Video Capture Device booklet

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Weezer - Video Capture Device
Music video by Weezer
Released	March 23, 2004
Format	Video longform
Recorded	1992-2002
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	180 minutes
Label	Geffen
Producer(s)	Weezer
Professional reviews
Amazon link IMDB link
Weezer video chronology
Maladroit (2002) Video Capture Device (2004) Make Believe (2005)

Weezer - Video Capture Device: Treasures from the Vault 1991-2002 (or simply Video Capture Device, abbreviated VCD) is Weezer's only proper video release. Directed and compiled by Karl Koch, the DVD included a booklet with liner notes for each video it contained.

Liner notes

Scans of these liner notes can be found in the VCD entry of the Physical Release Catalog.

Videos

"Undone - the Sweater Song"

Summer 1994 Directed by Spike Jonze

How most of the world has introduced to the band. The reign of Spike Jonze begins here! This was roughly take 15 or 20 out of about 25. By this point the band had abandoned hope of doing a serious take, and thank goodness!

"Buddy Holly"

Fall 1994 Directed by Spike Jonze

The one that blew everything out of the water for Weezer, and, along with his "Sabotage" video, put Spike firmly on the map. No computer trickery, just a real Al, real sets and real props, combined with vintage footage to freak out a lot of fans not yet familiar with what CGI could and couldn't do.

"Say It Ain't So"

April 1995 Directed by Sophie Muller

The band wanted something a bit more grounded and serious after the pop culture explosion of "Buddy Holly," and Sophie responded with the touch needed to capture the band in their original rehearsal "garage" in West L.A. Unfortunately, they couldn't play hackey-sack to save their lives that day!

"El Scorcho"

August 1996 Directed by Mark Romanek

Whatever weirdness that led to the band's version being the 'MTV cut' has long since been forgotten, and everyone now concludes that Mark's cut is 'The One.' The video was hot in Downtown L.A. at some sort of old ballroom.

"The Good Life"

December 1996 Directed by Valerie Ferris and Jonathan Dayton

Perhaps the least focused Weezer video, sort of an amalgam of John and Valerie's Pizza Girl plan, and a well-shot yet oddly contradictory performance from the band - both funny and serious.

"Pink Triangle"

1996/1997 Edited from footage shot by Karl Koch and Jennifer Wilson

An ad hoc video for a song that never got much of a fair shake as Pinkerton's 3rd single. The video includes studio work plus live footage from Reading '96 and shows in the summer of '97.

"Hash Pipe"

Spring 2001 Directed by Marcos Siega

Impressed by how the bands looked in his other videos, Siega was sought out and asked to avoid referring to the lyrics in his treatment. Sumos were brought up, and immediately approved. Rock!

"Island in the Sun" (Ver. 1)

June 2001 Directed by Marcos Siega

Marcos' "Mexican Wedding" plan made for a fun day in East L.A., and a really pretty video.

"Island in the Sun" (Ver. 2)

August 2001 Directed by Spike Jonze

"Weezer... with the animals!" was the only instruction given to Spike, and he knew exactly what to do. The video was all shot in one day in a 110 degree savannah up in Simi Valley somehwere. The chimp wasn't interested in joining the band.

"Photograph"

January 2002 Directed by Karl Koch

This was the first video featuring Scott. "What if we just made our own video and pit it out there?" "Yeah!" "Karl, sort it out!" "...well, alrighty then..." Shot across America.

"Dope Nose"

April 2002 Directed by Marcos Siega

Going back to the rock with Marcos, who dug up some wacky motorcycle gangs for a midnight romp thru Grifith Park in L.A. Pat always wanted to play hexagonal syn-drums back in his youth, so now he finally got the chance.

"Keep Fishin'"

Spring 2002 Directed by Marcos Siega

Muppet mayhem, and a bold foray into actually saying lines for Weezer. Fortunately, the Muppets are veteran actors and helped the guys ease into their parts.

"Slob"

Spring 2002 Directed by Karl Koch

Shot on the beach in Barcelona, Spain and in a (cold!) dressing room somewhere else in Spain, plus live stuff mixed in. Originally Rivers was supposed to have an electric guitar on the beach, but when we never had time to go back down to the beach and re-shoot, the acoustic became "it."

