The RCA TK47, Rush And A Beautiful Camera Op!
The RCA TK47, Rush And A Beautiful Camera Op!
From 1987, here’s the Rush song ‘Time Stands Still’…but that’s the only thing still here. This opens in a television studio with every man’s blond fantasy behind the RCA TK47. You’ll see a lot of old video tricks in this, but they were new then and very overused. Take your Dramamine and click on the video.
By the way, the TK47s in the US were blue and beige, but I think RCA painted the export cameras different colors as I have seen red ones in Europe and this may have been done in Canada. Thanks to our friend in Argentina, Eduardo Vilela for sharing this.
#t=85″ target=”_blank”>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMSFqXGZ5TQ #t=85
Amazon: http://bit.ly/Rush2112SDE_Web Music video by Rush performing Time Stands Still. (C) 1987 The Island Def Jam Music Group
Geddy Lee has such a high pitched voice, this is the first time I realized that there was a guest singer on this song.
Aimee Mann it is.
A more successful music video using chroma keying effects directed by Zbig Rybczynski was with Mick Jagger (without the Stones) called ‘Let’s Work’:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoGofvVhKTo&list=PLDCB928BE6D2F467B&index=12
Wow. While I liked the sight of old analog equipment, that was painful to watch.
My favorite band on my favorite Facebook page, cool!
From the Wikipedia entry on the song:
“Zibig had shot footage of country landscapes for Rush. The idea was to shoot short pieces of Rush performing the song against green screen, then composite them together. When we started working, Zbig decided he loved the stage and wanted to composite Rush over that instead. I suggested that we shoot them live in the stage, but Zbig wanted everyone to “float” around it. He also insisted that everything had to happen “live.” Each new layer would be placed on top of the preceding layer without making protection copies or “laying off” a copy, as we used to say. The green screen footage was shot with the same giant studio camera Aimee Mann is using in the video. Zbig would give some vague direction to Rush; I would set up the effects, play the audio track and press record, causing multiple one-inch tape machines to roll up on the third floor.”
I am a huge Rush fan, but I was incredibly disappointed by the previous 2 albums, this album was some redemption for me. I saw them in Worcester, MA on this tour and hoped Aimee, a Bostonian, would appear on stage during the performance of this song.
Aimee Mann was the only person they ever dueted with or had as a guest singer. I always wondered how that came about.
Directed by Zbig Rybczynski—kind of a hot director at the time, and this style was his trademark. The article below mentions that he had emigrated to the US; thinking this may have been done in his own facility [not sure if he used TK47s though!]. His history in video is quite interesting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbig_Rybczynski
Not really a favorite track of mine—and I do consider myself a huge Rush fan!
I almost became a porcelain bus driver while watching that video!
Aimee’s camera skills (even if she was faking it) were quite impressive…definitely better than her editing skills (*tap* *tap*).
Oh, and who knew RCA had a wireless TK47 back then!
The “camera op” is actually Aimee Mann, who was in the band ‘Til Tuesday when this was done.