Shooting 'COTNES - BALKAN PARADISE ORCHESTRA' with LeCuala Films
- Iggy Planas
- Nov 30, 2019
- 6 min read
Last Saturday the 23rd and Thursday the 28th I went to the shooting of the music video Cotnes, from Balkan Paradise Orchestra, a female music group who produce instrumental Balkan music and, with only four years of history behind them since the group composition, they are opening some path not only through the city's musical spheres but also nationally. The shooting, which took us two working days from around 9h each, was produced by LeCuala Films, a recent production company in the city who thanks to the care in the detail of each shot, they're opening its way - or I least I hope - in every one of their productions since its foundation in 2018.
It seems curious how I got the part in this project. It was thanks to the other co-start in the music video, my fellow friend and mate Cristian Fernández, with whom I had already collaborated this year in 'Gente Nocturna' (Nocturnals). Due to a series of coincidences and common acquaintances, he contacted me a couple of weeks ago telling me the news that they were looking for some actor with a similar profile to mine to portray one of the co-protagonists in this music video and, after a couple of days, I was inside the project after contacting with the direction of production - a paisan of mine, from the Canaries, by the way. Broadly speaking, the character they were looking for was a hitman from the Russian mafia with a neglected appearance named Bajitov; the counterpart of the other hitman named Gordov (portrayed by Cristian).
On the first day, the shooting was intense. I was called at 10:30h in a building in the district of Eixample, a kind of modernist co-work where we will shoot most part of the scenes in the music video. I was received by some components from Balkan Paradise Orchestra, I introduced myself to the crew members and I gathered with Cristian and the rest of the cast, chatting and meeting among ourselves for a while since the crew ended up with the final touches on set. After passing through costume and make-up and being literally transformed into an outdated, emaciated and pretty much deteriorated of myself, around 11:45h I was ready to portray Bajitov on set. A detail in the character that helped me a lot to create him, though there are no explicit dialogues during the footage itself, was the fact of chewing some gum on the scene. The character himself belongs to the irascible and nervous kind of person - a counterpart to his colleague, more calmed - so chewing gum helped incredibly to get into the character, in addition to causing me some jaw pain, but not so much.
After shooting four or five scenes, we did a small recess to eat where I was able to connect a little more with the rest of the crew, cast and the rest of Balkan Paradise Orchestra. Around 16h we came back to action, and we shot some programmed scenes with Domènec de Guzman, a well-known actor for his collaborations in Club Súper3 (TV3) who transmitted us his experience and good vibes in front of the camera.
Later on, the most complicated part of that day started, a series of scenes with around 50-60 extras in addition to Balkan Paradise Orchestra components which also required a series of concrete technical and lighting requirements. After around 3 hours of recording, with some pauses where I met and spoke with some extras or group members - kind of piece of cake since my aspect was such a noticeable fact to start up a conversation by just asking if I was wearing make-up, - we achieved a satisfactory final result for both the crew and cast and extras, so we allowed ourselves to create some improvised takes to add our grain of sand. We all finally left the set with a big smile and wanted to face the shooting's second day!
The second shooting day, on Thursday the 28th, on a personal level, took me less time to complete, because there were fewer scenes and takes but in different places around the neighbourhood of La Sagrera. Cristian and I - the rest of the cast didn't shoot on that day - were called at 18:30h to quickly pass through costume and make-up, and in about an hour we were ready to shoot in the first location portraying our characters and waiting for the action command. Regarding acting, we needed it to a lesser degree since the scenes and shots were quite similar among themselves, so we had to repeat almost the same sequence. Also, since I had found the portrayal of my character on the first shooting day, it was way easier for me to retake them on screen. We spent most of the evening shooting in two different locations: a bakery and a fruit store - and when finishing around 21:30h-22h, we went to the last location to shoot the last scene where we appear. A scene that had emerged and had been written only a few days ago by the director after revising the material already shot, which supposed a change for good in the music video.
Once we finished a rushed dinner and the set was ready, at 23h we started to shoot the aforementioned scene: an introductory scene of the characters when they wake up in their shared apartment - sharing a double bed! - and how they performed their morning routines since they receive a call with a mission. After some rehearsing takes, we achieved the perfect take, where the camera movements coordinated perfectly with the movements, routines and performances of our characters. When revising it, the satisfaction degree was such that everyone agreed on this: that take was the music video TAKE. And now we only need to wait until the final result is ready!
What's 'COTNES'?
Bajitov and Gordov are two hitmen from the Russian mafia. One day, they receive a phone call with an appointment of their boss, Diminova. When arriving there, she commands them to kill Aaronson, the rival mafia's boss, and she gives them a picture. The hitmen then start a chase around the city asking about Aaronson's location, but everything seems to get into a 'cul-de-sac' until they discover that he's in Balkan Paradise Orchestra's party. Once there, will our protagonists 'silence' their rival?
For further information, stay tuned to Balkan Paradise Orchestra YouTube channel. In a couple of weeks, you can enjoy the full video (which I will publish down below too, with some frames of it around this post).
Released on December the 13th, 2019.
Now it's time for acknowledgements! Thanks to all the ones who had participated in this project, giving their grain of sand to it.
To LeCuala Films crew: To A Mike Penalba (Director, Acting Coach and Scriptwriter), Janire Mateos (Director, Script, Scriptwriter and Costume Design), Aarón Barreiro (Director and DOP), Daniel Marcet (DOP and Cameraman), Andrea González (MUA), Eloi Maristany (Making of) and Blanca Garrido (Still Photography) for this opportunity, their advice, patience, trust and for making me feel at ease on set. It's been such a pleasure with all your professionalism, without forgetting about fellowship and comradeship on set - also working with paisans! I only wish I can repeat a similar experience with you sooner than later if you want to count on me for future projects.
To Eva Saumell Olivella, Domènec de Guzmán and Cristian Fernández for sharing their acting on set with me, for their professionalism, help and advices. Once again, a special mention deserves Cristian Fernández for thinking of me when recommending me for this project. I hope to work with you all again in front of the cameras or on another kind of project, since in actors spheres is not that difficult to share new projects with people you had worked with previously!
I want to give a special acknowledgement to all Balkan Paradise Orchestra's members (Eva, Laura, Berta, Alba R., María P., Alba C., María C., Olivia, Elisenda and Núria) for the good reception and help either when bringing me some coffee or when having a good conversation on the recesses; organizing the catering or offering your own houses to improvise a small costume and make-up department. Not only that, but I can only hope that the final result pleases you all, and you like how I portrayed this character in the music video. I also wish you the best of lucks for your next music release - if you need an actor to portray a character with my profile in future music videos, you can always count on me as much as you want to do it, I promise not to ask for too much!
I finally want to say thank you to all the music video's extras, with whom I exchanged some words between takes for making the wait much more entertaining and for giving a final result on screen quite solvent and funny. To Pastisseria Bareche and Super Fresc - José Luis for the good reception during the shooting itself and all your disposition, in addition to your special appearances that I hope you've taken a funny experience after all - Oh! And I mustn't forget about the croissants and pastries you invited us. - A million thanks from the bottom of my heart!
So that's all, folks! I hope you had enjoyed this post where I explained what happened during these last few days. As I mentioned, I will update this post since the music video is released for you to enjoy it and give me your opinion too. Stay alert to my social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram where you might find some surprises regarding this music video while we wait. Without more words to say, see you in the next post!
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