Fight The Horde!!! - Novacrow 2015. (Like the song? Download it here! Or buy the cd! Support the crows!)
When we were initially brainstorming ideas for our perfect music video, we wanted something that combined the cheesiness of a Scooby Doo episode, with a lot of fake blood. (I cannot explain how badly we wanted to find a spooky looking corridor with loads of doors for a really really lame chase scene!) We started out planning with a series of storyboards that was turned into a shot-by-shot script, which really helped speed up the filming process. The entire video was recorded across two days; one for the band shots and another for the storyline.
We used WARP Liverpool for all locations, which was absolutely perfect. It is an amazing warehouse/artist space near the Liverpool waterfront. It is absolutely massive, with loads of different rooms, with random exhibition pieces and abandoned pieces of artwork everywhere. Get in touch with them if you're interested: https://www.facebook.com/warpliverpool
John and I did the zombie makeup, using a mixture of liquid latex, fake blood and various face paint palettes. We did a practice run on our housemate and I was really happy with the final results. I think the makeup was actually an improvement on both Beth and Jay’s natural faces. All of the costumes were carefully crafted by our wardrobe department (by that I mean, we just picked stuff up off ebay and from charity shops.) I think Torben suited his nerd costume so well, I wish he would wear it all the time. John looks far too tall to pass as a teenage boy and Freddy just looked as white trash as ever haha.
The story-line parts were extremely fun to film. Beth, my very dearest friend, was our (self-titled) Head Zombie. She’s a fantastic actress and this was the role she was born to play. We were all genuinely scared of her, because she took it so seriously. The first time she burst in through the barricaded door, everyone just yelled “WOAHHH” at how scary she was and all of her onscreen violence is real (we have the bruises as proof). Jay and Rich, John’s eldest brothers, served as our other wonderful (lesser) zombies. I love watching Jay’s parts, because he makes me laugh so much- especially zooming across the screen on the wheelie chair. Rich is a hero for helping out behind the scenes, with lighting, smoke and most importantly providing us with liquid acting skills (aka beer).
Nearly everyone got injured in some way during the filming. Torben sliced his arm on something sharp and mysterious and Beth and I had cartoon sized lumps on our heads from when we collided in mid-air. I also got spat on (twice) unnecessarily. When I push Torben to the zombies, a huge spurt of blood was supposed to hit me in the face after he disappeared off-screen. For some reason, the only possible way we could think of doing this at the time, was for Rich to fill his mouth with fake blood and spit it at me. Unfortunately it looked crap on both takes.
Filming the band scenes were the most awkward part. It felt so weird singing and playing along to our own recording. The first ‘take’ of us playing as a band is hilarious- we’re as wooden as a primary school Christmas play. Editing these bits was even worse, as we had to watch ourselves back over and over. I’m really happy with the end result though, particularly as we ended up cutting out a REALLY cheesy bit with me singing on my own, with loads of dry ice and a hairdryer (for “wind…”)
The camerawork by Brittany Soldo is great; I love the hand-held shakiness and the random zooms. She is fantastic to work with and I’m so happy with the results. I am so grateful that we were able to put this project together with her and would highly recommend her for any projects. Give her an email at brittany.soldo@gmail.com if you're interested.
Let us know what you think! Hope you enjoyed watching the video as much as we enjoyed making it!