feature'The biggest and baddest!' - Otis Dominique on making RAYE's epic Genesis videoFollowing acclaimed collaborations on Escapism and Flip A Switch, Otis Dominique's third video with RAYE has been their most ambitious and complex so far. The KODE director breaks down the epic seven-minute visual for Genesis - which has three nominations at this year's UKMVAs - and offers an insight into his creative chemistry with the singer.Otis Dominique had a very good idea what to expect when RAYE and her creative director Mikey Robbins got in touch at the start of the year about making a new music video. Dominique had already directed two videos for RAYE and as he says: “Those were not normal videos in terms of the amount of time, energy and passion that went into them.”Then he discovered that RAYE and Robbins were planning to take things to the next level with this new project, a new, as-yet-unfinished song called Genesis. It was shaping up to being an epic - a song in three distinct parts. And arguably her most ambitious statement as an artist to date.RAYE had super-strong ideas to begin with.“RAYE sent me the song,” he recalls. “And my heart was racing just listening to it. I was just blown away. I was thinking: 'This is so wild; there's so much stuff we could do with this'. Then Mikey flew out from LA to London. We linked up at RAYE’s place for a few nights in a row, just thinking of ideas, watching references, and really immersing ourselves in the song and the experience.”It was the tried-and-tested method of working that had been established with the previous collaborations, that had led to the three developing a comfortable way of working together – and develop a friendship.“We go back and forth, we'll chat for hours,” says Dominique about the writing sessions that have been the basis of is videos for RAYE to date. “Our dynamic is that no one's worried to say an idea, even if it ends up being bad. It's more like: just throw it out there. Then someone else might interpret it differently or take it on a new path and make it great.”The singer and director's first collaboration was the video for Escapism.“At the time, I only knew her for songs like You Don't Know Me with Jax Jones, or dance clubby tunes. All good, but Escapism was much more what I like – raw and honest. There are so many layers to the song, so many switch-ups. When she sent me the track, my mind just filled with ideas in terms of where the film could go.”The resulting video played its part in helping to make Escapism a phenomenal success for RAYE. That led to last year’s Flip A Switch. And now, they were working together on RAYE"s first music since the album My 21st Century Blues propelled her to the big time with critical acclaim, commercial success and an unprecedented triumph at the BRIT Awards earlier this year.The serious themes of the lyrics of Genesis – the struggle for self-esteem and the soul-crushing effects of social media – wrapped up with the religious connotations of the concept, from the title, and its very deliberate seven-minute length, had to be reflected in a meaningful and creative way. The process began in the same fashion as previously, with RAYE’s initial thoughts about what the video should be. And in the case of Genesis, Dominique says, “RAYE had super-strong ideas to begin with.”Above: Otis Dominique (next to camera) on set of RAYE's Genesis videoThis led to the Genesis video manifesting three distinctive styles for each of its three musical parts. It also let to the team of director, creative director and singer devising a literal or symbolic visual accompaniment to every line of the lyrics in the important central section of the song.Later in the process, Dominique would work out how to shoot everything, with his production team at KODE, and following discussions with DoP David Wright, also decide to mix things up further by embracing a variety of film formats, including using a thermal camera, and shooting on reversal colour film and even Super-8mm. So now, with the help of Otis Dominique, we unpack the many elements - and multitude of meanings - that have gone into the epic video for RAYE's Genesis.RAYE ‘GENESIS’ - THE BREAKDOWN1: 'At the start it feels like RAYE is on the edge - on the verge of jumping.'OTIS DOMINIQUE: In our initial discussions, there was a feeling that we wanted to begin the film for the first part of Genesis (or ‘Genesis 1’) in a compromised place where it feels like RAYE is on the edge - on the verge of jumping.That section of the song is all about your head being so involved in your phone - social media, selfies, ring lights, self-esteem. It's about when your mum calls you and you ignore it, and when you’re trying to call someone that you like and they ignore it… There was so much to do with phones that we came up with the idea of the camera continually coming out of phones.2: 'It was a bit mad but we ended up actually shooting the scene on RAYE's iPhone.'OD: Ultimately this was easier to achieve this shooting with an iPhone itself. We were