Behind the scenes | Wett 'Overman' Music Video

Who are you?

I am Arthur Hüsken, 51 years old, and I have my own company Studio Hüsken for graphic design. As far as audio and visual productions, I do as a freelancer under my own name. After more than 25 years as an art director supervising various productions I made the investment one and a half years ago (just before the pandemic :O) to start making film productions myself.

How did the idea for the music video come to life?

I played in my own bands for many years at a time when the options were much more limited. Recording our music was only possible in an expensive studio and video clips were completely out of the question. Promotion was done with the well-known self-made cd-rom, a printed bio and then phone calls ;). I always saw the great clips of the big bands passing by and I wish someone would have come to us and asked if he or she could make a nice video for us. So besides the commercial productions I also make my own work and I get the most satisfaction out of making these music videos. 

When I heard the song 'Overman' by the band WETT at one of the drumming lessons the band's drummer gives to my son I immediately had a clear idea for the clip. There was an enthusiastic response to my ideas and the next step was to find a location. We found it in the form of an old basement room in "Fort Kijkduin" in Den Helder, which dates back to 1811. After a crowdfunding, the band managed to gather a small budget thanks to the fans which gave us the opportunity to make something beautiful.

Which gear did you use?

- Sony A7III

- Tilta nucleus nano

- Samyang Xeen 24mm T1.5

- Samyang Xeen 85mm T1.5

- Tamron 28-75mm F2.8

- Easyrig Minimax

- Aputure Nova P300c RGB Led Panels (3x)

- Pavolite RGB Tubes (6x)

- C-stands (3X)

The location lighting was inspired by the clip of the song "Them Bones" by Alice in Chains. The contrast of the white spot lighting from above with the different colors of the room appealed to me greatly. This is where the first challenge arose. At the highest point, the room was 2.25 meters, which meant that I had to come up with something for the white spot lighting. Based on the lighting plan that I had made for the space, I knew that I wanted at least 6 RGB pavotubes and 3 Aputure Nova P300c RGB led panels to give the space some color. For the spots, I purchased small 6500K/5000lm led spots that we taped to the ceiling. I made boxes out of foambord that brought the light from the spots more together. Near the singer, I taped a variable ND filter into the box to be able to adjust the light.

Nanlite's pavotubes and Apurture's LED screens really work perfectly. The pavotubes can be looped through so you only have to enter your settings on one tube. For the led screens you use the free sidus link app to adjust them. As you can see in the clip this has produced some nice color combinations and effects. To make the light more visible and create a cinematic effect we filled the room with haze! The difficulty was to keep it constant.

As for lenses, I wanted to let in as much light as possible so I chose the Samyang Xeen lenses with a T-stop of 1.5. They also give a nice bokeh as you can see in the clip. The 24 mm I used the most because of the looks. 85 mm mainly for close-ups. My Tamron I used for close face shots in the intermediate section. I could shoot closer with it which felt better. The Xeen lenses are built like a tank and the total of the whole camera setup with my Sony A7III became quite heavy. Since I wanted to shoot everything handheld I also rented the easyrig minimax with it. If you need to film for several hours in a row, this is really a must. Your camera also floats a bit, exactly the effect I had in mind.

We had the location from noon until midnight which meant that with the set completely built  we had about 6 hours left to shoot the clip. Shotlist actually consisted of filming each band member in two light settings as a-roll and additional close-ups as b-roll. We really needed those 6 hours and also thanks to the on-set help of Bas Snabilie (the BTS pictures are made by him) we could make everything we had planned and at 00.15 the last shot was made.

Do you have a tip for creators who also want to make music videos?

Try to free up some budget and make a good tight plan. This will help you control your time/costs, allowing you to create something beautiful for such a small budget. Other than that, you have to stick to who you are first and foremost. In my case, the band's music style and what I wanted to make aligned and that resulted in a music video that the band and I are proud of.

Musicvideo 'Overman' by WETT shot on my Sony a7III an the Samyang Xeen 24 and 85mm T1.5.