Lead actor

Gene Alexander

London-born R&amp;B newcomer Joel Compass joins forces with directing duo (and cousins) Ian &amp; Cooper for this magnificent, tense monochrome beauty to his debut single Back To Me.
The video incorporates a glitchy movement in the background of otherwise inanimate frames creating an eerie feeling &ndash; perfectly echoing the haunting soundtrack. Shot on RED Epic, the innovative promo was constructed with still images using the cinemagraph technique &ndash; where one motion is isolated and the rest of the frame remains still.
&ldquo;The initial spark for the technique came from the lovely video commissioner Dilly Gent, who referenced La Jet&eacute;e (a 1962 short film by Chris Marker composed from a series of still images )in her brief&rdquo; says Ian Schwartz. &ldquo;Cooper Roberts and I did a ton of research on cinemagraphs; what effects were possible, what kind of movement was most striking, etc.
&ldquo;We shot-listed everything and specifically mapped out what parts of the frame would be in motion so that we could shoot it correctly. We knew it&rsquo;d be a challenge to communicate story using only still images without the help of a narrator, so we also made a really rough animatic of the whole video, so we could test how it paced to the music and came together narratively.&rdquo;
&ldquo;The shoot itself felt like part photo shoot and part cinema,&rdquo; continues Ian. &ldquo;In each set-up, we&rsquo;d have our actors pose, holding still in a certain position while we shot about 10 seconds of footage. Different shots required different post techniques, but in general the cinemagraphs came together in After Effects by layering a still frame over the moving footage and through masking, rotoscoping and stabilization.&rdquo;

Gene Alexander

Lead actor

Videos featuring Gene Alexander

2013 (1)

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