Street Beatz with Monét X Change
It began with a tagline: "Watch me paint and get into full Drag in the middle of Times Square. Yes, FULL Drag!" The result was four episodes of real NYC magic. We started this series before Monét was on Drag Race. Obviously by the fourth episode, she was a household name.
These were real "one woman band" shoots. Just me, an a7s, sometimes functional audio equipement, and a PA if we were lucky. I also did all post on these.
We had no idea what to expect, and (of course) most New Yorkers did their best to ignore us. But then a tourist from the midwest had some time to kill. The results were magical.
E1: TKTS Times Square
E2: Brooklyn Bridge
Filmed on the Brooklyn Bridge on Easter Sunday 2017. Who knew that the bridge had it's own weather systems...
E3: Grand Central Terminal
This one took a bit to get right, after a few aborted shoots due to overcrowding, corrupted media, dead batteries and my petrifying fear of high ceilings. (It’s mighty rare, and it is termed altacelaraphobia.) On the day we finally did get to shoot — a Friday after midnight — we were a bit nervous that the shoot would be abruptly halted by security. What we didn’t expect is that (a) no commuters would care (b) Monét would get upstaged by a bunch of intoxicated 20-somethings and (c) we’d complete the shoot in what probably should be a restricted area in the terminal.
E4: The High Line
This may be my favorite of the four. Again, audio issues. My microphone went totally dead within ten minutes of beginning to film. So to get around this, I experimented with dynamic supers, which I think added to the look. Also notable is that this was the first episode where people actively recognized MXC, and signified to us that it may be difficult to continue with the original concept.