So here’s one of my first posts of 2012 and I thought I’d tell you about one of my first jobs of the year, as it was quite an experience!
The music video for Deaf Havana was set in a disused military hospital called Royal Haslar, on the outskirts of Portsmouth and it was certainly pretty spooky! I was working with the You Know crew, with Stuart Birchall directing, who I’ve done a few promos with in the past & have always been great to work with. I was already prepped before the day that the building was apprently haunted and we were all told not to go off on our own as the grounds were easy to get lost in. Plus the majority of the building didn’t have electricity, so it was all very dark.
As with all music videos, it’s always a super early start and it was pitch black when we first arrived, just to add to the atmosphere! Once we were allowed inside, I set up make-up in one of the disused wards, which was quite funny. Having only closed down a couple of years ago, it still looked like a functioning hospital, just without the beds. I even used a medicine table to put my kit on!
The band were only around for the first part of the day, as they were flying off to Milan and there was only a small performance part to the video. I prepared James for his scenes by prepping his skin with some lovely Dermalogica products then a bit of conceling & powder. However, he had fab skin so I didn’t need to do a great deal for him. The band are a great group of lads and James gave a stirling performance. Alex Bowens designed some fantastic sets and really made the performance area look really captivating.
After James had completed his performance, our actor, John, arrived. He was playing a few different characters and (without giving too much away of exactly who he played…you’ll have to wait to see the video!) for the first character he had to look a little disheveled so I created some dark circles under his eyes using a Ben Nye bruise wheel and used a little glycerine on his brow to look a little sweaty.
The derilct hospital hallway
On day 2, I had two ladies to make-up as well as our actor from Day 1. Both ladies were playing the same character but at different stages of their life. The character was a patient in an asylum. The first actress was in her twenties and was very pretty so I felt slightly guilty having to make her fresh-face look worn & distressed! I had to age the second actress as she had to look old & frail but again, she had great skin & hardly a wrinkle so it felt terrible making the poor woman look a lot older than she was! We filmed various scenes in the ward, which looked fanstatic, but I won’t give too much away……
For the second part of the day, we moved into the really spooky part of the hospital which was an actual asylum, fully complete with a padded cell! It was really quite eerie in there and I didn’t go fully in the cell – it freaked me out too much!! It had scratch marks down the doors and it had a horrible energy about it – I didn’t like it at all! Kate (our younger actress) had to perform scenes inside the cell – a braver lady than me! Not that it was freaky enough, we then had a power cut which left the whole building in complete darkness! Pretty scary stuff!!!
The padded cell door with scratches!!
Even though the setting was a little creepy, it was a great shoot with a great team and I think the result are going to be fantastic! It’ll definately be a shoot I’ll remember!
UPDATE: Here’s the finished video….check it out!