Sister Zo

I recently had the privilege of filming Sister Zo at St. Vitus here in town and the set did not disappoint. I took a long hiatus from this venue due to, not only the pandemic but my relationship with the company as well. When St. Vitus opened in April of 2019, I was the house photographer for the first six months of business and helped kickstart their social media. It wasn’t until February of this year that I decided to reconnect with St. Vitus and it has been a healing experience. I have been in and out as a patron as well I have been filming for the resident DJ HeartWerk. So when he asked me to film for Sister Zo, I jumped on the opportunity.

Filming in St. Vitus has been and still is difficult. The club environment is so dynamic and fluid and I am still learning how to best capture the space. There are so many moving parts to consider when filming in a club; the physical space and lights, the DJ and sound booth, the crowd and dancing, the staff and drinks. The lights may stay dim or remain off for extended periods of time, the crowd may ebb and flow throughout the night, the music may rise and fall, the drinks may flow or it could be slow. Of course the club is most fun when it is full with a great crowd, great music and the drinks are flowing. But not every night in the club is a banger unfortunately. Whether I come to dance or come to film, I have realized I must always come to St. Vitus with an open mind, ready to accept what is and what isn’t.

Along this creative journey I am always learning new things. Every time I film in St. Vitus I learn something new. As well, every gig outside of the club I learn something I can then bring back to Vitus and use to my advantage. I will share a few tips and tricks with you should you ever find yourself in the club with your camera…

What lens you have and how you use it is probably the most important element in capturing good footage in low light conditions. You really need a lens that is f/1.8 or faster. I have found that f/1.4 is ideal. Next is focal length. In my experience, wider focal lengths are best as they can really capture the space and crowd in one frame. I typically like to shoot 35mm or wider in St. Vitus most nights. Going ultra-wide is always an excellent choice too, as you can get some really immersive images. Next is focus. When I first started shooting at Vitus in 2019 I always used autofocus and always struggled to get it to do what I wanted. The club is so dynamic; strobing lights, moving bodies. Autofocus just really has a hard time determining what to do. Manual focus is the way to go. For most still shots I have found that focusing roughly two meters out or focusing to the center of the dance floor yields the best results. I can often leave my focus at two meters for several shots and not have to think about it too much. For the sake of time, I have one last tip this go around and that is rhythm. Having rhythm by inclination and an understanding of music will help you so much. If you understand rhythm and general song structure, you can time your shots just right either with the lights and or the crowd.

Below are some select frames from the video and the video itself. Keep a look out for more Vitus content in the near future ;) Thanks for reading. Cheers!