shooting in RAYE's house, not in a studio, and we had the limitations of the height of the ceiling to deal with. With the iPhone, the focus stayed within the room and you could see what was going on. With 'proper' cameras we weren’t able to achieve the same focal length or able to see the scene as an entirety.But then, the phone that we were trying to shoot on the day, had issues, and Raye had the newest iPhone. So we ended up actually shooting on her phone. It was a bit mad the way it all came together.RAYE always wanted the beginning to have subtitles. Then Mikey had the idea of them going left-aligned, almost like a poem. I'm not going to lie, it didn't have anything to do with me, but I thought that was a really nice touch. And it’s very RAYE.3: 'We realised it would be sick if the second part of Genesis was a show in itself.'Above: Otis Dominique (left) on-set, supervising the transition between the first and second part of the video.OD: Our starting point with ‘Genesis 2’ was that we were entering into this void and having the choreo unfolding – but we didn’t know how. It was all about the symbolism and making it quite surreal. Then we came up with the idea of it being in a theatre. That's when the real intricacies of every scene started to unfold, when we realised it would be sick if the second part of Genesis was a show in itself.It's almost like a stream of consciousness. Both involving surreal symbolism but also at times very literal, on-the-nose portrayals of the lyrics. Everything is very purposed, written for a specific part of the song. 4: 'RAYE and choreographer Maureen Moores came up with the ideas that reference the Creation story.'OD: The number 7 was very important in the project, and throughout this piece, due to the biblical story of Genesis. The song is 7 minutes long, and there are groups of 7 in the video. For both the band at the end and the dancers, there are 7 of them - including RAYE.For the start of Genesis 2, RAYE and choreographer Maureen Moores came up with the ideas through the choreo that references the Creation story in [Book of] Genesis [in The Bible]. One of the dancers offers her an apple that she bites, and then some of the others wrap their arms around her like a snake would.5: We shot the match-cut sequence on 35mm film, to create the timeshift effect in-camera.OD: What we wanted with the dancers was for everybody to look and feel different – different backgrounds, body types, and so on. It was part of one of the ideas that RAYE wanted to convey, that we all have our own lives, look different and act differently, but there is also unison and synergy between people because we go through similar struggles in life.So with the match-cut sequence, after the appearance in the red void, the dancers are doing the same movement, but its cycling through them, blending the images. We shot that part on 35mm, so we could create the timeshift effect in-camera.6: Sadeck Berrabah did a great job in making everyone in the audience move in unison.OD: The same idea, that we have our own lives but go through the same stuff, applied to the theatre audience. Those people moving in the same motion at the exact same time represent the unity and the synergy of us as people.But then again, other characters are just observing her life. At times when you see them all pull out the phones, that's people putting pressure on her or watching her in a fishbowl being the artist that she's now become.This audience choreo that was done by an amazing French choreographer called Sadeck Berrabah, who does group choreography. He did a great job in making everybody move in unison.7: 'RAYE and Mikey had the idea of taking it back to corset vibes, with the dancers tightening her.'Above: on the Genesis shoot, filming the 'hour-glass figure' sceneOD: In the song, RAYE’s talking about editing photos online, to get other people's approval. In that true RAYE style, it's very honest: I know I'll only be important if I'm someone that you'll like, follow, share, and subscribe to.... Yes, I edit my pictures to make my waist look slimmer, my ass look bigger.’ Who else would say that so bluntly in a song? No-one. So we were talking about ways to convey that.Originally I had the idea of having multiple versions of RAYE that your hands were trying to shape and morph to their ‘perfect’ pop star. Then RAYE and Mikey had the idea of it being a bit more simple and effective with almost like taking it back to that corset vibes – creating an hour-glass figure. And then having the dancers tightening her. They represent her own thoughts of what she's trying to do to appease other people and get this approval and feel accepted.We also had the idea of having a load of social media things flooding the screen. But again it became far simpler. I said that maybe as she was reaching the point of approval, you get the little ‘Like’ just above the head. RAYE really liked that. So we gave it to the VFX guy and it was done in one go. Overall, I feel it’s one of the most resonating scenes in