HALF IN SHADOW, HALF IN LIGHT

Prom’s very stylish video has been out for a couple of months.

Nick and I collaborated again, with him writing the script and producing. Shot in four and a half hours over two nights, the pace was a return to our running-and-gunning Heartbroken Assassin days.

With seven performers(!) and two camera operators(!), it was the largest production I have been involved in. Alongside the band, we had the fearless Davey Fuzzsucker and Eloise Menzies playing our beleaguered couple (thanks so much guys!). We brought on board theatre director Cameron Thomas to help corral the talent – he was instrumental in keeping the energy up and making sure people had something to do in each frame. This was also my first time with a second camera op – You Are Here acolyte Shane Parsons – who came up with several great ideas I am happy to take credit for. He’s more experienced than I, and it meant we got scores of material very quickly.

The blue light in the Street Theatre’s hallway was an unexpected bonus – I slowed down the shot to evoke the chase at the start of Chungking Express (but stopped short of undercranked “step printing”).

Because if there is a choice where you can pretend to be Wong Kar Wai and Christopher Doyle, that’s the right choice.

When I showed Nick the first edit, he said the dinner scene felt like an eternity. This was great news to me – the victims were tied to the chairs and being fed something they didn’t want; if the audience felt the same, I’d done my job (we did add extra band performance shots to keep it from being overbearing). The dinner scene (and in particular Shane’s sterling close ups) evoke Terry Gilliam for me.

I’d bargained on the height of the Street Theatre allowing some great bird’s eye shots, of which we took copious advantage – in particular, it sold the bed scene.