A townhouse renovation for a professional musician, inspired by its coastal locale, provides open space for entertaining and for jam sessions. An architecture film created for draw, David Robinson Architectural Workshop:
Spring Lake Jam on YouTube and Vimeo.
- Design: David Robinson Architectural Workshop
- Video: RoemerFilm
- Musicians: John Perry and Paul Marino
- Soundtrack: Burning It Down by Emily Brimlow (via MusicBed)
- Production Assistant: Chris Flanegan
Last May I posted an architecture project, photography of a Spring Lake Heights townhouse renovation, designed by David “Brooke” Robinson of draw. I had photographed it in early February, 2020, in the pre-COVID era. At the time we also planned to do a video, a film which would show the space in use and convey not only the look but also the feel of the new design. Production was slated for March but was postponed once the reality of the pandemic became apparent.
Fast forward to October, 2020, when there was enough of a dip in COVID cases and enough of a standardization of protocols to facilitate a day of socially-distanced filming.
Production
From the get-go I envisioned the film having a story arc. It seemed the most natural way to show the renovated first floor of the home while highlighting its openness, flexibility, and attention to detail. That the homeowner is also a professional musician sealed the deal as it provided a filmic activity for the storyline to build toward.
The connection seen in the video between the townhouse and the iconic elements of the Jersey Shore (sand, water, sky, grasses, boardwalk, weathered wood) are the same ones Brooke drew from when designing the space.
With the film’s other components, Brooke’s hand-drawn sketches and my addition of written messaging throughout, I wanted to emphasize the art and the process in Brooke’s work. That as much as anything, it’s not the computer but hand to paper which takes what he imagines and presents it to the world.
The project was filmed with a mix of cameras and formats. All shot in 4K 10-bit log. A Mavic 2 Pro drone was used for the intro and outro aerials. The beach b-roll was shot on a Canon C500 Mark II on sticks or handheld.
The story arc was filmed with a Canon EOS R5 on a DJI Ronin-S gimbal as were the traveling shots within the bathrooms. In the townhouse the wide shots toward the end, the detail shots, and the tighter clips of the musicians jamming were captured with the C500 Mark II.
No additional lighting was used and while I did get some audio of the musicians playing we opted to use a licensed soundtrack for copyright reasons.
