Professor Green’s Upper Clapton Dance by Henry Scholfield
David Knight - 2nd July 2009
After making a comedic clip for Professor Green's Hard Night Out, Henry Scholfield's follow-up is something else entirely.
Henry harnesses the energy and realism (and great black and white photography) he captured in his video for Example's Me And Mandy - best low-budget video at last year's MVAs - and then takes it to a new level.
It's the 99 Problems of E5. Fantastic stuff.
Henry Scholfield on making the video for Professor Green's Upper Clapton Dance
"I'd just made a vid for Pro Green, which had a kinda comedy vibe to it, when he sent me this track saying that he wanted to do something that really represented Clapton where he grew up, but to be honest I wasn't sure at first where to start.
"I headed up there on a weekend and Cores, who features in the video, showed me around all the different estates, hang outs, shops, etc., whilst relating a lot of 'back in the day' type anecdotes. There's a real sense of community there and I thought it would be better to focus on people rather than setting, as this is what I felt captured the area more.
"The shoot itself was a lot of fun. It was a very small crew, four of us, and I was operating the camera, which was actually my Nikon D90 stills camera that can record HD video. I had a really basic narrative worked out in my head, which kept on changing depending on what locations would let us come in and shoot or not.
"Most of the cast was actually made up of Pro Green's mates or friends of friends that he grew up with and that really gave it an air naturalness and most of the time I would just be saying... 'do what you'd do'. In the fight scene, for example, I started trying to be a bit prescriptive, but soon realized that the best direction was just to say 'make it real'... and they did. They were brilliant.
"Over the whole weekend we'd shot lots and it was really in the hands of the very talented editor that it took shape. It was one of those videos where you don't know what you're really getting till the end. But in the end it think it came together well."
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David Knight - 2nd July 2009
Credits
Featured here in the credits?
Production/Creative
- Director
- Henry Scholfield
- Production Company
- P
- Production Manager
- Jonny Brown
Wardrobe
- Stylist
- Chris Benns
- Make-up
- K
Editorial
- Editor
- Johnny Rayner
Grading
- Colourist
- Richard Fearon
David Knight - 2nd July 2009