Summer is nearly over, and looking back over August during this weekend full of rain, I’m able to piece together the process of a recent project; Sorrow’s Golden, which was released yesterday by UK artist Leo Lore. The idea was brewing for a little while, whilst the collaboration was taking shape. Shot and cut by myself, produced by Ella Chipchase and designed by Daniel Franklin, we always knew we wanted to go all out on the creative side of things, to counteract the year gone by.
The shoot was always brewing with an exterior location for me, we recce’d a number of places around Norfolk, ranging from the countryside to coastal spaces. The team and I took part in frequent Zoom calls (the standard production meet of choice throughout lockdown) and fine tuned our ideas. We were to follow a feeling, create an atmosphere, to expand upon the music video format as much as possible. I was so keen to load the car up, and get shooting and the shoot day felt like such a release, culmunating in the final edit a couple of weeks later.
We reached Loc a little after sunrise, and setup our workspace and kit for an hour or so before our artist arrived. We knew Saturday shooting during a heatwave, beside a beach would provide it’s own workflow issues, but by the end of the day, covered in sand-and-sunburn, we knew we had it in the bag.
Low-budget and the lingering pandemic meant we shot with a skeleton crew, it was very much all hands on deck. I directed and shot myself, whilst Dan designed the ever-changing set-space around me. We achieved multiple setups, and allowed our attention to detail thrive. Having spent a bit of time in prep together, on styling hauls and mood-board extravaganzas, I felt we’d nailed the atmosphere intended. Colour is always a huge part of the design process for me, and it was an extremely positive experience having Daniel onboard, really pushing our warm, European summer palatte to the max.
Sorrow’s Golden is a visual poem, each setup like a picture postcard. From a DOP point of view, I wanted to blend mediums, mix up formats and incorporate stills within the cut. Photography is very much part of my moving image process, and although it’s not too conventional, I often include still life, through animation in my work, and this was no different. The juxtaposition excites me, just as much as the video questions the mood itself; is this a dream or is this a nightmare?
The piece draws from memory and nostalgia, film itself a recurring reference. The video presents a collage of visuals, I worked in an extremely hands on way with the camera, in order to immerse the viewer, and create a sensorial picture that expands upon the traditonal performance piece.
Although we play with abstraction, there is a narrative here, almost dreamlike, drawing from a conceptual mindset. Low angles, looking up to a blue sky, with flowing shirts and grass blowing in the wind. The piece aims to be motion-driven, slow-paced and light. The warm colour palette is key, and essential to the landscape, drawing from the natural tones, complimenting without being overbearing.
Leo Lore - Sorrow’s Golden is available to stream in full now. See the video on Youtube (link below)
Directed by Emmaalouise Smith
Produced by Ella Chipchase
Art Direction by Daniel Franklin
Costume supplied by The Dynasty Wing
Written & Performed by Leo Lore
Guitars & Keys by Freya Roy
Produced by Mikey Shaw