Turning an EP Into a Film Worth Watching
Daniel Basckin wanted his new EP seen, not just heard. Backed by the National Arts Council and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, we filmed it as a multi-camera studio session at the SABC studios in Johannesburg, made to be watched long after the recording.
Giving an EP a face
Daniel Basckin had a new EP and wanted more than an audio release: a proper visual recording of the music, filmed to be watched as well as heard. Backed by the National Arts Council and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, the plan was always a studio piece, a cinematic capture of the performance that people could come to later, in their own time. ThinkStory took it on as live performance filming in South Africa, shot at the SABC studios in Johannesburg.
- An EP that deserved a visual recording, not just an audio release
- A studio performance to capture with real cinematic quality
- A film built to be watched later, on its own terms
Made to be watched, not just heard
A song can carry a lot on audio alone, but seeing it performed adds something the recording cannot: the playing, the expression, the small human details behind the music. It is the difference between hearing a song and watching someone mean it. The brief was to make those things visible, turning Daniel's EP into a set of performance films that stand on their own as things to watch, not only to hear. Music lives in the moment it is played, and a good performance film keeps a little of that moment for later.
Multiple cameras, one studio session
We shot the session with a multi-camera setup, positioning cameras to catch every moment: the hands, the face, the small gestures a single locked-off camera would miss. Covering the performance from several angles at once let us build the edit like a proper performance film, cutting between close and wide so the finished piece keeps the movement and intimacy of the music itself. One take, many angles, a performance captured whole.
Shot at the SABC studios in Johannesburg
The session was filmed at the SABC studios in Johannesburg, a proper broadcast-grade space that gave us the room, the control and the quality a music film needs. A studio like that is built for exactly this: sound, light and space, all under control. With the National Arts Council and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture behind it, the production had the backing to do it properly rather than cutting corners, which is what a recording meant to last deserves. The right room is half the job before a single frame is shot.
Working with artists
Filming a musician's performance well comes down to staying out of the music's way: give the artist the space to play, and cover it closely enough that the feeling survives on screen. That is what we did for Daniel Basckin, turning his EP into a studio film made to be watched long after the session, and the kind of work an artist can keep sharing. The music was always the point; the camera just made sure it could be seen.
Common questions.
How do you film a music performance in a studio?
You capture it multi-camera and treat it cinematically. For Daniel Basckin we filmed his EP as a multi-camera session at the SABC studios in Johannesburg, cutting between close and wide so a studio performance keeps the movement and intimacy of the music.
Why use multiple cameras for a studio session?
Several angles at once let you build the edit like a performance film rather than a static recording. For Daniel Basckin we positioned cameras to catch the hands, the face and the small gestures a single camera would miss.
Who supported the Daniel Basckin film?
It was backed by the National Arts Council and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, and filmed at the SABC studios in Johannesburg. That support meant the EP could be captured properly as a performance film, made to be watched and shared.
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