Blood and fire
Creating the official comeback video for legendary deathglam band Deathstars was a dream coming true, and it was an honor carrying forth the torch of their visual legacy while at the same time breathing life into its next chapter.
We worked tightly with light and laser designer Rob @it_is_li7 to fully utilize the venue at Slaktkyrkan, and are happy to summize we reached our expecations and goals by coming up on almost half a million views.
Complex shoots abroad
The band Lazy Queen headed by massive talent and visual poet Henrik García Søberg has always aimed high when it comes to images rich with emotional content. For this, our third production together, we were both inspired by the recent developments in surrealism and sampling as tools of narrative film.
We wanted to create a collage of threads and clues, a web of moments through which a deeper form of truth can be gleaned. Helping us was 32 actors, 142 takes, a plethora of locations across Oslo, and only three days of shooting. Here it is.
Theme and genre
Let’s not beat around the bush: Stoner metal has a very special place in my heart. The dark and mindbending subject matters, the brooding riffs, the cosmic horror. Very few bands does it as well as like Besvärjelsen.
Working closely with the frontwoman Lea Alazam, we dreamed far and wide about rows and rows of birch trees, blue skies and ritualized penetration, flowery dresses and gushing climaxes.
Clean impact
Lustans Lakejer has over a lifetime in the service of synth honed their craft to remove all unnecessary components of their sound, not unlike how alchemsts sought to purify essences down to its most basic elements.
The key word is this: Refinement. It communicates dignity and confident capability. This should be mirrored in the visuals. Bold decisions and stark contrasts. Humble situations á la Bergman, but invoking questions of how physics and relationships aren’t that dissimilar. Both have gravitational pulls, bending of light, and black holes.
VHS and tape
Since the very beginning, I’ve been fascinated by the feeling of shooting analogue: both video- and photography. The artist Adna is also transfixed by the subtle change in interface and vibe as it relates to both visuals and audio, and we made the decision early to shoot a music video on VHS.
Since then, I’ve shot many such videos on both VHS, DV tape and camcorders, but still this first venture into the field has an undeniable and raw pull to it.
Be silly, have fun
Sometimes, the right way to go is just to embrace a gimmick fully and with love. Rock band Satan Takes A Holiday never back down from a challange, and have always aimed at striking and unconventional imagery. Featuring Swedish synth queen Emmon, a plan was hatched to channel old punk posters, revenge exploitations movies from the 70s, and side scroller games from the 80s.
A green screen, a few props, actors with no limits and a few good ideas.