Music Videos

Darkness Repeats - Behind The Scenes 

The lyrics are about suffering with mental health conditions, and I wanted to represent the fact that they are always there, lurking in the background. Like the analogy of depression being represented by the black dog, sometimes it's small - but it's always present, ready to encroach and take over. I wanted the video to feel a little claustrophobic and chaotic. 

I filmed the video during a band practice, focusing on each band member in the studio, then having a fun session where we moved all of the instruments outside and the band mimed along with the tune. 

I ended up with an hour or two of raw footage, which I then edited into a music video - making sure the lip sync and instruments matched the audio. I converted it to black and white, and got started on the fun bit… I exported each frame of the video, assigned them all a number so I could keep track, and then scribbled on each individual image. The 90 second video is made up of 2089 frames, and each one has been digitally edited. I used an art programme called Procreate which has lots of cool brushes, and that allowed me to create some fun animations. 

I chose one brush per band member that I thought represented their instruments. For example, Lottie’s brush is sharp and spiky to match the squealing guitar, D’s is pixelated and square in one scene to represent the drum beats, sharp and angular in another to represent the cymbals. Bish’s is round and blobby like his funky bassline. I couldnt decide on a single brush set for Rob and Doddy, so instead I used a lot of different brushes on them. Try pausing the video at different points to see some very different designs.

Once I finished the frames I edited them back together, made some tweaks to the timing to make sure the visuals and audio were still in sync, and added some interesting transitions to make the whole thing a touch more chaotic.