It seemed easier to put all this music on one page rather than make separate music video pages for each. This creates a slight anomaly, as I haven’t written a song called Humdiggity, as it refers to an album. The decision to make a series of music videos was straightforward – it improves engagement on Youtube. The emphasis was on momentum, experimentation and quantity rather than any specific quality. I know, I know, judge me…
Scrofulous
I shot a short sequence over the pier at Bournemouth then put all kinds of effects on it in FCPX. I’ve always had a soft spot for kaleidoscopes. This just seemed an effective way of relating to the music. I toyed with the idea of doing a dance number for this, but ultimately felt too self-conscious. I think it’s difficult to do that without raising the alarm of extreme pretentiousness.
Anomie
This was simply jammed together from a night vision camera that I had set up in the garden to capture fox activity. I tried to cut it in a way that creates spatial continuity but in reality, it is recorded over months and they are clearly different foxes!
Happiness Curve
This is built entirely in FCPX without any camera footage at all. It’s just a manipulation of effects and video generators. I was just playing over and over with settings, and I’m quite happy with the outcome, considering I’m normally skeptical of this kind of experimental filmmaking.
Edgelord
Bit basic really. Just a LED wand into an iPhone. Colour graded a bit. I think this has some glorious moments but outstays its welcome. I think it gets clicks on Youtube because of the fancy thumbnail. Such is life in the attention economy.
Glue Sniffer
I love the name of this track. The video is a simple recording of the summer fireworks in Bournemouth, then manipulated as the track goes on. Fireworks seem so lame as you get older. It is practically impossible to keep upping the stakes and making them effective. I felt these effects helped to make it visually stimulating again. No sniffing of glue was used in the making of this video.
Frowsy
Another made with no camera, just generators in FCPX. Again kaleidoscope, roughly cutting different shapes to different sounds. Super simple.
Dude, You’re Trying Too Hard
I record videos to practice songs and make demos. They help to see the fingerpicking patterns and the chord shapes. So much easier than when I used to write tablature in notebooks. Anyway, I had a chunk of these lying around, so why not use them. Really lazy, or economical, depending on your perspective.
Widdershins
Simple really, just iPhone and some dolls. I wanted to make this more of a stop motion project, and haven’t ruled that out for the future, but just didn’t have the time and valued fast turn around of ideas that would take an hour rather than a day. Honestly, it was this rapid momentum that kept me interested, as I know I would build resistance and not complete an animation if it took me too long, especially for a music video that would hardly get any views!
Drones
Perhaps the most visually striking of the projects, even if it isn’t the most visually stimulating. No fast edits, no camera movement, just slow transitions of the painting that was used for the cover of Qualia. I think it is beautiful.
You Embarrass Me
This video was actually from a lecture that I recorded for my old students in Bournemouth. I would intercut my teaching in the room with pre-recorded sections that demonstrated an underlying intention that connected the previous week’s lecture. I simply repurposed it, and morphed frames for the sake of it. I have always found that effect to be interesting, and had never attempted it. This is a crappy attempt to do it, but I enjoyed the process nevertheless.