the film.Before the film came out, RAYE chose that scene as one of the teasers – and people really liked it. It got a lot of traction. So many people, especially young women, could properly relate to that.8: 'As a thermal image picks up heat it looks like light is coming out of the person.'OD: As well as the attention to detail that went into representing the lyrics, the way we chose to capture these moments was also very special to me.The DoP David Wright and I sat down one day, just talking about different techniques, scenes, etcetera. We were talking about thermal images, and the fact it as it picks up heat it almost looks like light is coming out of the person. That really fitted with the overall idea.To begin with, I didn't even mention using a thermal camera to RAYE - as I thought it might suck! I thought: let me just shoot this as an additional and then show it to her if it works. And yeah, it came off really nice.9: 'We wanted it to feel like everything's absolutely fine, but in reality, nothing's fine at all.'OD: The commercial break scene in the cinema was another one of RAYE’s ideas. And this blonde, over the top, somewhat eerie persona we jokingly called Monraye. We took a special approach to shooting this, shooting on 16mm reversal film – Ektachrome. It is what a lot of stuff would have been shot on years gone by. But we also wanted for the colours to pop in a certain way as well, for it to feel Hollywood-esque. We wanted it to feel like everything's absolutely fine, but in reality, nothing's fine at all. It goes with the lyrics – mixing pity with the self-hate, stirring it up.It was like taking something that was literal from the song, putting it in this commercial format. That had also had the beneficial effect of creating a little break between what has gone before and what comes afterwards.Just at the last minute, a few days before the film’s release, Mikey came up with an idea to make it even more like an American 50s commercial. You know they always had these little cartoon characters, encouraging you to buy the product. So we created our own – Lil Thirsty. He appears, with a straw, comes in for a moment, then jumps out because that’s all the time we had to animate him. Another crazy detail in this video.10: 'The portraits of those two looking into camera are super-powerful to me.'OD: One of my favourite parts of the film - one that's made me a bit emotional - is when RAYE sings: Little girls that have no self-esteem. A little boy who's lost his father, trying to find him in the streets. The girl I used to walk with to school took her life, now rest in peace.It starts on a beautiful young woman that looks like she has all the self-esteem in the world, but inside she's a little girl that has no self-esteem. It pulls back to quite a physically imposing, confident-looking young man who's good-looking - that's the little boy who's lost his father. The portraits of those two looking into camera are super-powerful to me.Then the camera slides over on the dolly and tracks to an empty seat when RAYE says the girl she used to walk to school with took her life now, rest in peace. That shot was just really powerful, it really hit home.And there's one kid that's watching the screen, being force-fed these images, the way that the world is going. It just represents what the next generation is seeing unfold, and it's almost normal to them. You see the imagery play back, a reflection in her eyes, as if it's being embedded within her as a child.11: 'When all of the chaos is happening... he's enjoying it all.'OD: That guy in the audience that we keep cutting back to... he symbolises the Devil. And what he's reacting to is actually the lyrics rather than her performance.So the lyrics say: The devil works hard like my liver. Then he's just observing, watching, but quite focused.Then it’s: I don't want to be alive, but I don't want to die. Fistful of pills and rivers in my eyes. That's obviously RAYE going through some mad stuff. Then he's laughing. That's good for him.Then she sings: I got nothing left to lose. Dear God in the sky, hear my cry, hear my cry. Now he's concerned because he's realising that this person is actually asking for some help.Then at the end of the film, when all of the chaos is happening with the explosions, destruction, the downfall of people, you could say, everybody else is a bit concerned. Someone walks away in disgust, and so he's laughing. He's enjoying it all.12: 'It’s her old self, watching the next era of herself.'OD: She has that iconic line in Escapism - I'm just a heart-broke bitch - and in the video, she has red hair and smudged makeup - the mascara running down her cheeks. And in Genesis, she makes a reference to Escapism, but she says: I'm still just a heart broke bitch, but I traded the back of the club for the bathroom floor. In other words: instead of me being in the club and I'm living it up and faking, I'm okay, I'm actually going through some shit alone in the bathroom, but I'm still heartbroken.In that scene we