MUSIC VIDEOS

Case Study: First Album

Cooper Lower is a an extremely talented musician from Warrnambool who launched his first album at age 16. He wanted to give listeners a taste of his talents and the tracks on his first album by releasing a new music clip each week on Facebook leading up to the launch. His clips received over 30,000 views in just a few short weeks and plenty of shares too.

I helped film and edit the videos, each of which are intentionally very simple. Cooper wanted the focus to be on his voice, lyrics and music, not on the visuals. We filmed in a small recording studio, where it was difficult to fit the tripods in. The cameras were up close and personal in order to fit Cooper in the frame.

The focus of the session was on recording Cooper’s music so filming was a secondary thing. With no space to move, there wasn’t any room for creative filming, but I did get to play around with some filters in the editing process to give each clip a different look.

Cooper wanted all videos in black and white but we were able to compromise to some degree, to obtain a more distinct look for each music video.

‘Deluded Eyes’ is an original track written and performed by Cooper Lower. In Cooper’s words:

“I wrote this song trying to imagine what it would be like to live with a severe mental disability or psychiatric illness/disorder. i.e. Autism, Schizophrenia, Severe Bipolar, Chronic Depression etc. I often wonder what goes through the mind of someone who is not able to communicate. This song also touches on the common belief that a person with a mental disability cannot be as intelligent, thoughtful or caring as an abled person. In this song I frequently refer back to ‘the man with the lesser mind’. A classic example of a group of people underestimating a person with learning difficulties.”

Case Study: In Deep Water

This music video was created with hip hop artist Jacob Pugh and musician Cooper Lowe, for the Blarney Book’s ‘Biblio Art Prize’ in Port Fairy. The concept was to create artwork inspired by a book selected from a wheelbarrow of books at Blarney Books & Art Gallery. The book Jacob selected, named “the ABC of Public Speaking” includes a section about being “in deep water”, which is about being on stage and freaking out. So he wrote a rap about it! In the clip, Colleen wanted to convey the fear of public speaking, as well as the art of emceeing; flow, confidence and the stream of consciousness.

Case Study: WxSW

While working as an ABC Open Producer in 2011, I collaborated with Marc Eidon, Ballarat ABC Open Producer at the time.

We initiated and successfully ran a popular project called WxSW.

The project teamed up filmmakers with local bands to produce a series of music clips that were broadcast on RAGE. They had Triple J Unearthed on board as a project partner.

Buddha in a Chocolate Box filmed their music clip ‘We’re on our way’ over the Port Fairy Folk Festival weekend in March 2011, with a wonderful cast of Irish dancers, belly dancers, dancers and musicians.

This clip was created by Hamilton filmmakers Ayden Crumpton, Valerian McCaskill, Riley Holcombe, Scott Pope, Matt Gebert and Rhys Pope, and filmed by Ayden Crumpton, James Russell and Jason Horkings. Edited by Ayden Crumpton, Colleen Hughson, Valerian McCaskill, Jason Horkings and James Russell.

This music clip was made possible thanks to the generous support from Southern Grampians Shire Council, Port Fairy Film Society and Port Fairy Community House.