“Pop Goes the Music“ Raquel (1991) Music Video

The story behind the video... Rewind back to the winter of 1991. MTV was 10 years old and still playing videos. Cell phones were very big and very expensive. There was no e-mail, world wide web, MP3 players, music downloads or other technologies we now take for granted. Pittsburgh based, Education Management Corporation, which owns career schools throughout the country, decided to offer a curriculum that would teach entertainment management. These courses included all aspects of the business, from producing records to managing live performance acts. Elias-Savion was their advertising agency. Philip Elias called to discuss a concept for a TV spot that would require producing a realistic, live concert. We planned a 2-day production schedule. On the first day, we’d shoot a “staged“ concert and numerous backstage cutaways. The second day would include a recording session and other “B-roll“ footage. In 1991, “Raquel“ was quickly becoming one of the country’s hottest live bands. They were selling out clubs and venues all over the East Coast. Based in Pittsburgh, their power “Glam Rock“ style and sound was being compared to groups like Poison and others. Bassist, Billy Covert put the talented group of guys together. Front man, Ron English had an amazing voice and stage presence. Other members included guitar/vocalists Kevin McDonald & Eric Gadrix. Sean McDonald was the drummer on our video. LA & Nashville’s Toby Wright produced the band’s music. We secured Pittsburgh’s Syria Mosque for the concert venue. It was one of the last events to take place at the Mosque as it was scheduled for demolition. The historic venue had been stripped of most lighting and power distribution equipment. Perry Como performed a sold-out concert a couple days before our shoot. We arranged to rent his stage lighting setup and doubled the lighting instruments. Virtually all music videos are filmed to a playback track. This insures synchronization of camera angles which are often filmed hours apart. Music producer, Toby Wright supplied an initial mix of “Pop Goes the Music“. The band performed live to this sync track. By the time we finished 2 days of shooting, the guys in “Raquel“ had played the song over 25 times! I never heard a complaint from any of the guys. I photographed the 35mm concert and recording studio scenes with my Arri 35mm BL4 using Zeiss super-speed lenses and Angenieux zooms. I shot virtually all the “B-roll“ cutaways hand-held, using a 16mm Arri SR2 and a Zeiss 10mm -100mm T2 lens. I enhanced the grainy, gritty look of the 16mm footage during film-to-tape transfer and color correction. (In 1991, everything of any value was shot on film.) Film processing was handled by Cinefilm Labs in Atlanta. Film-to-tape transfer took place at Elite Post in Nashville. I edited the music video on 1“ broadcast analog tape. The MTV commercial for Education Management Corporation was edited at NorthCoast Communications. The ad aired dozens of times on MTV network