I grew up within the world of my parents running several newsagents within central London as a child. Without them, this project and myself, wouldn't exist.
On the 25th January 2014, I was one of four ushers at my brother's (not blood) wedding. At that wonderful event, I met Sammy Patterson and Alex Oliver briefly, friends of the groom. Two weeks later, a music video/short film was completed between us.
A couple of weeks before the wedding, I wrote two treatment documents, one a coming of age drama that covered several years in a young boy's life into a man, the other, a simple portrait of the life of a shopkeeper in a day. These treatments were submitted as possible scenarios to make a short film of, which in the end would become a music video for the song ‘Hendra’, Ben Watt’s new solo album.
After that perfect weekend in Cambridge flew by, I went home and put my feet up, mind full of scripts waiting to be fed when all of a sudden - a tweet came in.
'Check your email' by Ben Watt, the musician that was leading the competition, co – judged by Mark Cousins, which I had submitted a couple of ideas to a few weeks earlier. The idea entitled 'a short film about a shopkeeper' had been chosen as the winner to represent Ben Watt's song 'Hendra', also the title of his new album, his first solo album in thirty one years.
Lost on my feet due to the unexpected turn of events, a deadline of two weeks loomed in which the music video had to be completed. I stood alone at this point, no producer, no cinematographer, no editor, no location, no idea.
So I phoned Peter Harmer, the man whose wedding I was an usher at. Completely lost and unsure how and if this was going to happen, I needed someone to tell me that it will be fine and that I will help you and Peter was that man. Peter read the treatment with delight and agreed to shoot and edit the film.
Peter put me in touch with Producer Sammy Patterson, a person whom I would recommend to anyone to work with and whom I would work with again without a second’s thought. Sammy thinks from all angles, is organised, is always coming up with new ideas and kept me calm whilst I stressed. All the elements of the production that I thought couldn’t be sorted or achieved, were done so and more, thanks to Sammy.
Myself and Sammy scouted locations together and separately of newsagents mainly, walking from shop to shop and attempting to gain their interest. At a point when it narrowed down to two, it was a childhood surprise that ended up being our perfect location. A residential street shop that Sammy went to as a kid in East London, which became more of a home than a location as we were welcomed by Mr Patel and his family. Furthermore we were able to capture authenticity to the highest standard as the real shopkeeper Mr Patel agreed to star in it.
As with all productions, problems occurred and things changed hour to hour. At a point when Peter came down sick, we were left without a cinematographer and an editor for the project all of a sudden. This is where Alex Oliver, whom I had met at the wedding, came onto the scene. Alex Oliver had shot Peter’s wedding and after viewing her previous work on her website, including a music video for Basement Jaxx, I felt that the subtle scope and visual sensitivity of her work would capture this project beautifully. With my storyboards, visual examples, shot list shared to Alex and with only a few days left until the deadline, we finally had our shoot date secured.
Thursday 6th February - 3.20am: I awoke and drove across London to Leyton to meet up with Alex and Sammy. Shooting began at 6.30am. We wrapped at about 19.30 and Alex immediately began work on the edit.
Within a day, Alex had completed a first cut of the music video, of which I was 70 percent happy with. A few suggestions here and a few changes there and then came the moment when we sent the film to Ben Watt. Myself, Alex and Sammy were at this point very happy with the cut of the film.
The response was warm, welcomed and enthusiastic by Mr Watt. He immediately wanted to share it with Mark, his US and UK distributors who shared positive views. The music video was now nearly complete. Sammy, the Producer took care of the colour grading over the last few days, a process she thoroughly enjoyed and in her own words ‘this is better than going on holiday.’
The music video was submitted finally on the 12th February and it premiered online on the 24th February 2014.
Thank you to -
Peter Harmer for his support and most importantly putting me in touch with Sammy.
Alex Barrett for taking the time to listen to my worries and concerns during the entire production every other day on the phone http://www.alexbarrett.net/
Alex Oliver for taking on the project during her busy schedule and for understanding what I wanted to achieve with the film http://www.alex-oliver.co.uk/
Sammy Patterson for loving the project as much as me.
Sheena Patel for trusting our vision and for nudging her dad to star in the film.
Mark Cousins and Ben Watt for liking my original treatment, for putting trust in me to direct it and tell my story.
My parents - my biggest inspiration in everything I do, have done and will do in the future.
You can view the music video via http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/mark-cousins-ben-watt-everything-but-the-girl-music-video
Plus via Ben Watt’s YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e_KxrI3erc
To end, two lines from the song ‘Hendra’
"But I must allow these feelings
And just let them fall."
