Tomhet

Released March 2020 - Content created by Undone Creative

MAKING OF THE VIDEO

This was one of the most memorable creations for me.

One of my dearest friends Joshua offered to help me. I would say he really directed the video. I knew he had the ability to take his character to the depths it needed to go. He would do several takes just to get his shoulders and hands right. I’m so glad we got to create something together.

We tried to have an opening shot here but this block was run by MAPLE LEAF MEATS and they thought we were making a documentary about animal cruelty and were asked to leave.

He and I biked around Vancouver looking at several locations and testing various types of camera equipment.

Josh wanted to remain ambiguous, he didn’t want to be featured. His character was to be observed and carried the viewer along in first person.

location scout 

I wanted to shoot the video in slow motion. But when I lined up the camera tests to the music it felt too surreal. It really needed to feel uncomfortable and as “real time” as possible. So I went hand held, and we shot at 24fps

I wanted to convey the feeling of distention, loneliness, and internal darkness.

High Contrast, with little a warmth

Location scout

I would meet Joshua at 430am and we would drive around to interesting locations I had discovered during the week.

As I was compiling the edit over several weeks of shooting it was clear I needed to add a transition from exterior to interior (inside our mind). Diving into the internal conflict.

I chose red flashing lights to continue with the tension and finally was able to shoot high speed for the bands performance. We had shot the “Evelyn” video earlier that morning and had all the equipment I needed to pull it off. We shot the band portion at “The Spot” in Vancouver right after the band had finished their Spot session. Easy peasy.

We shot this entrance way footage in the basement of Rufus Guitar Shop on commercial drive

I found this eagle sanctuary in Delta. It was supposed to be a location for a show I was working on at the time called “Resident Alien” . I knew if we got there at sunrise we could get some cool stuff.

For Jahmeel the footage shot at 60FPS really worked for his singing. I wanted to create a sense of uneasiness an unpredictability. I used projector to illuminate his body in and out of darkness.

Jahmeel embodied the song, I didn’t need to give him much direction at all.

We shot all of the projector stuff in my living room.