Documentary, B-Roll, and Live Stuff

"Undone - the Sweater song - Alternate take"

Summer 1994 Directed by Spike Jonze

Of the unused takes, there are several pretty good 'funny' ones, but none as good as this one. This is one of the earlier 'serious' takes, which also was before the cameraman had sorted out his 'moves.' Pat shows good form in the dog bonding at the end. The clip starts with the end of the previous take, 'cuz it looks cool.

"Weezer Goes to New York: The Making of the Blue Album"

Summer/Fall 1993

Rehearsing for an recording the Blue Album. This was all shot just prior to Brian joining the band. Video camera troubles prevented the documentation of Brian's contributions. Don't try these stunts at home!

"In The Garage - Live"

August 4, 1994

Shot in Denver in the afternoon, at a different venue from the that night's gig at the Ogden, which was with a seated audience-for reasons we never figured out... Oh yeah, it was for the Weezer DVD 9 years later!

"Jamie - Live"

October '94, February '95

Spliced from 2 partially filmed performances. This is what happens when the guitar tech is also the video documentarian. Video techniques in their infancy, to say the least! 1994: Opening for Live in the biggest place Weezer had ever played to date. 1995: Bustin loose in Holland!

"Buddy Holly News"

Late 1994

The band has had its share of MTV coverage over the years, but this is an early one, and indicative of the good antured abuse VJs were often subject to when trying to get a straight answer out of Weezer- not to mention Spike!

"Saction"

Spring 1995

Touring in Europe and the USA. Includes footage of "Say It Ain't So" captured secretly in the recording booth of a Dutch radio station, and more "roadie footage," this time of "No One Else" in front of a raucous L.A. audience.

"Say It Ain't So - B-roll"

Spring 1995

Only a handful of documentary footage exists from this shoot. Live footage from a show a few weeks prior rounds out the Spring '95 scene.

"Say It Ain't So - Live on Late Night with David Letterman"

August 4, 1995

The top requested fan favorite television performance. No TV performance ever goes perfectly, but there's a real vibe here, with Rivers painfully balancing in his leg brace, and the band riding the emotional rails of unexpected success.

"Weezer Goes to Van Nuys: The Making of Pinkerton"

Early 1996

Studio work and shenanigans at Sound City studios. Some lost recordings can be heard in this piece, including a glimpse of a never finished, never mixed "Superfriend" and an early attempt at "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams," before Rachel Haden was recruited on vocals.

"El Scorcho - Live"

1996

Sort of a segue between the studio origins in January '96 and the live debut on September 24, 1996 in the Tower Sunset parking lot, with a bit of (sadly almost nonexistent) documentary footage from the video shoot. Things got a wee bit chaotic in that parking lot! A bit of Surf Wax is thrown in to capture the final unraveling. Wonder what's on that video camera that Rivers borrowed from the fan at the end?

"Good Life - B-roll"

Late 1996/Summer 1997

Only a small bit of b-roll footage survives from the shoot for The Good Life, but it's a neat glimpse of the band. Live stuff is from the summer '97 tour opening for No Doubt.

"Pink Triangle - Live and acoustic at Shorecrest High School"

November 12, 1996 ^[sic]

The performance heard on the "O.Z. ep" and the "Pink Triangle" promo CD. Shorecrest won a contest held by 107.7 The End in Seattle, for a lunchtime performance by Weezer. Apparently the kids were stoked to learn some new vocab words...

"Mykel and Carli - Live at The Palace, L.A."

August 15, 1997

First encore song of the memorial concert for Mykel and Carli Allen, the band's fan club presidents, and their sister Trysta, all of whom were killed in a tragic auto accident while en route to a Weezer show in Salt Lake City. The saddest yet perhaps most uplifting stage moment in the band's career. The girls' father, Wayne, delivers a touching speech to introduce the performance.

