Green Day's “American Idiot”

"I wanted it to look completely different from all the other videos on the air and cut across the television screen like a knife," says director Sam Bayer. How? "Using rich cinematography, dramatic lighting, and the striking interplay between light and shadow."

And cool effects ranging from the practical (green goo) to the digital: motion control operator Mike Leben captured varispeed performances from the band. The singer is on real time, the drummer is on slow-motion and the bassist – well, he’s on speed.

1. Leben: Since the motion control was triggered by the corresponding time-coded music track for each frame rate, we were able to keep the camera moves and the band’s performances in sync, no matter what speed we chose to shoot at. Each of the band members performed at various speeds, and editorial was able to choose which sections of the song would have which members of the band performing at which frame rates, all mixed together seamlessly.

2. Erik Polczwartek: For the flag bleed, we used straight acrylic paint mixed with Joy dish soap, so that when the water hit the canvas it didn’t wash away in two seconds. Gary D’Amico, set up the rain bar that was placed at the top of the flag just out of the shot. We tilted the canvas back three degrees and the water flowed over the canvas as if it was going over a dam. Fun was had by all.

Bayer: Think of it like the famous scene from Patton where George C. Scott gives a speech in front of this enormous, monolithic flag. We decided that it would be a cool metaphor if the stripes of the flag would bleed into a pool of liquid that formed at the band’s feet. Then, we would have the green liquid explode from two sets of speaker cases at either side of the flag, much like the blood/dream sequence in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.

3. Gary D’Amico: We had a chemist make up non-toxic dye that matched the color to a certain part of the green in the flag. We mixed 25 gallons of the custom-colored latex paint into 800 gallons of water. It was one take, and then we did a pick-up shot with the camera-right tank only. I also added some fish-tail nozzles to a 4000-gallon water truck between the flag and the speaker.

Leben: With the supervision of Alex Frisch of Method, we programmed the motion control shots using a Genuflex Mark II, provided by General Lift of Los Angeles. The shots were long, semi-circular dolly shots circling the band while they performed their song. We kept sync with the music by triggering our motion control move to a time-coded music track, which the band played along to. After rehearsing in "real time," or 24 frames per second, and getting the performance and camera moves, we began shooting each band member individually on stage in front of a blue screen (except the drummer, who was shot along with the background).

CREDITS: Director, DP: Samuel Bayer, Black Dog Studios ¦ Executive Producer RSA: Catherine Finkenstaedt ¦ Creative Director RSA: Kim Dellara ¦ Line Producer: Tim Lynch ¦ Production Designer: Jan Roelfs ¦ Post Supervisor: Tracey Landon ¦ Colorist: Beau Leon, The Syndicate ¦ Editor: Tim Royes, Rock Paper Scissors ¦ Lead EFX Artist: Alex Frisch, Method Studios ¦ Motion Control: Mike Leben ¦ Mechanical FX coordinator: Gary D’Amico, Erik Polczwartek