I recently co-filmed a music video with my partner Rowan Stuart for 'Sense Of Touch' - the second single from his new album (which comes out on 31 March).
We were preparing to shoot a completely different video for a different song, but our plans fell through at the last minute. We ended up with a few days to decide on a new concept, and to find actors and locations, in order to meet Rowan's planned release schedule.
Luckily I have a big family, and my cousin Angela and her husband Andrew were available and keen!
Andrew was even in the process of building a new garage, which we felt would make an epic studio-like space. This also meant that the couple didn't even have to leave their property for the shoot - win! Especially when you have a toddler.
Rowan's concept included 4 set-ups for Angela and Andrew...
We had them dress up in workwear, for their 'office' scenes.
We had them dress in comfy, soft and textured clothing for their 'at home' scenes.
Andrew is a competing MMA fighter, so we had him doing a few punches, kicks and combos. For this setup, we used harsh light with deep shadows, to create a dramatic look.
And we also asked them to dress up in fancy formal clothing and to wear masquerade masks. We had two mask options for Andrew, the first one being a white full-face mask. After a few minutes of shooting with that look, Rowan was having doubts about the mask and asked if anyone else was getting a 'serial killer/Michael Myers vibe'! Andrew agreed, and luckily we had a smaller and less psychopathic option...
Angela wore a decorative pink full-face mask, which I loved - it looked so mysterious and fairy-tale like.
The shoot had its challenges, including load-shedding, which meant we had to switch to battery-powered lights for two hours, and the couple's toddler was racing around the set on a plastic motor bike. We ended up having to zoom in on certain shots in post-production, to crop him out of the image while he was whizzing around his mom and dad, Hahaha.
Finally, it was a wrap - for Angela and Andrew, at least. We still had Rowan's performance scenes to film.
We got permission to film at Eagles View Yoga Temple in Winston Park, and had the space to ourselves for almost the whole day. It was such a peaceful and unique room, with amazing decor, beautiful wooden flooring, and moody natural light coming in from the windows.
We even had an audience of dogs, and a peacock who sat by the window sill for the entire shoot. The dogs were just as 'zen' as the temple, and looked great, so they made it into the final video.
The weather that day changed from heavy rain to sunny, to windy, to rainy and then just overcast, so the quality of light changed a lot. I think Rowan did a pretty good job of matching the clips in post-production.
I'm happy to have completed another video with Rowan, and we are both inspired by the lovely comments the video has been getting on Facebook so far. Check it out on the link below, and let us know what you think.
Here's my customary photo with the cast to end off.
