When Emily Thomas came to me with this very personal story that she wanted to express in video form, I instantly could imagine how we could shoot this in a dreamy, cinematic way! At the time she already had a director who was working on it, but a few weeks later, when that director dropped out, Emily contacted me! We had worked together previously on Cellus Hamilton’s “Seeds” music video on which she is a featured artist, her lark-like vocals adding a heavenly vibe to the hip hop song. It was great working with Emily again!
The artist wanted additional performance shots, so I invited her to my apartment where we set up a gold backdrop and painted her in gold! The artist researched and executed all of her own makeup and hair for this shot. She really put in a lot of work to achieve the highly specialized look!The artist was friends with someone who worked at Bar 13 in Manhattan. The bar graciously allowed us to shoot in their back room, which was unused during certain days of the week. It was a wonderful, very spacious location where we were able to use the kind of long focal length lenses that I prefer!
We had a chinaball on a stick and hooked up to a dimmer for this party/dance shotI overlay macro shots of the glittery backdrop from the apartment shoot into the previously shot video in order to blend the two looks.The artist had a custom dress made for this scene, and also created these candle-bottles with my guidance.This subtle shot shows both love interests– a sneaky foreshadowing for what’s to come!
Loved these silhouette shots
Love the dramatic lighting in this shot of the artist looking over her shoulder as she reconsiders leaving the bar
These dramatic shots were achieved by holding a large chinaball on a stick above the artist’s head as she moved through the space. It was soft lighting that had the perfect blend of drama and softness for the scene.
