I think it all started with a message from Damien saying “You wanna make a video for MORE? It’s due in two weeks.” I obviously replied “Let’s go!”

The starting pitch was: a simple and effective idea. We wanted to blow things up very quickly because it’s about over-consumption and we needed something strong at the climax as the song is built up. Then, if possible, have a motorised two-wheeler as a nod to the motorbike break (code name for the guitar at 01:40). Ideas came in all directions. My producer persona thought « Ok, we don’t have much time, we can’t go off on a tangent that will take us more than a day to shoot ». So our different scenes had to be shot in the same area. 

By some celestial trick, I think back to that caravan in which my brother and I used to hang out during our teenage years. I hadn’t been back there in ages so there’s no guarantee it’s still there. I asked my mum to check as she still lived in the area and she said « what caravan? » (I had at least confirmed that our hideout was perfect). No choice then, two days later I made the return trip. The caravan was still there, it hadn’t moved an inch but it was even more beautiful than I remembered because nature had continued to gain ground. At the time it was obvious, we had to shoot there – then my practical side was delighted because we had this caravan within reach but also a field, a grove, a vacant lot and the family house for the lunch break. We now had to start from the location and build the story with these different elements.

Two buddies in the countryside who zone out, get pissed, break things and who, with adrenaline, end up hooking up. Well, all we had to do was find these two buddies for a rocking country Sunday in front of our camera. (Oh, and find things to break!) There were still a lot of unknowns in the equation: the actors, but also the weather (in Belgium, in March…), the farmer who owns the land and whom we could never reach for authorization, could just show up at any moment to shoot us with buckshot, and all those things like a shard of glass in the camera or in the eye that could make this shoot go completely wrong. You could say that luck was on our side. And let me quote Orelsan: If you want to make films, you just need something that films. I was quite relieved when we said « It’s a wrap » but we weren’t there yet.

In the end, between the script and the final result, only the bare minimum remained. First of all, because during the shooting we were carried away by the energy of the moment and we were quite confident that we had enough interesting shots even though we left out almost half of the scenes. The same goes for the editing, some filmed sequences were skipped because more than a story that goes from one point to another, it was a general atmosphere and a build-up that we wanted to construct. But as I said, the essential is still there. 

As it is a co-direction between Damien and myself, we wanted to stick together in the editing (in the same way that we passed the camera around on the set). This is, I think, an unorthodox thing to do in the discipline, especially on such a short video, but I think we managed to bring out the best in each other. We each took charge of one part and the other came to make adjustments, propose ideas, etc. As he obviously has a different knowledge of the piece than I do, his contribution to the rhythm of the editing was also considerable. And then he dealt with my phases of doubt and stress, and that too was considerable.

Once we agreed on the final cut (and after tearing my hair out on a rough color grading because it’s clearly not my job), I was happy but not entirely satisfied, and impossible to find out why. We prepare the upload with the video as it was, anyway at some point you have to let it go, accept that on any production you always have the impression that it’s not finished and that you could probably do better, anyway, the deadline approaches. Until I woke up at 5am a few days before the release with an idea… Everything has to be cropped to a 4:3 ratio (that’s the ratio I’ve always preferred to shoot, with a little Hi8 I’ve been lent for a long time). 

It makes more sense with the way we want to tell this story – besides, it’s striking when we crop the images that this is how we had filmed (unconsciously) and that nothing interesting was happening on the edges. So it’s getting out, we tighten everything up and we finally find ourselves at the right distance from our characters. We are with them. Damien agrees. That’s it, this time we let it go.

Here is the result

One last thing, a piece of advice even: if you are told that you won’t be able to get paid (much) but that you will gain visibility, at least demand to have carte blanche. That way, you can show exactly what your aesthetic is and/or put a crypto-gay message in it when the « client » is more of an old-fashioned masculinity performer 😉

Cheers.
– m