An Island Away From The World

Last year Rowan Stuart and I filmed a music video for his single ‘An Island’ – the first video we ever filmed on our own – and this week marks exactly one year since its release on YouTube.

We were leaving for a six-week tour in a few days and needed a concept and video in a hurry. Rowan has a very creative mind, so quickly came up with a practical concept for the song.

A secluded beach near Ballito would become our ‘island’ for the story, and now we just needed an actress to star alongside Rowan.

Having worked with local musician Summer Du Preez on several photo shoots, we knew she’d be a breeze to work with, and would fit the part well. Fortunately, Summer was super keen when we asked her.

We went clothing shopping, and chose outfits with very bright colours, to stand out against the neutral tones of the rocky and sandy beach.

This was our first time using a professional video camera, and Summer had to lay in this position for so long while Rowan and I figured out camera functions and settings! She may look comfortable, but she ended up with a sunburned back, a rash on her tummy, and she got swept off the rocks by rogue waves a few times. Sorry, Summer!

After her solo scenes were done, we began filming Summer’s scenes with Rowan. This was tricky because we were only a 3-person cast and crew, and while Rowan was on-camera, I had to set up the shots, press record, then quickly run and hold a huge reflector to light the performers.

We managed to work quite quickly despite the learning curves from never having done this before, and after a day of climbing up rocks, burning in the sun and walking in cold water, we managed to get all the scripted scenes, just before daylight ran out.

The next day, we attempted Rowan’s solo scenes, which involved a cheap guitar that we painted blue to suit the video’s look – it turned out pretty epic, if I do say so myself!

We filmed at a gorgeous upmarket hotel but sadly had to scrap all the footage because of an error with our lighting and camera settings, which created flicker across all the footage – EPIC FAIL!

Day 3 of filming began, and this time we stayed home and made a makeshift bedroom in Rowan’s recording studio for his scenes. It worked out surprisingly well.

After all the footage was complete, Rowan downloaded some free software and edited the video. I was amazed at how our little project came together in the end, and felt inspired to keep going and improving in videography as well as photography.

Check out the video for ‘An Island’, as well as the video we just uploaded for Rowan’s latest single ‘The Kingdom Of Leaves’ on Rowan’s YouTube channel – and don’t forget to subscribe.

The last shot taken of day one just before we packed up the gear.

Let us know what you think!