Coma Wall - Summer

I had the pleasure of working with the band Coma Wall over January/February to create a video for their song Summer, from the split record Wood & Wire with their alter ego, Undersmile.

The genesis of the video was natural. I was interested in the band and invited them down to Northampton to play a show (which turned out to be pretty unsuccessful due to a double booking at the venue) The aim of the night, much like the other night's of music I've put on, is to create images which I feel relate to the band's themes, musically and lyrically.
Coma Wall's music is heavily influenced by the acoustic side of the 90's grunge scene, but which a distinctly doom-ridden style of song/riff-writing. Both atmospheric and also very relaxed. Inviting, yet dangerous.
It wasn't difficult finding images for the evening, the inspiration was right there and I connected with it instantly.

The band themselves were lovely and completely understood the angle I was coming from in regards to the correlation between a certain kind music and imagery. They were enthusiastic about the work I was planning on and gave me plenty of input. The final images lasted 30 minutes and consisted mostly of stock footage which reflected the sleeve image of their record.

The footage is again comprised of stock footage, and also some I shot myself. I added numerous grains and colour alterations to give it a washed out, vintage feel. This was tricky due to the footage from being all over the place. Some of it was in full HD, and some of it was cruddy old VHS so it was a tricky learning curve but I'm very pleased with the results.

The video itself was premiered on the Sleeping Shaman website to promote the record before the band go on tour. The article, which features an interview with yours truly can be read here - http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/news/coma-wall-premier-video-for-summer-undersmile-gig-dates-announced-including-kin-hell-fest-leeds/

And the video itself can be watched right here

Coma Wall - Summer from Chris Purdie on Vimeo.

Merrin - Doom Cinema update

Well, we've certainly had our fare share of problems with this shoot, but we're still just about on track for getting it finished since it's initial release date was delayed.
Of the many problems we've faced, it's casting that's proven to be the biggest hurdle to overcome.
Let down not once, but twice by leading actors - I had to step into the fold as a performer in one of the films and drastically re-write another. It's a real shame when things like this need to be done, and it's not the first time. Obviously, the biggest problem this causes is distracting me from the job at hand - directing.

As such, I've been a little unhappy with some of the shots, especially in the third part of the film. Also, as I couldn't behind my camera, most of the footage was eventually captured on my second unit camera which wasn't a film camera, it's DSLR which only produces footage that can be used on certain editing software's which are far out of my humble, unpaid price range. As such, I've wasted a good month trying to edit the film at a painfully slow pace before it crashes and destroys the entire project. (This has happened three times already, forcing me to start again from the beginning)

Anyway, problems and creative compromises aside, the film is looking alright and initial screenings have been overwhelmingly positive towards it's dark, tongue in cheek tone.
Is it good enough to be released? Probably not.
But the learning curve has given me a better idea of how to put a project like this together. As always, the solutions are strongly in favour of downsizing the entire crew/cast to a few dedicated people.

What I have learned is that you simply can't control people who aren't fully invested in your project.
And if your crew hasn't invested in your project then you can't control the quality of the final product.

A harsh lesson.

The premiere show is at the end of April and it will receive a small number of screenings.