midzi
03-19-2006, 08:10 AM
from http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/03/19/PKGU9GIO2C1.DTL&type=music
After seeing a fan's grainy camera-phone clip on the band's message board, a flash of inspiration hit the Beastie Boys. Three days later, the veteran rap trio handed out 50 hand-held cameras to concertgoers at its Madison Square Garden show with one simple instruction: Start filming when they hit the stage and don't stop till it's over. The resulting footage, shot in October 2004, was originally intended for a live DVD, but it was so good, it became a concert film that will hit theaters nationwide next week. Catch an advance screening of "Awesome! I F -- Shot That" Thursday at AMC 1000. Adam Yauch (known as MCA in the band, but who inexplicably prefers to go by the nom de plume Nathanial Hörnblower when he's behind the camera), acted as de facto director, whittling down 100 hours of raw footage with 6,732 edits into an action-packed two hours. What was he thinking?
Q: Are you too cheap to hire a real camera crew?
A: I hadn't really thought of it that way. No, it wasn't really a financial thing. I just thought it would be a cool way to document a concert. I had seen this piece of footage this kid had shot on his camera phone and uploaded onto our Web site. Something about the way it was handheld and all grainy and lo-res, it just felt like it had this energy. A lot of concert films that are shot in much fancier ways, like sweeping boom shots and HD cameras, don't capture it as well. It seemed like an interesting idea.
Q: You got all that out of a camera-phone clip?
A: Yeah, it just kind of gave me an idea.
Q: How did you come up with 50 cameras?
A: I just tried to come up with a number that was in the realm of "a bunch." We were trying to find Hi-8 cameras, which is kind of an outdated format.
Q: How many cameras did you lose that night?
A: None. They all got returned.
Q: Really?
A: Well, we did take people's driver's licenses, just to be sure.
Q: Did you have to watch and edit it all by yourself?
A: It's not like I sat there and watched camera 1 from beginning to end and then camera 2 from beginning to end. We got everything digitized and stacked in Final Cut. We actually had three different editors do cuts of it, and they each had some cameras. Then we took those and found the best parts together. It was kind of a jump off from there. And then we hung out in the editing room for a year making it work.
Q: Are you totally sick of the Beastie Boys now?
A: No, not at the moment. There were moments during the editing where I needed to take a break.
Q: Did you have the audio off?
A: Editing? No, we're cutting to the music. I'm a strong believer in cutting to the beat to get everything to flow.
Q: Some people have said the film is better than the actual concert.
A: I could believe that. We're choosing the best ways of looking at it. I'm glad it works. And it's always a special thing playing at the Garden. It's kind of like coming home. We grew up going to that venue.
Q: Do you think the title is going to be a problem?
A: It shouldn't be too bad.
Q: Do you think George Lucas is going to sue you for stealing the "Star Wars" font?
A: He better not say anything.
Q: Or else what?
A: You ever notice George Lucas has a lot of people getting their hands cut off in his movies? A lot of hands are getting chopped off.
Q: What does that mean?
A: I don't know.
Q: Did you hear Coldplay was so inspired by this movie that the band is doing the same thing?
A: I did hear that. They're label mates of ours, so I'm wondering if somebody at the record label told them to do that. I don't mind. I would have probably been bummed if we hadn't done it yet, but ours is basically done, so do as you will.
Q: What's up with your alter ego Nathanial Hörnblower?
A: He's had enough attention.
Q: Do you plan on ever making an album again?
A: More film stuff. I'm having fun with it. I'm interested in doing more narrative stuff.
After seeing a fan's grainy camera-phone clip on the band's message board, a flash of inspiration hit the Beastie Boys. Three days later, the veteran rap trio handed out 50 hand-held cameras to concertgoers at its Madison Square Garden show with one simple instruction: Start filming when they hit the stage and don't stop till it's over. The resulting footage, shot in October 2004, was originally intended for a live DVD, but it was so good, it became a concert film that will hit theaters nationwide next week. Catch an advance screening of "Awesome! I F -- Shot That" Thursday at AMC 1000. Adam Yauch (known as MCA in the band, but who inexplicably prefers to go by the nom de plume Nathanial Hörnblower when he's behind the camera), acted as de facto director, whittling down 100 hours of raw footage with 6,732 edits into an action-packed two hours. What was he thinking?
Q: Are you too cheap to hire a real camera crew?
A: I hadn't really thought of it that way. No, it wasn't really a financial thing. I just thought it would be a cool way to document a concert. I had seen this piece of footage this kid had shot on his camera phone and uploaded onto our Web site. Something about the way it was handheld and all grainy and lo-res, it just felt like it had this energy. A lot of concert films that are shot in much fancier ways, like sweeping boom shots and HD cameras, don't capture it as well. It seemed like an interesting idea.
Q: You got all that out of a camera-phone clip?
A: Yeah, it just kind of gave me an idea.
Q: How did you come up with 50 cameras?
A: I just tried to come up with a number that was in the realm of "a bunch." We were trying to find Hi-8 cameras, which is kind of an outdated format.
Q: How many cameras did you lose that night?
A: None. They all got returned.
Q: Really?
A: Well, we did take people's driver's licenses, just to be sure.
Q: Did you have to watch and edit it all by yourself?
A: It's not like I sat there and watched camera 1 from beginning to end and then camera 2 from beginning to end. We got everything digitized and stacked in Final Cut. We actually had three different editors do cuts of it, and they each had some cameras. Then we took those and found the best parts together. It was kind of a jump off from there. And then we hung out in the editing room for a year making it work.
Q: Are you totally sick of the Beastie Boys now?
A: No, not at the moment. There were moments during the editing where I needed to take a break.
Q: Did you have the audio off?
A: Editing? No, we're cutting to the music. I'm a strong believer in cutting to the beat to get everything to flow.
Q: Some people have said the film is better than the actual concert.
A: I could believe that. We're choosing the best ways of looking at it. I'm glad it works. And it's always a special thing playing at the Garden. It's kind of like coming home. We grew up going to that venue.
Q: Do you think the title is going to be a problem?
A: It shouldn't be too bad.
Q: Do you think George Lucas is going to sue you for stealing the "Star Wars" font?
A: He better not say anything.
Q: Or else what?
A: You ever notice George Lucas has a lot of people getting their hands cut off in his movies? A lot of hands are getting chopped off.
Q: What does that mean?
A: I don't know.
Q: Did you hear Coldplay was so inspired by this movie that the band is doing the same thing?
A: I did hear that. They're label mates of ours, so I'm wondering if somebody at the record label told them to do that. I don't mind. I would have probably been bummed if we hadn't done it yet, but ours is basically done, so do as you will.
Q: What's up with your alter ego Nathanial Hörnblower?
A: He's had enough attention.
Q: Do you plan on ever making an album again?
A: More film stuff. I'm having fun with it. I'm interested in doing more narrative stuff.