We’ve said it before:  we love pianos.

But it’s not so easy to make Shoot the Player films with musicians who play them:  the instrument isn’t exactly portable, and they aren’t generally found in the sort of places we like to shoot in, public places where musicians don’t usually perform.  (Take a look at our Sydney Festival series if you want to see what happens when pianos do start popping up unexpectedly on street corners!)

So when we shoot piano clips, we go to where the piano is – but we still always try and get away from a standard onstage performance.  We’ve shot Amanda Palmer in her pyjamas, playing at the Opera House before her gig, and Parades in their living room (after they kicked grandpa out.)

Scott Spark is our latest.  We shot the funny, friendly Brisbane performer at the piano bar at the Menzies Hotel in the Sydney CBD.

Piano bars are great – the instruments are likely to be in tune, and they are public enough to allow for surprises.  And they were a lovely contrast for Scott’s songs – intimate, heartfelt, personal pieces – not what you might expect to find in a hotel bar, as the post-work business people and hotel guests discovered.