"My Brain - Live in Santa Barbara, CA"

June 16, 2000

The fans came to the rescue again, to document the band's first official performance in nearly 3 years, and the first unveiling of the Summer Songs of 2000 material, like this one, "My Brain (Is Working Overtime)." Other songs in this series went on to be album classics like "Hash Pipe" and "Dope Nose."

"Outlog"

November 2000

Desperate and futile attempts to record the web greetings for the upcoming Yahoo! Outloud Tour. No, Yahoo! never used any of this stuff...

"Stoopid Fresh"

Fall/Winter 2000/2001

Pre-production for the Green Album, and the band is on the loose in L.A. Unusual footage of the guys walking and driving around, intended mostly for Yahoo! Tour promo stuff, although it was never used. Rehearsal footage for "O Girlfriend" and an unreleased track "No Way" are featured. This piece also includes some Green Album vocal action for "Don't Let Go."

"How Not to Do an Interview"

July 2001

Weezer has demonstrated a lot of tips on 'How Not to Do an Interview' over the years, resulting in countless shunned and unused interview tapes languishing in vaults all over the globe. Here's a particularly weird-and funny-example, from an attempt with MTV Europe in London.

"Dope Nose - B-roll"

April 2002

Shot and edited by Tim Bellomo of Stunt Grunts. Tim put this together and sent it over without us even having to ask. A nice peek behind the scenes, and a nice editing job to boot!

"Eurotrash"

Spring 2002

More rock and weirdness, this time over in Portugal, Spain, and France. Unreleased track "Mad Kow" gets some workouts, and sanity stretches to its limit!

"Take Control - Live"

Summer 2002 Filmed and edited by Karl Koch

Enlightenment Tour multi-camera/misused lens madness!

"Fall Together Pre-Show Warmup"

Spring 2002

Spanish dressing room... acoustic jambin'... vibin on "Fall Together"... Heeyow!

"Prodigy Lover"

July 2002 Filmed by Rod Cervera

16mm sweetness in a studio demo session. Originally slated for the 5th album, "Prodigy Lover" was later left behind as newer songs arose...

Raw Nuggets

"The Answer Man"

Fall 1991

A heartbeat away from Weezer: 60 Wrong Sausages, featuring Rivers, Pat, Jason, and Pat Finn. Weezer kept performing this Rivers catharsis-jamb for a while, but it as eventually shelved in favor of more melodic fare.

"My Name Is Jonas - Live"

August 16, 1992

Some of the earliest known footage of the band in action. Rough around the edges, but at a backwoods hippie love fest part in Guerneville, CA, who cared? Mixed in is some footage from a show the day before in Eureka.

"Lullaby for Wayne - Live at Club Dump, Hollywood"

April 29, 1993

A never released song, done special here for Pat Finn [last seen in "The Answer Man" clip], who was movign away from LA. This song made it as far as Blue album rehearsals, and was then scrapped.

"Undone - Y-100 Sonic Sessions"

June 20, 1997

An intimate live acoustic session for Y-100's Sonic Sessions. The band was joined for this performance by Tim "Speed" Levitch, avant-garde poet and unique personality. Tim was out with the band for a few tour dates around this time, gracing performances of Undone up and down the East coast with his free jazz words and hyperactive cartwheels.

"Mad Kow - Acoustic warm-up"

Spring 2002

Spanish dresing room...acoustic jambin'...vibing on the unreleased "Mad Kow."

TV Advertisements

"Blue Album TV Spots"

Spring 1994

"Susan Weezer"??? Barf! Classic example of "What was the marketing department thinking?" syndrome. The seldom seen "Say It Ain't So" version is pretty cool, though.

"Pinkerton TV spots"

September 1996

The fabled, "falling snow" ad, which aired only a few times, and the more conventional ad based on the "El Scorcho" video.

"Green Album TV spots"

Spring 2001

"Hash Pipe" video chopped into commercial craziness.

"Maladroit TV spots"

May 2002

Crafted from the "Dope Nose" video

Credits

Gotta have a credits roll! Black and white footage shot by Rod Cervera in July 2002. The classical version of "Photograph" couldn't have been a better fit.

See also

• Video Capture Device