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The making
of the first On "2" Music Video
 Behind the
Scenes
of
Addie Diaz's
First Music Video
Compiled by Manny Siverio
Photos by Damian Achilles
 IN
THE BEGINNING
Addie for some time has had her sights at beginning a singing
career. Its been a
passion that she has kept to herself for sometime now. But it wasn't until she
completed her demo Music CD and Music video that she has decided to make it
public knowledge. What makes Addie different from other female salsa vocalists
is her stage experience as a professional mambo dancer. As many people know, she
is credited as being a successful and respected Salsa/Mambo performer and
choreographer in the NY Mambo community. She has traveled throughout the US and
internationally (i.e. UK, France, Germany,
Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Dominican
Republic) to perform and teach workshops. She has been the director of her own
dance troupe (Addie-Tude Dance Co.) and was responsible in establishing their
reputation for their unique & theatrical dance numbers. Not only is she an
original cast member of the Off-Broadway Mambo Musical "Latin
Madness", but also the choreographer of four numbers that have been used on
the show.
 THE
REASON BEHIND THE VIDEO
SINGING + DANCING = ADDIE DIAZ.
By combining her professional dance background with her singing skills, Addie
plans on pushing the envelope of the Salsa Entertainer to the next level. Its
what makes her different from the rest of the pack. Imagine the potential a
Latin vocalist would have if they could sing, dance and choreograph their own
numbers. A Singer who isn't merely using background dancers as set dressing to
spice up the show, but one that can blend right in their with them. Addie plans
on being that vocalist and she has the potential of turning these strengths into
a successful career.
Once the demo music CD was completed, I sat down with her and suggested that we
produce a music video to round off her package. The idea was to combine my
extensive background in film work with her background to produce an audio visual
product that would highlight her singing/dancing skills. We immediately went to
work. I wanted to produce, shoot, direct and edit the entire product while Addie
focused on the choreography. After scouting several locations I ended up
settling on the East River Park that ran under the Queensboro Bridge. I wanted
to have dancers accompany Addie during some of the segments and several members
of both the Side Street Kids & Addie-tude Dance Company were chosen for
it.
 THE
ACTUAL SHOOT ITSELF
The video was done as professionally as possible. I got permits to shoot at East
River Park from the city and I was fortunate enough to have several close
friends volunteer their time to assist me as part of my crew. I decided to shoot
the video with my Pro-sumer Sony PD-150 Mini DV camcorder, complete with a DV
Jib Arm, DV Dolly, home made dolly track and a assortment of reflectors. The
final product was going to be edited at home with a newly purchased MAC G4 Dual
Processor Editing Suite using the latest version of FINAL CUT PRO. Finally we
had permission to use a "BOOM BOX" during the shoot, which helped
provide a scratch on each take. I used the scratch on the video as sort of a
time-code that would help me line up any shot I had with the song that I had
laid down on my video track. I think what really helped the most was that Addie
turned out to be a natural when it came to lip-synching her own song.
The day finally came to shoot the
video. The good part about it was that the weather was perfect (bright and
sunny). The bad part about shooting the video was that it happen to fall smack
in the middle of a crazy work schedule. We had to cross our fingers and hope
that it didn't conflict with Latin Madness rehearsals, my work on the
John Leguizamo HBO movie Infamous, a little feature called Bomb the
System and a Nike Commercial that I was also coordinating at the
time. As things turned out we got lucky schedule-wise and everything fell into
place. The day started early (6 am for me) and the crew started to set up base
camp and unpack equipment at 7 am. What followed was a whirlwind of activity,
Addie arrived, hair and makeup arrived, then the dancers showed up and shooting
got underway.
 We
shot half of the video with Addie singing alone in front of camera and the other
half with her dancing along side the dancers. I'm happy to say that the Side
Street Kids (along with the adult dancers appearing with them) proved to
be the professionals that I've always knew them to be. They came in prepared
and ready to work. The pre-shooting rehearsals ran quickly and smoothly thanks
to a couple additional rehearsals that Addie had with them prior to the shoot
date. One other thing about the shoot; the kids were in the dark about who was
the lead singing of the song. They thought that Addie was just the choreographer
of the number. They found out what her true role in the project was on the day
of the shoot. Though to give them credit, several had suspected that something
was up.
Addie and I are so grateful for all
those people that participated in the project. The kids were great. The crew
performed beyond the call of duty. And my friend Damian was a Godsend. Though
I'm personally familiar with directing and putting things together so that it
can work in front of camera, I do lack in knowledge when it comes to lighting.
Damian who is a professional photographer supplied me with the lighting
information I needed to light up each shot to the best of our limited resources.
Shooting outdoors can be brutal. The position of the sun changes from hour to
hour and what looks good for the camera at 10 am looks awful at 12 noon. Damian
set up lighting reflectors so that we could bounce light for each shot. And
finally what came across at "too hot" or well lite during the shoot was
cleaned up in post production thanks to my FINAL CUT PRO software.
Touch Up Time
(L to R) Throughout the shoot Addie had a make-up person provide touch
ups so that she would match from shot to shot. The Side Street Kids on the other
hand took it upon themselves to touch each other up during the shoot.
  
THE CREW
(L to R) Damian Achilles takes a
second to explain something to Addie while holding a simple reflector. In the
following shot she stands on her mark while Damian bounces light on her using a
reflector and I check the lighting through the lens just prior to shooting.
Early morning shot by the water.
Rodney Lopez is assisting me while I'm giving Addie direction as to what this dolly
Jib Arm Crane shot is about. We blocked the shot (a.k.a. rehearse) a couple of
times before shooting. Though a nice idea when I first though of it, the shot
never made it to the final version of the video.
From All Angles
I shot the video from various angles. Sometimes we would get down and low
to the ground and shoot upward (like in the photo on the left), while on other
occasions we got up as high possible to shoot downward (like I did on this 10
foot step ladder). The East River Park turned out to be one great location. We
had five different company mini-moves which meant that we shot from five
separate spots inside the park. We took full advantage of the location by
shooting on a ramp leading over the Eastside Highway (FDR), on an observation
deck, down by a park bench near the river, inside a Pavillion under the
Queensboro Bridge and the Tram to Roosevelt Island and under the Observation
Deck.
WORKING WITH PROS
 
As I said before SSK kids are great.
They are professional, come prepared, are always willing to rehearse and are
ready to work hard to get the shot done and move onto the next set up.
 
FILM BUSINESS MOTTO
 
There's a motto that everyone in the film business knows and its called
"Hurry up and Wait". What can I say, its the nature of the
business. Fortunately Addie, the Side Street Kids as well as other members of
Addie-tude were patient and under the stood the need to wait until called upon.
HARD WORK PAYS OFF
Addie, the dancers and the crew (including yours truly) worked hard that day. We
shot a total of 4 Mini DV cassettes worth of footage. More than enough material
to edit into a music video.
(L - R) Behind the scene candid shot of Addie singing and later
dancing
during the making of her video
(L - R) Addie singing & dancing with some of the girls during
an open floor shine section of the video. Drilling some of the dancers as to
their positions for the camera during one of the partner work scenes.
CAST PHOTO
 
(L - R) The female dancers stop and pose with Addie in the East River
Park Pavillion under the Queensboro Bridge. Shortly after the guys join in on
the fun.
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Addie Diaz
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want to read Addie Diaz's vocal Bio.
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