Jason tapping on the "snare" box

Working on the Nautilus edit with editor, Patrick the Fabulous.  We shot Jason Samuels Smith dancing in Harlem Tap Studio in June.  He made four different “instruments” by tapping different rhythms on four different surfaces:  ”Bass” was the big box made of hard wood; “Snare” was the box that we built on the sidewalk in front of the studio that day (thanks Laurent, 1st AC and Charles, sound recordist for your construction skills!) that had a pine veneer top; “Piano” was the flat piece of wood, and “Solo” was on the floor.  We also shot some cut aways of Jason dancing on a box covered with sand paper.  The size of the cavity inside the box, and the wood used changed the sounds of each of the instruments.  Jason chose the song (more on that in the behind the scenes interview we did with him, coming soon too), and and made up the different tap rhythms.  For shooting, he has an iPod in his pocket with ear buds in his ears because we have to get clean sound of the tapping with no music, of course.

Francisco, the DP did the lighting set-ups, and it was all pretty straightforward (as long as Jason didn’t collapse from heat exhaustion – NYC in June = sweat).  I handed the footage off to Patrick, who, for you film geeks, brings all his FCP, AE, PS, and other cool tricks to the editing process, and he’s making a sweet video.  Stay tuned.  Kate