Liion Gamble
'92 MJ Music Video
Born in St. Andrew, Jamaica, raised in Durham, NC, Liion Gamble bridges the gap between substance and style in a major way. This up-and-coming rapper is making his mark with his unique style.
He's Heating Up
Liion was inspired to write this song while watching the ESPN documentary, “The Last Dance.” So, clearly, the concept had to revolve around the basketball court. But like Liion in his music, we had to put a unique spin on it. That’s when it hit us. A song about MJ in ‘92 needed the retro stylings of the game that showed MJ's hangtime like no other – NBA Jam.
THE SETUP
When it comes to green-screen effects, every minute of planning only makes the shoot that much smoother. We had shot effects for music videos in the past, but this one needed some extra research. So we blew the dust off the old SNES, fired up the game, and quickly remembered why we loved NBA Jam so much. While it may seem like we were just playing games, this gave us an idea of the kind of footage we’d need to capture to make the effect successful. We put the controller down and got to storyboarding.
THE SHOOT
When shooting outside, it’s always a major plus when the weather is on your side. It made the whole shoot go smoothly. We hoisted Liion to the top on the rim, got some shots on the court, and captured what we’d need for the green-screen effect. At the end of the day, Liion had the idea to hang out the window of the car, ensuring we had the performance shots we’d need for the edit.
THE EDIT
Layers, layers, and layers. That was the key to bringing this edit to life. Well, that and a lot of late nights making sure everything looked perfect. The video effects took a majority of the time, but with Teddy tapping the keys and clicking the mouse, we knew it was going to be flawless. We sent the video to Liion, and the rest is history.
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