Last weekend at Lollapalooza I had the amazing opportunity to shoot a behind the scenes package with one of my new favorite bands, Mumford & Sons. It's always exciting to get to work with musicians that you admire, and this was one of those moments that I was really looking forward to.
We spent the first 3 days shooting a bunch of short interviews with artists along with b-roll of the festival, which can all be very boring and tedious. However, on Sunday we planned on spending 3 hours with the lads from Mumford so that we could produce a behind the scenes thing, kind of a "day in the life" of a band at Lolla.
First we shot an interview with the guys in their dressing room, and they were absolutely hilarious. You could tell they were really having a great time, and it's clear that they are really good friends and a tight-knit band.
After the interview, I filmed them hanging out and then writing their setlist all while making sure that I was getting what I needed to produce a good piece. I kind of had to be a pest about it and was constantly asking the guys if they would let me shoot certain things, some of which they were against. It must get annoying having a dude with a camera following you around, and so I had to respect their space even though I was really under the gun.
After hanging out backstage, I got to shoot a couple songs of their show. The energy from the huge crowd was incredible, and it was really cool watching everything from the side of the stage. I caught up with the guys later in the night at an after-party and got to hang out with them without my video camera getting in the way. They were really nice and I even talked to the banjo player, Winston, about Paper Swan and he was stoked to hear about us.
The next day I woke up knowing that I had what I needed to finish my piece, and there's no better feeling in the world than that. Even though most people who see the Mumford & Sons Behind the Scenes at Lollapalooza package will never know my story or what this meant to me, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I was completely professional and respectful of my subject, and as an artist, I achieved everything that I set out to do.
