last update. Joe and I have been working to the bone with other projects. I've been promoting, Road to Standup. It's my documentary styled instructional DVD. You can checkout the blog for that @roadtostandup.blogspot.comor you can find the DVD on my personal website @ www.murvseymour.com
Anyway, three years ago, Joe and I started our journey into the world of B3 music. The idea for Killer B3 literally started after seeing B3 sensation Shawn Brown at a small smoke filled bar outside Tampa Florida.
I have always been a big fan of music. Before watching Shawn Brown play in person, I really hadn't thought much about the organ or B3 music.
After only a few minutes of hearing Shawn on the Hammond Organ, I felt something. The sound of that C3 was getting all the way down to my bones. Every touch brought emotion. Everybody listening could feel it.
I wanted Joe to see it for himself. I ended up recording a few minutes on a small 4 meg camera designed for still photos. I've saved it for almost four years to remind us of how Killer B3 started. I was trying to find it on my computer. I'll post it once I find it.
One of the first B3 legends we wanted to sit down with was Dr. Lonnie Smith. Not knowing if Dr. Lonnie would make time for us, we just started sending emails and putting the word out to his camp. For various reasons, the time was never right for Dr. Lonnie.
We were lucky enough to meet him at a B3 summit Valentines day week in New York City in 2007. While we were able to tape Dr. Lonnie's performance, he wasn't feeling well enough for an interview.
Two weeks ago, Joe and I drove to Ft. Lauderdale Florida to meet the good Doctor. We didn't know what to expect. We didn't even know if he would have an organ inside his Florida home.
We knocked on the door. Dr. Lonnie answered jokingly with a fork in his hand, as if he was protecting his home. We were only planning on taking up an hour of his time, we ended up spending all afternoon with him.
Our concerns about whether an organ would be present quickly went away. We saw a B3 in almost every room. Some rooms had several B3 Who knows what he had stuffed in the closets.
We can't wait to share the Dr. Lonnie experience with you. We talked about music, passion, aging, life and the future of the B3 and organ music. At one point the good Doctor stood at the foot of his bed and started passionately playing a nearby B3. It was magic.
This summer we plan to wrap up shooting for Killer B3. There's a good chance we may do some shooting in Italy. We just have a few more elements to capture.
We've come a long way, especially for two guys who started this journey with a blank slate.
We hope to have a website up and runing in the next two months. Meanwhile, if you're still hanging on, check us out on myspace. Hell, why hot become our friend. Like Killer B3 on facebook too.
We are finally in the homestretch of shooting for "Killer B3." It has been almost three years since we began this project. Talk about a lot of work.
We knocked out one of our bigger shoots on Easter Sunday. If you are a fan of the B3, you understand that gospel music is a big part of the instruments success. Joe and I spent Easter Sunday at church in St. Petersburg, Florida shooting Shawn Brown work his magic.
Since we are funding "Killer B3" from our own pockets, this was kind of a down and dirty shoot. We didn't compromise quality, we just got creative in getting the job done. We used four cameras and decided to go with only one camera operator. Yeah, just one camera operator.
We figured it was best if Joe worked a roaming camera and we could set several other cameras in fixed positions. Our friend Peggy was nice enough to come out and work sound for us. We love Peggy!
We did a two hour scout of the church on Saturday and spent another two hours prepping everything before the Sunday service. This turned out to be a great idea because this particular church shares its space with several other congregations throughout the day.
The service was just over an hour long and it turned out to be a very special shoot. First, it was just great to be in church on Easter Sunday. Second, Joe's family came to the service. They have come to several of our larger shoots. I think it is safe to say they have become huge fans of the Hammond B3 Organ and "Killer B3."
Joe and Peggy did most of the work on this shoot. I spent most of my time enjoying the service. It's amazing how Shawn and his playing of the B3 Organ took an already spiritual event to a completely new level. People were worshiping aloud, raising their hands and tapping on tambourines. The choir wasn't large, but they were mighty. The B3 is the perfect instrument to compliment their sound.
At one point during the middle of the service, Joe and I whispered to one another that this was the best shoot we had done so far. We both really connected to all the emotion expressed by the people. It was clear that the B3 was playing a huge role in helping people connect with their faith. In fact, Pastor Mike told us he specifically brought in the Hammond Organ from his old church because he enjoys the sound so much more than an electronic keyboard.
By far the best part of the day was after the shoot. That's when me Shawn, Joe and Joe's family all went out for Easter dinner at a local soul food restaurant. The dinner and the family atmosphere was something special for all of us.
We just can't wait to put all this great video together and share it with everybody!
That's all for now. As always, thanks for supporting "Killer B3." A big thanks to Pastor Mike and everyone else at Norwood Community Church in St. Petersburg, Florida. We will keep you posted on the progress of www.killerb3.com. Sorry, these things take time and money. In the meantime, if you're still hanging on, join our myspace page at www.myspace.com/killerb3movie. Like us on Facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/killerb3#!/pages/Killer-B3/109154005771358
