I recently had the pleasure of working on the production of the music video for Rowan Stuart’s new single ’Survivors’.
Although my official title was ‘assistant creative director’, I wore many hats, and (of course) I couldn’t resist taking a bunch of behind-the-scenes photos.
The music video tells the story of a father and daughter who are lone survivors in a post-apocalyptic world. To get this effect, we decided on a simple colour palette of browns and greens, torn clothes and broken-down locations.
The cast included well-known Durban stage actor Bryan Hiles, who did such a great job as a father trying to keep his daughter’s spirits up in this lonely world, while trying to hide his own worries.
The young daughter was played by Leah Laurenz, who captivates you with her big eyes, gorgeous face and expressions that seem wiser than a 9-year old should have. The kind lady in the video was played by Leah’s real-life mother Liesl Coppin, who is also a well-known actress in Durban.
We were hoping for bleak, desert-like areas, but since we were filming in the super lush Durban in Summer, we had to settle for overgrown ruins, which in the end gave the video its own special quality.
My favourite memory of day 1 was when we had to stop the shoot due to a sudden downpour (not good for expensive camera equipment). We all ended up eating rain-soaked, soggy pizza under the shelter of a huge tree in an empty reservoir.
Day 2’s highlight was when a family of zebra video-bombed us while we were filming in the beautiful Kenneth Stainbank Nature Reserve.
Day 3 was way too hot and sweaty for me to have a favourite moment, but I still got some striking photos.
And my favourite moments of Day 4 (band performance day), were when the boys had to play the song at double speed for a video effect – they looked like crazy people (maybe I’ll upload a clip of this soon...). And once, during a break, they started playing a version of the Duck Tales theme song for a minute and then snapped right back into rockstar mode.
It was a great experience helping with every part of the video – from making artistic choices, to carrying equipment and holding reflectors. I even used one of my other favourite skills when I baked muffins for the grateful cast.
You can watch the video on: https://youtu.be/oxOj7DQQ84Q
We hope you like it!
CAST & CREW
Bryan Hiles: the father
Leah Laurenz: the daughter
Liesl Coppin: the kind lady
Filmed & edited by Alan Stuart
Directed by Rowan Stuart
Assistants: Reg Stuart & Carryn van Leeuwen (me!)
THE BAND
Rowan Stuart: vocals and guitar
Andy Turrell: bass guitar
Mike Wagner: percussion