Letters to the Dead

Here is a trailer for my new film project (and probably only film project of 2012)

Letters to the Dead - Official Trailer from Chris Purdie on Vimeo.


Over the Last few months I have been having regular production meetings (drinking sessions) with my friend Nick Hudson.
We became acquainted through Stuart Dahlquist after I put together 'Birds' for the band Asva

ASVA - Birds (OFFICIAL) from Chris Purdie on Vimeo.

We both share a mutual love for various stems of Avant-Garde/Experimental music (although I am definitely on the heavier end, more akin to Heavy Doom Metal.
Nick is a musician who performs solo, and also as part of a troupe called Academy of the Sun.
He's putting together a new concept album called Letters to the Dead. Its going to be an ambitious project that will eventually be released on Alter Clef Records and Antithetic Records as an LP/CD/DVD & Book multi platform release in Winter 2012. Its a massive project that I'm excited to be part of.
Being a musician myself, I have been producing and having people produce short films for my shows.
The project with Nick is basically the same thing but on a much larger scale.

The story to the album is complicated and progresses through many themes. But the basic gist of the story centers around a mother who abandons her child to the sea as a sacrifice to the God's, and then her subsequent trial for said crimes.
We also spend time with the childs father, who in an attempt to contact the child posthumously, inadvertently awakens three lost spirits from the sea.
Finally, the mother is convicted and also banished to the sea, where she is reunited with her child.

All very eerie stuff, not to mention the stuff I haven't mentioned, including a seance/possession that's not far off looking like something from The Exorcist.

We took two days off in Brighton to film some scenes and they turned out beautifully - some of which can be seen in the above trailer.

Here are some screenshots of our fun.

Shots taken by Lyndsey Muller

Screengrabs from the finished Trailer, taken by myself

Obviously, we all had a great time working on this and the shoot was definitely a success.
We will hopefully be linking up again soon to shoot further scenes, which will be chronicled on this blog as and when there is any news.

I feel this is a very exciting project to be involved in and I'm looking forward to sharing more with you all.

Nebukadnezza & Ghee

I've been filming more Heavy Metals at The Unicorn in London. Its a cool little venue I go to sometimes. Between Camden and Holloway.
I filmed some bands there not so long ago and this is how they turned out.
I might be doing some else with the guys in Nebukadnezza sometime in the future if we can arrange the time.



Nebukadnezza are a great thrash punk band. Choppy razor sharp riffs that never stop. Great fun and great sound live. I think I've captured the energy of their live performances on this video.
However, it occasionally looks like the vocals are out of sync. I can assue you it is all in sync, I think it was to do with the sound in the room being picked up on the camera maybe a fraction of a second late. These things happen when you're using the live audio rather than a direct recording from the mixing desk.
Point learned.

I also filmed another band on the night called Ghee.
I had some trouble with this band, and two others on the night. Because the vacalist wouldn't stay on the stage.
This isn't uncommon at Hardcore Shows, but it's a real pain in the ass for me if I'm only shooting from one camera. I can only stretch my coverage so far before I have to start deliberately editing things out of sync, which I HATE.
Anyway, I opted to just put some atmospheric effects over the screen and enhanced the lights and darks.
Luckily the band were sounding good enough and were interesting enough to watch that the video is still enjoyable.

I didn't cut together any of the other bands on the night because it wasn't interesting to watch a video that consisted of the singer standing in the dark with the audience.
For these kind of shows, I think I'll try and incorporate two camera's to make sure I can get coverage of the band, and the walkabout vocalists.
Another point learned.



I filmed The Atrocity Exhibit again too on the same night, but I haven't had time to cut those pictures yet.
Should do soon though.

Milton Keynes XSCAPE Spring Fashion Show

I recently Directed and Edited a series of short promo's for Aplitude Media a few weeks back.
The aim was to create a 'Flash Mob style event, consisting of Models, Breakdancers and BMX's Wizards suddenly performing in a busy shopping complex for a few minutes, then vanishing almost as quickly as they appeared. We did 10 performances in total, with a different fashion brand each time (including DC Clothing, Quicksilver, O'neils, Trespass and plenty of others) I wont post all the video's here, as they are variations on the same model, below.

This shoot involved three camera's. 2 handheld and one set up on a tripod - for maximum coverage.

I was also asked by the head honchos at XSCAPE MK, to shoot a behind the scenes Documentary. It was very last minute and thrown together quickly, but it works very well as a promo. Hopefully we'll be shooting a similar event in the the near future, and we can prepare a video shoot that's bigger and better.. It was a massive learning curve for all creative parties involved, and an invaluable experience.

Links to Amplitude Media can be found at the bottom of this blog.





AMPLITUDE MEDIA
http://www.amplitudecommunications.co.uk/apps/blog

Madame Electrifie........... is not even French

Here's a video I shot for the good folks over at Madame Electrifies Discotech - I've done one for them before, and there may be more on the horizon.

This promo was created to enter the night into a competition to play at Glade Festival in June.

The ladies got into Glade, so I am very proud of the video.

The track has been recorded, but was performed and captured live. ie, the track you can hear IS the track that the performer is mixing. On all of the arial shots, its the actual track being played. Most of the other footage has been shot as closely to that as possible.

It was a fun video to work on as I got to use the stage at The Picturedrome Venue, and I made full use of its lights and curtains. We also made use of costumes and make-up and props. Overall it was a very fun and messy shoot.

Do it yourself fast donkey Promotions

I was recelty asked by 'Do it Yourself' promotions to film some shows from the bustling London Underground Metal Scene. We start with this, from a bunch of guys I've had the pleasure of shooting once before. They're more brutal this time though, and the video was too.

The Atrocity Exhibit, Live at The Grosvenor, London 2012

Noise Complaint

Noise complaint are a mental band. end of story.

Hopefully catch them again for more filmage soon.

William English

This band are awesome though, really nasty sludge mixed with hardcore. They were an intense act, and I think the video just about captured that

Again, thanks to Do it Yourself, Fast Donkey Promotions for letting me film on the night :D

Cure for the Common Cold

Blowjob Sequences

The Billy Shears Project

Dancefloor Dreams

I shot the lads on the same night as Dave Vegas. It wasn't planned, but they are a great band also and nice bunch of lads. Video turned out pretty good too.

Dave Vegas Project Part 2 & 3

Mosquito Girl

Streets of Berlin

As I said earlier, this is a great band and are deservedly getting a lot of attention at the moment. These video's were a pleasure to work on and hopefully I'll shoot another show of theirs very soon.