“I Am” – The Video Shoot

Hot on the heels of the “Let This Be” video comes “I Am”, my June single release and the first song I wrote and demoed as a solo artist.

September 2005. I was living in Clapham Junction in a tiny room in a quirky house with a fashion designer and another musician, She Makes War had recently turned in to a solo project, I’d had a laptop for about 6 months and was still learning how to use Cubase and I was heartbroken. So “I Am” was born, my laptop jammed in between my M-Audio sound card and a pile of books on a table next to my pillow as I sat on my bed playing guitar, singing and experimenting with a little green drum machine.

Fast forward to December 2009 when I recorded the album version with Myles – the dodgy drum machine sounds were the first thing to go, I tweaked the lyrics a little and we used different instrumentation for some of the parts but everything else stayed much the same. The song was made more glittery and atmospheric by Myles’ genius engineering skills of course, but I still hear that September in that bedroom when I listen to the song.

And so to the video, shot last Tuesday at Green Lens in Harringay. My concept was a confrontation of self – reflections in a mirror symbolising another version of the personality, a conversation occurring between them coming to some sort of resolution. I was inspired by PJ Harvey’s “Mansize” video – the way her performance is so strong there only needs to be her and a chair in the video – and by part of an exhibition called “Identity” I saw at the Wellcome Collection a couple of months ago about the self. You stood in front of a camera that projected your image on to a screen in front of you after a time delay of a few seconds, meaning that you got the opportunity to watch yourself as if you were watching someone else. It was really powerful, and made me think about inspecting oneself in a mirror but seeing this alternative version.

I brought director and visual artist Judy Jacob on board because I’ve recently been blown away by her work for The Pixies and Peter Gabriel, and because she can outweird me in planning meetings. She’s fantastic, and I hope to do a few more videos with her over the summer. She took my vague musings and turned them in to a really strong narrative, shooting the most incredible footage on the Canon 5D and coaxing a performance out of me I wouldn’t have achieved on my own. Jenni Davis did a lovely job with the hair and makeup, giving me the curls I’ve always craved and creating a striking look for my reflected self.

I’m commencing the editing this weekend but you can see more stills on the Facebook page.

Posted by warriorgrrl