Aren’t videos shot on phones the worst? Between the low definition picture, high likelihood of user error—seriously, stop filming things vertically, people!—and garbled audio, there’s not much reason to capture video footage on your phone outside of, well, proving something happened. If that thing happens to be a concert, your camera is almost always better off in your pocket. However, when that shaky, pixelated footage is just one part of a 15-camera setup, and the audio is thrown out in favor of mixed and mastered material, perhaps there is a place for phone-shot videos in music after all.
During a recent show at Riverwest Public House, Something To Do asked people in attendance to take out their phones and to start filming. Though shooting concerts is usually a taboo practice, Wisconsin’s premier ska band wanted to collect footage to use for a music video. “Tina Fey II,” off last year’s Not Making A Sound, received the video treatment that combines phone footage from 13 onlookers (and two stage-mounted GoPros), masterful editing by guitarist Chris Holoyda, and Something To Do’s patently energetic stage presence that come together to forge a visual spectacle with a sum that’s greater than its grainy, out-of-focus, oft-vertical parts.
If the video has you wanting more, Something To Do also just released a cover of Drake’s “Hotline Bling” last week. Stream it below.