Armand De Saint-Salvy's ingenious video for Nathan Cavaleri's 29 Gold Stars was achieved in a single shot and follows the revenge plot of co-conspirators in the conclusion a deceitful love triangle.

While the story spans several weeks, the piece has been shot entirely in one take, with Armand De Saint-Salvy showing the passage of time through subtle changes to the set, lighting, and character’s wardrobe whilst filming, requiring complex choreography of actors, camera, and crew.

And asDe Saint-Salvy explains here, it took a long time to get it exactly right... 

ARMAND DE SAINT-SALVY:

"Our video had a set duration of 2’45’’. I shotlisted 28 shots which I would normally extend, trim and move around in the edit. But we didn’t have an edit. I had to figure the exact length of each shot prior to shooting, whilst ensuring the combined total of all shots didn’t exceed our duration.

"The actors had to nail performances simultaneously. If one stuffed up we had to redo the entire take. It required extreme focus as they had as little as 15 seconds off camera to do costume changes, race to their next position and drop into a new emotional beat for the next scene. It took us 52 takes to get it right."