BRNS 'Void' by Mihnea Popescu & Olivier Boonjing

David Knight - 26th Mar 2014

Brussels-based director-cinematographers Mihnea Popescu and Olivier Boonjing have directed a mesmerizing video for Belgian rock outfit BRNS slow-burning Void. It's a short film that begins at a funeral of a young girl, and then follows the journey of the girl's father - played by Frederic Evrard – as he attempts to unravels the mystery surrounding her death - and slowly unravels himself. 

Is he mad? And who is he? The narrative poses more questions than answers - and Evrard gives a brilliant, no-holds-barred performance as the grieving father. 

Mihnea Popescu & Olivier Boonjing: "I [Minhea] had the original idea for the story back in 2006 and intended to develop it into a feature film one day but it would've been too big of a challenge. And honestly, nobody wants to watch single guy in an empty house for 90mns. When BRNS asked me to direct a music video for the track "VOID" I felt that the atmosphere of the song could very well match the darkness of this story.

"In Belgium budgets tend to be quite low, especially on short films and music videos. We shot VOID for 4000€. In terms of production it forces you to be very creative. We knew that art direction was key for this project. Good location scouting often does the trick when you don't have the money to rent/build the appropriate sets. For example, the office was shot in 3 separate locations.

"We needed a good camera to achieve a film like quality, the BMCC is both affordable and technically impressive in terms of exposure latitude and skin tone rendition. We also used an Iscorama 54 anamorphic adaptor that we are completely enamored of. We shot in Raw format and developed all the files with ACR in After Effects.

"Frederic Evrard is an intuitive and natural talent, our job was to channel his raw energy on set. You may not tell from his character but Fred is the sweetest of guys."