With lungs full of sea air and wellies full of water, we took to the shores and waters of the Solent to film this off the wall music video for Alfie Neale. Right from the get go, we referenced Wes Anderson's small subjects and wide frames, and of course those lovely bold pastels that fly across the screen. So how did we do it?
The Process
The song is catchy, and we wanted to play on that catchiness with some frames that you could feel. With a mixture of land base filming, and some from the water, we captured a bold spread of Wes Anderson inspired frames with their symmetry and style.
You'll see from the photo's that this one was a small unit size, and that played to our advantage. Plus there was only room for 3 and a camera in the boat. We did face challenges though with choppy waters and a strong current, so decided to swap a few of our water based shots for the land instead.
After pitching our treatment to Alfie, focusing on the Yellow Oilskin look and the Wes Anderson style frames, he was on board in full. The playfulness of the lyrics is echoed in the styling here, and we knew that his yellow suit would really make him pop against the background.
Here's a look at a few pages from our treatment, focussing on the "Vibe & Style" and a "Story Beat" from the video.
The first part of the day was all shot from the water. We used a little 3 meter inflatable to get ourselves to the shores of the coastline to capture the rowing shots you'll see scattered throughout the video and the shoreline wides you'll see at the start.
Fitting all the kit on the boat was tough, but we managed it.
We loved working on this project. Filming on the water definitely has its challenges but no task is insurmountable. Where's the fun if there's no challenge.
