“What it Is” by Ben Singh

4 Sep

Composed and performed by Ben Singh on Tenor Saxophone. This project was part of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music’s Artist Portfolio Prize.

"What It Is", was inspired by a phrase frequently heard by Ben during the COVID-19 pandemic and Melbourne lockdowns: "… it is what it is…" .

I think what I really connected with was the structure and chaos of the piece, especially the way in which it begins in an unassumingly sparse way, then proceeds to ramp up into this angst-ridden chaos of notes.

With these MCM collaborations, my goal during pre-production was to get a good sense of the musician as a person and artist, so that the performances and images were as true to them as possible at this point in their musical careers.

During my candid conversations with Ben, I learned about his love of lo-fi, gaming, Japanese anime Neon Genesis Evangelist, and the music of Colin Stetson and Snarky Puppy. All these details helped greatly in moulding the visual elements of the film.

When choosing a location for the shoot, the foyer at the Con seemed like an obvious choice for me with its interesting outstretched pebbled wall, tall ceiling and vastness that would make Ben look solitary- quite fitting for the sparseness at the start of the piece.

Using this communal area meant that we had to contend with a boomy space with a lot of foot traffic, but thanks to Dave Wilkinson’s audio expertise we managed to make it work.

The lighting took the longest to set up as we needed to get the colours of the side lighting balanced. A quick shout out to Adam Grikepeli the lighting tech for being so incredibly patient that day. We went with a heavy use of oversaturated blues and pinks which was a little nod to Ben’s love of Neon Genesis Evangelist. The side lighting also allowed the pebbles on the wall to pop. The handheld footage taken of Ben at different spots around MCM were intentionally gritty and noisy to match the anarchic irreverence of his work.

One of my favourite films is Lost Highway by David Lynch, and I couldn't resist drawing a little inspiration from that iconic jazz bar scene with Bill Pullman’s character absolutely shredding it on the sax!

DIRECTOR/EDITOR – Agatha Yim

SOUND ENGINEER – David Wilkinson.

LIGHTING DESIGNER – Adam Grikepeli

PRODUCTION MANAGER – Joseph Lallo

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS – James McKinnon,

Ounie Witherow Aitken

TECHNICAL COORDINATOR – Candy Cooper

PRODUCTION COORDINATOR – Jennifer Knight

ARTISTIC OPERATIONS MANAGER – Abe Watson

SENIOR TECHNICAL OFFICER – David Collins