MUSIC VIDEO: ANNAPURNA 'VALLONIA'

 

Music videos are a wonderful and strange beast. There are really no rules for what they’re supposed to be and there’s not really a specific aesthetic standard. Music videos are a veritable playground for a filmmaker. 

I had wanted to work with the guys from Annapurna for years, and that’s no exaggeration. They’re all incredibly talented guys with amazing music and big ideas for me to play with. We originally had set up a plan way back when...but, ya know, COVID.

The second we were able to start booking shoots again (with precautions in place, obviously) I reached out to frontman Gregory James  and we started mapping out ideas, locations and everything else that comes before the cameras start rolling. 

We landed on an idea that was, on the surface, a simple performance video, but, loaded with subtext. 

With themes involving surveillance and manipulation it felt like, to me at least, noir, hence shooting it in black and white. From there, we kind of just kept throwing ideas at it.

We see a faceless figure manipulating the levels as the band plays without an input from them. All of the angles we shot (22 rounds of coverage) were meant to feel voyeuristic. My personal favorite aspect is the ‘old film’ effects that were created by David Jester of Mimic Visuals. They just help sell that idea of a complete lack of control.

I really love making music videos. I love when bands are into super fun ideas.

I love my job...if you could even call it that. Enjoy. Hit that contact form if your song needs a story to match.

 
Film, Arts, Narrative, Staff Picks, Featured, Behind the Scenes, RecentMike ThompsonMusic Video, Narrative, Annpurna, Surveillance, Black and White, Performance, Progressive, Rock