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Patrick Wolf 'Nowhere Game' by Joseph Wilson

Rob Ulitski - 30th Jan 2023

Joseph Wilson directs a cinematic, eerily surreal promo for Patrick Wolf, the second part of an extended film for the artist's new EP, The Night Safari. 

Following Enter The Day - the romantic and wistful first instalment of Wilson's longer film - the video for Nowhere Game is defiant and thrilling, with a stark, brutalist aesthetic of the video that complements the complex soundscapes in the track.

Shot within the extraordinary Beacon Hill Fort on the Essex coast, Wolf enters the imposing edifice by boat, to be confronted by 'Nowhere People' - dancers attired in outfits that give them an uncanny inhuman appearance, that were designed by Wolf himself with Marco Tullio Siviglia.

The story was inspired by the Greek myth of Sisyphus, and Wilson worked with movement director Ted Rogers to direct the performers - or the ‘gloms’ as Wilson and Wolf named them - to develop their own metaphor for breaking the cycle of endless toil.

"Patrick spoke about how he had learnt to let go of his resentments, lifting a great weight of his shoulders," explains Wilson. "So the idea was that the ‘gloms’ were pulling around their resentments - which start off as small pieces of coal - and develop into large heavy boarders as the story goes on."

Being approached to collaborate with Patrick Wolf on the project on this and the longer film to accompany the new EP "was a ‘pinch yourself’ sort of moment," according to Wilson. "I used to listen to Patrick at college before I came out, and had been to a couple of his London shows when I was 17. I saw a lot of myself in Patrick and he gave me hope that there were other people like me out there.

"So to be working with him all these years later is very poignant for me. Aside from our creative vision, we share a lot of similarities growing up as outsiders, and both overcoming our own traumas through the pandemic.

"I had come across Beacon Hill Fort a few years ago - [and] I’d been saving it for the perfect project. Located at the very edge of a quiet coastal town in Essex, the cold concrete structures and its prolific history of war, battle and invasion created the perfect setting for the Nowhere Game. Many of the cast and crew were lifelong Patrick fans, which made the shoot feel even more worthwhile.

"I remember looking up to the sky and seeing a dozen shooting stars as the performers pulled rocks around Patrick whilst he played the viola. It was such a moment! Regardless of the fact there was no electricity, and it was the coldest day of 2022! It was all worth it.”

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Rob Ulitski - 30th Jan 2023

Tags

  • Director's notes
  • Special projects
  • black and white
  • High Contrast
  • Performance
  • Viola
  • Essex
  • coastal
  • Black & White

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Credits

Production/Creative

Director
Joseph Wilson
Producer
Production Company
Executive Producer
Juliette Larthe
1st AD
Teddy Jackson
Head Of Production
Fiona Bamford-Phillips
Production Assistant
Lottie Lindsay Beavan

Camera

Director of Photography
Anibal Castano
Focus Puller
Hongyi Zhao
Sparks
Willow Bidwell, Justis

Lighting/Grip

Gaffer
David Witchell

Wardrobe

Wardrobe
Patrick Wolf
Wardrobe
Marco Tullio Siviglia
Make-up
Sophie Gouk

Editorial

Editor
Joseph Wilson

Agent

Manager
Ros Earls At Big Life Management

Misc

Publicity
Lee Sharrock

Rob Ulitski - 30th Jan 2023

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