After completing my short film Beehive recently was asked by my camera assistant James Shepherd whether I would be interested in assisting him on a new music video he was directing. I was thrilled at the opportunity to work with him again and jumped at the chance.
The music video was for Sydney hip hop group Mind Over Matter and featured K.I.K.I.
So on a hot Saturday about 3 weeks ago I hopped on the train and headed out to Chatswood, to a dingy little community hall. At this point I hadn’t been told anything about the concept of the clip and since I had heard the song ‘Real Life’ by Mind Over Matter, I was beginning to get curious as to how this hall, which clearly hadn’t been renovated in over 20 years, could be the fitting location for such a catchy song.
I met the talented director of photography, Daniel Christie, who I was assisting that day. We were shooting on the Red One and rotating between a Tokina 11-16mm lens and Red 17-50mm lens.
As we set up lights and gear, the set was… set with a twister board and a trolley of delicious fruit (which at first I thought was the most impressive catering – I was wrong) and whipped cream. It was quite a large lighting setup and the limitations of the old hall created a few challenges for us as we sourced different circuits so we wouldn’t blow a fuse with our larger lights.
After watching a rehearsal which featured Willow, Smiles Again, K.I.K.I and two actors Jimi Elwell and Christine Greenough, I finally understood that this was a strip twist video (if there is such a genre).
So we got into it. We had a lot of shots to get through, and the physical challenges of being on such a cold hard floor were difficult for all the cast. Even more so once they were covered in fruit, glitter and cream. It was so slippery! But we were careful and managed to get most of what we aimed for, thanks to fellow International Film School colleague Phillip Chua who acted as first AD.
It was such a fun video to work on and even though I love Twister, I’m glad I was in the camera team for this one. I can’t imagine how long it took the cast to wash off all the glitter!
View the official music video below!
Real Life Music video by Mind Over Matter, featuring K.I.K.I
Director: James Shepherd
DOP: Daniel Christie
Producers: Grace Rein and Martin Brown
1st Assistant Director: Phillip Chua
1st Assistant Camera: Ehran Edwards
Gaffer and Data Wrangler: David Field
Production Assistant: Tim Oxford
Makeup: Nick Plummer and Aidan Hirn
Editor: James Shepherd
Colourist and Online Editor: Daniel Christie
Special Thanks: Luke Girgis
Cast:
The Bear – Jimi Elwell
The Fox – Christine Greenough
Featuring Smiles Again, Willow and K.I.K.I.
Written by M. Brown, R. Lockyer, J. Reichardt, K. Wilmot.
Produced by Matik & Jon Reichardt. Additional instrumentation by J. Reichardt. Tamborine by R. Di Marzo.
Mixed by Craig Bauer @ Hinge Studios Chicago.
Mastered by Danny Leake for Urban Guerrilla Engineers.
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“With my head in the stars, a twinkle in my eye and a love for cinema and nostalgia, filmmaking is a fun, creative way to express myself.”
Ehran Edwards 