Last week, we were treated to a special and quite beautiful video of The Quiet Ones. Director Rob Brown was kind enough to answer some questions about the making of the video. Turns out he has been following Turin Brakes since the release of The Optimist LP.
1) How did the video for The Quiet Ones come about? Did you know Turin Brakes before the shoot?
“I’ve been a fan of Turin Brakes since The Optimist album and went to the 10 year anniversary gig for that album at Koko in London in 2011. It has been a long held ambition of mine to make a promo for them so I’m very pleased to have done so. We shot the Tar Barrels event in November 2017 and then filmed additional shots of Turin Brakes in January. We released the promo on Vimeo last week on February 19th.”
2) Why the song ‘The Quiet Ones’ from ‘Lost Property’?
“Originally the idea was to edit our material a pre-existing song from Turin Brakes’ last album, approach the band to pitch the concept with my edit and then re-edit our video to a new song from their recently released album ‘Invisible Storm’.”
“However, we fell in love with the song while editing the video and then couldn’t imagine the material being edited to another song. Thankfully the band agreed with us on this. I am very glad we decided to cut our video to The Quiet Ones as it fits our video’s concept and mood perfectly.”
3) Can you discuss the visuals of the video? Why these scenes of Ottery St Mary in Devon, set to this music?
“I have always wanted to depict the Tar Barrels ritual in Ottery St Mary (which began in the 17th century) having attended this event previously. The video needed an uplifting, anthemic song to convey the atmosphere of this tradition and I couldn’t have imagined any other band than Turin Brakes for this. We filmed at the Tar Barrels, edited to The Quiet Ones and then filmed additional shots with fire and smoke. Then, when the band were onboard, we filmed shots of the band firegazing as well.”
“Essentially, I have wanted to direct a Turin Brakes video and film the Tar Barrels for years so this was a perfect combination.”
4) How difficult was it to bring this project to its full potential? With all the crowds, fire, heat and darkness during the night?
“The shoot was very dangerous with no way to totally eliminate the risk. Our Cinematographer Jamie Harding and I discussed the risks at length, strategised to protect our safety as much as possible and were both in agreement to move forward with the shoot. We filmed on the Arri Alexa which is a great at filming slow motion (up to 120fps), retaining detail in the flames and generally shooting in low light. The camera weighs more than 8kg so it was very difficult for Jamie to manoeuvre amongst the crowds of people who had been drinking and were in high spirits! Jamie did a fantastic job on this video, I had the concept for but the execution is totally down to Jamie responding to what he saw at the Tar Barrels with some beautiful composed shots. Additionally, Sam Holding edited the video and did an amazing job. Sam Holding and Jamie Harding deserve so much credit for the video as they took a broad concept and turned it into a promo. Colourist Toby Tomkins made a huge difference too.”
5) What other work would you recommend for people who like this video you made? Any of your own projects that people would enjoy too?
My feature film Sixteen is available on iTunes, Amazon, Playstation, Xbox etc in the UK. Additionally, my short films (Paper Hearts, Silent Things and Echoes) are available to watch for free on my Vimeo channel (after you’ve watched our promo!).
Thank you to Rob Brown for taking the time to answer these questions. Check out his Vimeo channel for all his work!
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