Down in the Basement at the Li Po Lounge- Sharp Objects

Think back to 2010. Remember the optimism everyone felt at the beginning of a new decade? No? Me neither. Anyhoo, 2010 was pretty close to the start of a new video revolution of sorts- the dawn of the DSLR era. Canon had introduced the 5D Mark II digital SLR camera. This camera enabled users to capture great moving images- because of it’s full size sensor and access to high quality lenses. It certainly changed the trajectory of my career and that of a lot of others as well. These cameras allowed us to shoot usable video in extremely low light with high quality glass (lenses) and finally affordably shoot with a cinematic shallow depth of field look. Amazing! So that leads us to this short concert film. I can’t remember if I had bought my 5D MII yet or if I had borrowed one from my friend Sunset magazine photographer Tom Story who was kind enough to loan me his for testing. If you know me you know that I love going to live shows. In particular punk , garage ,power pop, shoegaze etc... So on that night when another photographer friend of mine Jenn Hale called and asked if I wanted to see some punk bands at the Li Po Lounge in San Francisco’s Chinatown I thought it would be a great opportunity to bust out the camera and document the night. This film is a result of that night. I shot the headlining band Sharp Objects which I’m pretty sure no longer exists. I thought they were fun and that the night was a blast. Some brief technical notes: It was really extremely dark in the basement of the Li Po Lounge. I think the camera performed pretty well under the circumstances but not as well as later versions might have. I shot with a Canon 16-35mm 2.8 version one lens and the audio was from the camera’s microphone. The sound is pretty damn good considering that there was no board feed. I color graded the footage in Final Cut and Red Giant Looks. I pretty much had forgotten about this night and this show until I ran across it on an old hard drive and started watching the footage. It was a great night and I had a ton of fun shooting the show. Check it out. You might have fun too. Eric S. Goodfield June 28, 2018

21 Minute single camera music performance documentary featuring the punk band Sharp Objects

Down in the Basement at the Li Po Lounge- Sharp Objects

The Way Back Machine

Think back to 2010. Remember the optimism everyone felt at the beginning of a new decade? No? Me neither. Anyhoo, 2010 was pretty close to the start of a new video revolution of sorts- the dawn of the DSLR era. The Japanese camera company Canon had introduced the 5D Mark II digital SLR camera. This camera enabled users to capture great moving images- because of it’s full size sensor and access to high quality lenses. It certainly changed the trajectory of my career and that of a lot of others as well. These cameras allowed us to shoot usable video in extremely low light with high quality glass (lenses) and finally affordably shoot with a cinematic shallow depth of field look. Amazing!

Sharp Objects Down in the Basement at the Li Po Lounge

So that leads us to this short concert film. I can’t remember if I had bought my 5D MII yet or if I had borrowed one from my friend Sunset magazine photographer Tom Story who was kind enough to loan me his for testing.

If you know me you know that I love going to live shows. In particular punk , garage ,power pop, shoegaze etc... So on that night when another photographer friend of mine Jenn Hale called and asked if I wanted to see some punk bands at the Li Po Lounge in San Francisco’s Chinatown I thought it would be a great opportunity to bust out the camera and document the night. This film is a result of that night. I shot the headlining band Sharp Objects. I’m pretty sure the band no longer exists. I thought they were fun and that the night was a blast. Who doesn’t love spending the evening in the basement of a chinatown bar listening to loud music and dancing around with a bunch of old sweaty punk rockers right? Right? Hello?

In case you’re interested here’s a link to a studio version of Sharp Objects playing there song “Misspent Youth” which is the second song and first full song I shot at their show that night.

This is only a test

This whole endeavor really started as a camera test. Here are some brief technical notes: It was really extremely dark in the basement of the Li Po Lounge. I think the camera, a Canon 5D MarkII, performed pretty well under the circumstances but not as well as later versions might have. I shot with a Canon 16-35mm 2.8 version one lens and the audio was from the camera’s microphone. The sound is pretty damn good considering that there was no board feed. I color graded the footage in Final Cut and Red Giant Looks.

From the dustbin of a hard drive to a computer screen near you.

I pretty much had forgotten about this night and this show until I ran across it on an old hard drive and started watching the footage. It was a great night and I had a ton of fun shooting the show. Check it out. You might have fun too.

Eric S. Goodfield

July 12, 2018