“I shot this on a Sony FX3 with a cinema rig buildout that I use for most shoots. Because of the run and gun nature, I needed a rig that was light enough to be nimble but also packed enough of a punch to sell the cinematic quality as well as last a whole day. The chaotic nature of this project required a lot of doing and not a lot of thinking about what to do. I shot everything based on intuition. The only “planned out” scenes were the initial Goblin and Knight meeting, and the amulet scene.” 

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing, one of the harder challenges for Kalinofski was letting the prosthetics settle on Konnovitch’s face. Keen eyes may notice as our goblin knight smiles wickedly in a closeup to the camera, the tiniest bit of silver poking through his green skin. Facial hair is always a pain point for actors, makeup artists and filmmakers alike. Keep a slight beard or some stubble, and it may be difficult to remove. So much so that even DC Studios $100 million budgets can’t even cover up a simple moustache. But shave it all off, and an actor scheduled for multiple shoots and growing out his beard for a role may just create another headache for a different artist or stylist. Regardless, Coyoc and Kalinofski were not only up to the challenge, but were able to hide things practically to great effect. Kalinofski elaborates:

“Flexibility is super important when it comes to prosthetics and thankfully the ones that we used by Dyad are incredible (and fit our actors well) so we didn’t have to worry about that at all. The full face prosthetic on Steve came in two pieces to separate the chin from the rest of the face, so once it was applied he was able to fully emote freely. The one challenge that this brought up for us since it wasn’t one full piece that covered the entire face is that Steve had facial hair so there was a small gap where the prosthetic met his beard because there wasn’t exposed skin to blend the appliance into. Thankfully Hannah had the idea to cover his facial hair with a thick adhesive called Bondo, and that bridged the gap between the prosthetics for us really well.”

Flexibility is also something Kalinofski valued in her teamup with Hannah. Makeup on small and big sets alike is extremely time intensive. Hours can be spent in the chair, and one slip up can mean going back to square one. It’s a soulslike quest not for the faint of heart. But for Kalinofski, that difficulty and tension also leads to a form of creative enlightenment for the team:

“A lot of the work involved in applying bald caps and prosthetics is super technical, tedious and precision driven, but when it came time to paint we were able to get creative and add touches that really brought our goblins to life. Details like adding freckles with alcohol paints and using an airbrush to add warmth to the tips of the ears and nose are personally my favorite part of the process and gives the artist a chance to shift from technical work into storytelling.”

On the VFX and editing side, Lorenzo Graziano had a much easier time, thanks to the preliminary work of the other departments. His job was no less important to the production however, as he had to bring all the whimsy, comedy and style together. If Tunney’s the squire, Graziano is the scribe copying it down into the tomb to be passed down for generations to come. The dreamlike intrusions of the goblin merchant and the transformation sequence come first and foremost to his mind:

“The indoor [dream] sequences were very helpful. It enhanced the playfulness of the music video and how surreal the whole thing felt. I found it especially useful when the knight was on the beach, cutting between the knight searching for treasure and the goblin busting out moves. (…) The [transformation] was surprisingly easy once I figured out the technique. I edited in Davinci Resolve and used the magic mask tool for the glow effects around the amulet. With a couple clicks, it tracked the amulet,  I used a glow plug-in to get the effect. We also did some practical effects, putting a red light inside the snow and using a tube light to motivate the glowing amulet. The lightning bolt was a stock image I masked and superimposed, with flickering effects to make it feel alive. The knight 360 spin was also practical: Colin captured the knight jumping at every angle to create the 360 effect, then in post I cut it up to create a stop-motion timelapse effect of the knight frozen in the air. I added a mask with a white glow to make it look like he got struck by lightning.”

Colin Tunney‘s time filming “Stay Blessed” is very much an RPG in and of itself. Being born in a land full of its fair share of oddballs, he formed a party of the best and brightest in their chosen profession and soon it would form into a guild, a production company, going by Cultivision. And like most guilds, Cultivision, according to Tunney is ultimately built on camaraderie and friendship:

“I want Cultivision to fuel all of my creative endeavors as well as those of my friends. I see it as a vessel and a vehicle to make stuff happen. It’s a production company but it’s also a network of creative and talented people. Cultivision projects include music videos, commercials, and short films. We are working on putting together feature films and that’s the direction I would like to head in the long term. Two really important facets of Cultivision are authenticity and a DIY attitude.”

And as our heroic knight sheds his false skin and joins his goblin brethren, and Tunney’s vision for his creative practice takes physical form, there can be no better end to the tale of “Stay Blessed”.

Here is the official video for “Stay Blessed“

Music Video Credits

Production Company: Cultivision. Director & Writer: Colin Tunney. Producer: Stephen Konnovitch. Editor / VFX: Lorenzo Graziano. SPFX Makeup Artists: Hannah Coyoc & Sydnie Kalinofski. Knight & Goblin Actor: Stephen Konnovitch. Little Goblin: Anthony Shafir. Knight Body Double: Jimmy McCollough. DP: Colin Tunney. Gaffer: Lorenzo Graziano. PM: Doris Hangsberth. PA: Marcos Lebron. BTS/PA: Alondra Morales. BTS/PA: Sean Ferguson.