Do the wave now, by Krach is our choice for today. We’re always happy to talk about bands and directors, but we are thrilled when we can offer you their voices, that’s the case today!
Michiel ten Kleij and Jeroen Burghout are the directors of this video, which has a simple concept: showing the band doing what they do best: playing, but is yet intricate to create.
Without further words let’s jump into the flow of this interview! enjoy!

WPD: We know that the direction of this video has to be credited to the work of a team, how did you managed to work together? What’s your role and skills?

Jeroen: As The Netherlands is overcrowded with bands you really need to do something ‘special’ or ‘new’ (realizing that in the realm of musicvideo, everything has been done before) to stick out of that crowd. Krach wanted to experiment with the videoclip image. At the same time there was a limited to no budget. So we used volunteers, related to the band. Michiel and I went to filmschool together (we have a degree in Arts) and we collaberated on some projects during this period. He got a (paying) oppertunity abroad, while he was preparing this video, so he asked me to direct and edit it. Why Michiel asked me? Guess because I’ve been making music since when I was young – this became intergral part of my schoolassignments and later work.

Michiel: I was approached by Martijn Crama, the manager of the band, since I was the only director he knew. He asked if I was interested in directing the music video. Basically it was the first project I did since graduation and I wanted to explore the world of music videos. So I sat down with the band to talk about their idea. But fresh from the academy and with a graduation film that went over budget, I was broke. And even though I wanted to direct the music, there was an opportunity for me to do a job in Spain so I had to choose for the roof above my head. So after the band and I finished conceptualizing and planning the music video and rehearsed the dance moves with the choreographer, I had to pass the torch to Jeroen. As Jeroen said, we’ve worked together before and I knew he’d be able to do the thing properly. I think he finished the project exactly how we intended to do from the start.

WPD: Who had the idea that evolved into the concept of the video? Was it the band suggestion or was your? How was the relationship with the group?

Michiel: It was Krach who came with the idea. And the idea was pretty much final, so I basically had to keep the project on track and see how we’d get it recorded. The relationship with the band was pretty good. They were enthusiastic about the project and mastered the dance moves pretty quickly.

WPD: How did you chose the setting for the video? Was it an already existing place or did you stage it for this occasion?

Jeroen: As there was no budget and the technique we used called for a controlled situation, regarding light and continuity, we really needed a studio environment.

Michiel: It was actually the studio where the band usually rehearses. And indeed it had to be controlled in order to keep the right continuity of the light. We pre-dressed the studio to create this living room setting and dress is this way so we could shoot from one immediate direction to create this “on stage” feeling. The same way as you’re watching a band perform on stage, only cutting from wide shots to close-ups.

WPD: In the description of your work we can read “They wanted an epileptic music video. They got one.”. Tell us about the production and postproduction phases, how was your work schedule and how much time did it take to edit the whole thing?

Jeroen: Jeez… Long time ago so can’t really remember. I guess it took 2 days shooting and 2 weeks of editing over the course of about one and a half month. Which was next to the dailly job of course.

Michiel: Yeah, I remember David saying they wanted an epileptic music video. It was what got me interested. So I can’t really add anything on the production and post-production period, but I remember planning two days of shooting. One day rehearsal and one day pre-dressing, if I remember correctly. I remember Jeroen taking forever finishing this donkywork. The editing process must’ve worn off his finger prints, I’m sure.

WPD: Some of our readers are interested in tech details, so we would find interesting to know which camera and software did you used.

Jeroen: Yes this was a bit challenging at first, apart from recording al footage through ffmpeg. I had an old self assembled dual core pc and it was shot 720p which is not a standard by any means.
We first tried to edit the whole video in Adobe Premiere, but ended up with a really slow workflow. So I ended up editing the outline of the story times five (for each individual band member there’s a take) and synced all the takes before hand. After this I put al the seperate takes into After Effects and scripted an effect which linkes al takes to a slider control which in turn controlled the visibity of the layers.

Michiel: To add, I think it was shot on HDV or something like that. Could also be XDCAMHD, but I don’t really remember anymore what we agreed upon.

WPD: What are you two respectively working on now? What’s your relation with the music videos field/industry?

Jeroen: I currently work for a television production company as motion graphic designer and do the videoapplication and mediamanagement. Next to that I play in an instrumental post-rock band called ‘All Shall Be Well (and All Shall Be Well and All Manner of Things Shall Be Well)’ where I love writing music as well. We as band try to incorporate our audience as part of the music we play. For example participating in making their own musicvideo on our monthly 30 second compositions which we bring out under creative commens license. You visit the project here.

Michiel: Currently I’m writing several screenplays with my own production company called Red Cloak Films. I mainly focus on grim fairy tales and folkloric narratives. You can read several synopses here. Next to that I’m writing and directing new music videos for dutch bands which can be seen on my vimeo.