Bear's Den 'Agape' by Ed Sayers
Jimmy Brown - 13th Feb 2015
In keeping with the band's natural and earthy vibe, Ed Sayers and Bear's Den travel to the serene and beautiful Bantham Beach in Devon for the promo to Agape, which sees the West London folksters get progressively immersed in the dank sand - in fear of the incoming crashing tide. Simple and gorgeously effective.
ED SAYERS
"Working with the three Bears was a truly collaborative experience - not too hot, not too cold for me at least... but just right. Kevin Jones had the idea to bury himself, Davie and Joey on a beach in January which is why we dug Kev nearest the sea, like King Canute.
"Looking at Bear's Den videos I saw a 'confident simplicity' and Kev's idea too was beautifully simple. The complexity was in keeping the film as simple as possible yet plan everything needed to keep the band alive - whilst on a limited budget, a long way from home and having to contend with sand, tides and weather. So we scratched heads a lot and ended up with plywood and jig-saws and foam rubber and plastic sheeting and foil blankets and more shovels and rakes than we could possibly need.
"It was a big team effort from crew, band and label on the shoot and in the end hats off to the band who, for the money shots, just took their trousers off and went for it. But all the prep proved itself necessary as they lasted only about ten minutes in that state.
"There's a haunting atmosphere in the track, a sadness, but also an optimism. I wanted it to be right on that line. I'd seen clips of the band performing 'Agape' so knew all that was in their faces and I knew I wanted to go epically wide but also epically close, so we could read every detail of their expressions.
"Eben Bolter, DOP, suggested we shoot anamorphic and we shot Alexa XT on Hawks adding some film grain in the grade. We kind of seagull-whispered to get gulls to come for some cutaways knowing how those shots would emphasise how un-free-as-a-bird the band find themselves. It was a small tight gang with everyone doing too many jobs but we all really dug each other and I think that shows".
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Jimmy Brown - 13th Feb 2015
Credits
Featured here in the credits?
Production/Creative
- Director
- Ed Sayers
- Production Company
- Seven Productions
Camera
- Director of Photography
- Eben Bolter
Grading
- Colourist
- Paul Harrison
- Colour grade company
- Finish
VFX
- VFX
- Andy Copping
- Post production company
- Finish
Jimmy Brown - 13th Feb 2015