have this almost news-like camera, on a crane, which glides across the audience. They're all watching the show. Then we go past RAYE who's in the audience - it's almost like Where's Wally? vibes - and then we go back to her.As we push in, you realise, that it's actually ‘Escapism RAYE' - the exact same outfit, jewellery, smudged makeup. It’s her old self, watching the next era of herself.13: 'That part of the song pays homage to ordinary people, from different backgrounds.'OD: At the beginning of the video, there's not really any light. Then in the middle, it's very surreal, dark, brutal and raw. There's not many alleviating moments where light is actually allowed in. For ‘Genesis 3’, RAYE had the idea if she wanted to go and bring light and that sound to different spaces - whether that was a community hall, a school, or a retirement home.At the end of ‘Genesis 2’ you have the flare cut into the train station. And then it's all just much more stripped back. It’s community vibes. It's bringing light to an older people's home, to the school children - a real coming together. There's a celebration of what we really can be and what we are when we're together and we appreciate the smaller beautiful things in life.That part of the song pays homage to ordinary people, from different backgrounds, who work hard in different positions. It was bigging them up as well.14: 'I've never smiled so much on a day's shooting in my life.'OD: She really was having a great time. RAYE is such a people person. She's a big believer in people and seeing the best in people as well. She really enjoyed that day, and you can really see that on screen.There was minimal directing from me, to be honest. From my perspective it was a case of letting the scenes play out and approaching it documentary style. Let's be in the right positions to capture the best moments, and let's make sure that we have multiple formats.That day, I've never smiled that much shooting in my life. I was literally just beaming because it was just so nice seeing what it meant to the people in those places where we filmed, and what the music did for them.And I have to admit I was wondering whether it was a good idea to do this, shooting at a train station, and so on. But RAYE was saying: 'it's going to be fine'. That's her - there's an essence and energy about her. Even talking about it now is giving me nice memories. It's making me feel good.15: 'It took everybody to a different level, in terms of skill, attention to detail and stamina.'OD: We needed a long time to shoot this - ironically, it ended up being a 7 day shoot. And even though it was a decent budget, people were still giving up their time to do this. Like the DoP David Wright, for instance. He did a great job. My team, the producers, Andre Wooz and Liz Adeleye did an amazing job as well. In fact, everybody on the project, whether they were on it for a specific amount of time or the long run, all levelled up - myself included.It took everybody to a different level - from a skill perspective, attention to detail and stamina. Usually a shortform project is done in a couple of days and it requires nowhere near the amount of attention to detail as this one did.Leading up to it, I did get a bit of the fear. But anxiety leading up to a shoot will just make me be perfect in preparation because then you're limiting the amount of things to go wrong. And it's not that I'm massively religious, but I do believe in God, I have a relationship there. That helped me out as well in just believing in myself and knowing that this was the right thing that was happening.In those big moments, I like to feel like I step up to the plate rather than shy away. I very much feel like a leader, and I feel like a leader's responsibility is to see the project home. And while we were shooting this I just felt really oddly at peace and really locked in.16: 'There has been other amazing projects, but I think this is the one that I'm most proud of.' OD: It’s been my biggest video to date, just in terms of the level of effort, expertise, execution, the value of the shots – and in terms of the way that people have responded to it and taken it in as art. The impact of it.In the long run I definitely want to get into features, dramas, etc. Even though this was a music video, it felt like such a big project with so many different emotions and different scenes and tones in terms of emotion. It really excited me for that chapter later down the line as well.I feel that filmmaking is what I’m put here to do. I feel like eventually, when all said and done, I will have made films that can impact people, see things from a different perspective and make them feel something. I think so far, Genesis has done that really well. Even though there has been other amazing projects, I think this is the one that I'm most proud of. This one so far has been the biggest and baddest.• Otis Dominique is based at KODE and represented for music videos by Mouthpiece. See more of his work here.
David Knight - 2 months ago
