Content Diaries: The V-Kei Night Boat Party
I think I’m going to try and make this more of a regular thing, so I can give some insight into my content process and get back into uploading more often on here! All opinions are my own and neither reflect the opinions of the brands mentioned, nor have I been paid to mention them in any way. This was also written with my own brain, completely AI-free (despite any em dashes)!
In case you don’t know, Visual-kei Night is a DJ event series focusing on Japanese Rock and Visual-kei, a Japanese music-based subculture that has expanded into many genres since its conception. V-kei night plays at venues across Europe, creating a space where we can enjoy the music without judgement! Check out their website for announcements on new events!
Thoughts before
This is my first time travelling to London for a gig, so this is pretty big for me! Travelling to London often makes me nervous because I’m always hyper-aware of getting lost and having only myself to rely on to get home (can you tell I have anxiety haha). I’d been looking forward to this for months though, so it was more excitement than nerves. I’d heard of Visual-Kei Night before, but being based in London, I hadn’t been to one of their events before. I met briefly Kaoru, the founder of V-kei Night, briefly during The Beside Me in Hell tour with tzkwym and The Devil Inside, where she helped in running the event. I saw she was wearing a V-kei Night t-shirt and decided a couple of days afterwards to ask if she needed any help managing their social media! I’ve never been much of a night owl, so being able to have a club-like experience in the middle of the day is perfect! Music is a big part of my life, but I’ve never been able to fully identify with subculture labels like goth or emo (aka I can’t stick to one thing). That’s one of the reasons why I love visual kei, it’s such an interesting and varied subculture, made up of so many different styles within it! I was so excited to see what music they played and needless to say I wasn’t disappointed!!
First I have to so say that Tamesis Dock is such a unique venue! A couple of years back I stayed in one of the houseboats in Shoreham-By-Sea and this immediately reminded me of it (for obvious reasons). I’m actually quite afraid of the water, so it was nice to still get the boat experience without actually setting sail. I got there about half an hour early so I could get some shots before the boat filled up with people. I didn’t get a lot of photos of the interior itself, but even the toilet was really cool; I love places with a bit of character and this is definitely one of them! Because I didn’t know when I’d be eating next, I decided to get a pizza before the main crowd arrived, which you can see pictured alongside a glass of coke.
The entrance of the boat, with the event poster. The view of the walkway to the boat from the entrance. The view of the back of the boat, which leads to more seating. A pizza with a glass of coke.
The main event
Anyway, I started off by taking some shots of the boat’s exterior and the event signage. I always try and film signs and posters at the event because it sets the scene pretty well and makes for some good thumbnails! I got some good footage of the layout of the boat, but when more people started to arrive it really started to come alive! It was nice to see people unafraid to dance and do furitsuke, it really made such a difference to see people enjoying themselves. The way the boat is laid out you can see the dance floor from the bar area above, which was really helpful for capturing a wider range of angles. Although, I think my favourite were the POV shots that I took from amongst the crowd, jumping around with everyone.
Because I take a more authentic approach, I tend to film and photograph a lot more than what I end up using. To capture people in their natural state (and portray the atmosphere in the most authentic way), you end up developing a kind of sixth sense as to when to press record. I always get this feeling of “wait I should record this” at random times and often I’ll capture something that makes the final cut. I always say that there’s a place for “overly polished” content, but my focus is always on showing people what an event was actually like. That means actually getting involved — in this case, jumping around and enjoying the music!
You have to be especially mindful when filming stuff like dancing because people go to these kind of events as a way to let off steam and be themselves. It can kind of ruin that fun if you’re aware that you’re being perceived or think that someone is filming you in a malicious way. However, I always make it very obvious that I’m filming and watch for people’s body language. As it happened though, I ended up cutting out the vast majority of people’s faces anyway.
A lightbox sign located above the stairs leading to the lowest level The bar was compact but they had a lot on offer! More signage at the entrance of the second floor.
Afterthoughts
Like the Tarot Fayre, this was another instance where I wish I could’ve split myself in half and had one half who could enjoy the event as a guest! But at the same time knowing that I’m helping to keep niche community events like this alive is what makes it all worth it. It’s rare that I get to hear Visual-Kei outside of my own home, so it was amazing to be around people who also love it.
Something I want to do next time is actually talk with people. When I’m in “work” mode I almost get tunnel vision and don’t really relax until the event is over, which is definitely annoying! I’m pretty introverted too, so it can feel a bit unnatural to try and talk to people first (even without my stutter). There were a couple of instances where I nearly complimented a couple of people on their outfits, but hopefully next time I’ll muster up the courage!
If I had to pick a favourite moment of the night, it would have to be during ROSIER by LUNA SEA; we were all singing and Kaoru cut the audio for a second so it was only our voices. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s moments like that which stay with you for a long time. And I just so happened to get it on camera too!
Making the content
The first thing I do after any event is sort through my footage. I watch back every single video I take in full and cut out the highlights into new clips. I always keep the original video, but having separate clips helps me to organise stuff better and decide what to include in an edit. I put these clips into my favourites in my camera roll, then them into a dedicated client RAW folder on my desktop. Something new I did this time was name each clip; it took more time, but it makes it far easier to differentiate between them when editing.
Something that I found challenging (but in a good way) was minimising people’s faces from the footage. As I mentioned earlier, it’s important to respect people’s privacy (despite what the law allows), but event-based businesses obviously rely greatly on marketing future events using past dates. Anyway, what we ended up agreeing on was using colour-grading to darken the videos. I tried out a couple of different methods, like just blurring people’s faces but it reminded me too much of CCTV. Because we wanted to capture the overall vibe rather than the actual people there, I decided to zoom in and largely avoid people’s faces! Whenever I do the actual content edits, I always send the RAW and edited individual clips, which was especially important in this case. While people who hire me trust my judgement when editing, I always like to give them the option to use any footage how they like at a later date. Especially when you’re doing B-roll (or just stuff that can only be used once, like an interview), you want to maximise the use you get out of each clip. You never know when you’re going to need a specific clip from six months ago in your B-roll bank.
Then came the actual edits. I usually edit photos first because I often use them in a compilation-style video (or just post them as a carousel). My style of editing leans on the natural side, I typically increase the contrast and perhaps fix the lighting, the actual “airbrushing” is only limited to stuff like lint and other surface-level scuff. In this case, I wanted to maintain the cohesion between the photos and videos, so I added some extra contrast and lowered the exposure. I used songs from the playlist and timed the clips to fit in with the beat and recreate the vibe of the day. I was really happy with the end result and so was Kaoru! It was so cool to have more collaboration posts with V-Kei Night because it reassures me that my work is worth representing others’ businesses! By the time you’re reading this, the videos will already be out!
So, that was my first content diary and for the Visual-Kei Night summer boat party no less! I had such an amazing time and I’m very grateful to have been given opportunities like this.
If you’re interested in working with me for your event, email me here with an outline of your event and I’ll see what I can do for you!
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