The Maccabees’ Young Lions by Peter Szewczyk
David Knight - 21st June 2010
In Peter Szewczyk's delightful video for the Maccabees' Young Lions, a boy finds solace from a tough world with the help of a beautiful pet moth. When his cruel father intervenes both boy and insect escape in separate journeys in search of sanctuary.
Peter Szewczyk has a background in CG - having worked at Dreamworks, Lucasfilm and Weta - and was aiming to make a short loosely based on the James Thurber story Moth And The Star (he quotes Thurber on his Vimeo page: "Who flies afar from the sphere of our sorrow is here today and here tomorrow") then he realised the idea would work as a video for the track, pitched it to The Maccabees' Orlando Weeks, and took nearly two months to make it. Lovely.
Peter Szewczyk on making the video for The Maccabees' Young Lions
"There wasn't much of a crew. Just me and my Canon 5D. I have a background in CG, having worked at Dreamworks, Lucasfilm and Weta. I got a bit burnt out out on Avatar, and thought I try my hand at directing. So all the post and editing I did myself at home. I had a friend assist as a camera operator. Since my speciality is lighting I acted as the DoP too. A colleague loaned me her kids for a few weekends of shooting. It took just under two months to make with four days of shooting in London, and two in Iceland.
"I was aiming to make a short loosely based on James Thurber "Moth and the Star" short story. While I was planning the project I noticed some parallels between my idea and The Maccabees' Young Lions. I met Orlando Weeks, lead singer of the band, through a friend and pitched the idea. He loved it but thought it would be enormously expensive. I assured him I could make it for under 1,000 GDP. In the end it cost about 750 GDP. I was on holiday in Iceland, so the footage shot there was just a convenient perk."
David Knight - 21st June 2010