A few Months following the Fiction Record 40 year Celebration John Robb got back in contact with me, earlier in the year he has mentioned needing music videos for his new upcoming album they were releasing, within the email he expressed there were three songs in which they wanted videos for, he sent me over the songs and we set up a meeting straight away where we discussed our options, the first video he wanted was a shamanistic bonfire, the second a ballet dancer and the third a Viking boat on a river.
We discussed our options, my main worry within all of this was we had no budget, I was extremely happy to create anything for John with no payment as he has helped me out a lot in my past with Fiction Records and asking me to write on his website “Louder than war”, although I knew the budget for the video ideas would come at a price, for example the Viking boat idea we legitimately couldn’t have created due to having to find, buy and ship a Viking boat and then pay for a lake within Manchester that we would have to put the boat within, we decided this idea was slightly too pricey and moved onto the next idea of the shamanistic bonfire, here we felt we could do something really cool we found actors, crew we booked equipment and then it hit us, where would we put the fire? I spent over a month emailing Manchester and Salford council, local parks, private farmlands and even regular bonfire locations around Manchester yet no one would allow us to set up a bonfire, John expressed that one of the band members had some farmland yet we would have to wait a few months before we had access there for we moved on to the simplest idea the ballerina.
I made a lot of advertisements taking them around ballet schools and on local social media sites trying to find us a ballerina and to my luck I found a few, although around the same time John had found a ballerina that he really wanted, she had pale white skin and ginger hair therefor we started to plan, the music video would be in a dark room, surrounded by green and yellow lighting the band would be in the distance alongside the choir and the ballet dancer central, Unfortunately the ballerina john found fell through so after re organising a few things I got in touch with a local ballerina from the northern ballet school, she was just what we needed, I set up a meeting with john Robb to show him the dancer and he agreed she was amazing, I sent her over the song with a brief synopsis of what we wanted from her and what the membranes are and stand for, the email went as follows:
“The Membranes Info:
Genre: Punk Rock, Post Punk and Noise Rock
Record Labels: Cherry Red Records Creation Records, Vinyl Drip Records, Criminal Damage, Rondelet Records, In-tape, Constrictor, Glass Records and Claw Fist
Album Information: 'A dark and brooding double album of psychedelic post-punk soundscapes under the tutelage of Hieronymus Bosch...’
Who are The Membranes?
The Membranes are a huge band in Manchester and have been recognized from 1977! John Robb the lead singer was the man to discover Nirvana, document the Stone Roses rise out of Manchester, coined the term brit pop and has his own website magazine ‘Louder than war’.
Music Video Information:
We can ensure this will be a great opportunity to be recognized by the media, hopefully giving yourself and our crew more future opportunities within the film industry!
This is an unpaid project, although food and transport can be repaid for, as well as copy of the project for your personal us
A Strange Perfume Music Video:
The music video will take place in a dark lit room, with green undertones; the band will be seated around the room.
You would be the center piece, the main focus, dancing to the music in preferably a leotard of some kind, we will give you complete freedom to dance to the music as you want, although we would love to have a rehearsal with you beforehand so we can talk over ideas, The song is quite fast paced in certain places and were happy for you to go as wild and crazy or as simple as you feel necessary.”
Immediately she replied saying she wanted the part, She began sending me small video clips of her dancing to the song, it was incredible to see her so eager to be in our videos.
Myself and the crew then spent the next few weeks planning, we created shot lists, risk assessments, mood boards, we knew john wanted a black swan vibe for the video to start out slow and then explode, once all equipment and the room was booked we went to get our food supply’s, luckily most people on set were vegan so we spent around 20 pounds on food ingrediance and made an amazing vegan curry for the break time, we ensured we had runners on set to help out with setting up and lighting on the day.
The day of the music video came and everyone was up bright and early, we set up all equipment in the room and the set was looking really cool at this point, our ballet dancer and band then arrived and I took them away to begin directing them on what we wanted from today, myself and john took an hour with the ballet dancer to watch what she had planned and we also gave some tips on how to be more manic, she picked this up really quickly, as the choir arrived it was time to start shooting, myself and Jamie (cinematographer) was the main people on set this day running around getting all the shots, I ensured to keep checking footage and reshooting where needed, directing the band, choir and dancer was really refreshing for me and everyone worked together so well, by dinner time we had filmed so much footage we ensured we were keeping a check list of shots we had done and needed to do throughout, we then let everyone have there dinner, following the half an hour dinner break we finished the shots that had the band, choir and ballet dancer in.
We then focused on single shots of just the ballet dancer, this was an opportunity for myself and John to sit beside the camera and observe the dancing, it was really cool to be able to do this and get johns opinions on the shots, with the extra time we had we did some more creative shots afterwards and then watched back over the footage, that was a wrap, the day had gone so well and I was so proud of myself and my crew and how well we had done on the day, The Membranes are a huge band in Manchester and this was such an incredible opportunity for us, John couldn’t thank us enough on the day.
Editing time then came around, after realising the editor was pretty stressed due to other works, I took over the edit for the first few days, I put together the basic backbones and it was looking really good, at this point I knew the editor was going to come so I organised all clips into individual folders and organised everything, I created a list of notes that John had given me for the style, cutting to beat, colour grading, titles etc. the editor then joined and added her touches to the video, I ensured I was sending John the stills throughout and videos from my phone to keep him updated at all times, I kept visiting the editor and giving her advice on what to add and change etc.
A week passed and I went to watch the final export of the music video and I was so impressed with what we had created, I immediately uploaded this to my YouTube and sent the link to John Robb who was super happy with the video, he expressed he would ensure our names got out there within the press, he then really boosted my confidence when he wrote me a private message saying “I knew you would do an amazing job, you ooze talent!” for me this was such a lovely thing to say and really showed me that I can do amazing things when I put my mind to it and with the help of an incredible crew. I then send the video over for John to add to the Membranes YouTube account, we then got news from an American PR who asked us to set the video to unlisted on both YouTube accounts so we could do an exclusive release on The Quietus website, for me and my crew this was huge, its such a odd feeling seeing your work out there being talked about by the press, the following week our work had another exclusive viewing on We Rock Webzine, it really makes a huge difference seeing your work on these platforms and I’m so grateful that I had this opportunity. I'm so unbelievably proud of myself and my team on this project.
John was so impressed with what we created he contacted me earlier this week about another music video he wants, were currently in the planning process of this video, it extremely humbling to have a man alike john asking for me to work alongside him, it was only last night he sent me over another video in which he created asking for my advice on them, I’m so grateful to have such an amazing contact and hope to continue working alongside him in my future.
Music Videos:
· Anya’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nbIUFdEJ9M
· The Membranes Music Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wflO2b9bHP0
Press:
· We Rock Webzine: https://werockwebzine.co.uk/the-membranes-release-a-strange-perfume-from-what-nature-gives-nature-takes-away
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