I’m excited to share this video! I would imagine people have an idea in their head of what a music video shoot is like ……..
I’ve watched many of Katy Perry’s ‘the making of videos’ on MTV, a team of 20+ people, numerous set and costume changes. Seems like a dream! Now, here’s my making of.
I wake up. I pray to god that I haven’t had a break out of spots overnight – I’ve somehow managed to get away without a spot for a few days (numerous face masks and layers of Sudocream later). Absolute joy! I get every piece of make-up I’ve ever owned and proceed to put it on my face and hope for the best. I got fake eyelashes put on for the occasion (they hurt) so I try not to blink and wonder if its possible to keep that up for the day? I’ve spent a week thinking about what I’m going to wear, still haven’t decided, and throw 10 outfits in my car. I’ll decide last minute, that’s always a good idea!
Now, in fairness, having an extremely talented and well connected brother who works wonders with a camera is very handy in these situations. His name is Dara Munnis. He’s older than me, and yes we have your typical little-sister-big-brother type relationship which can, from time to time, end in screaming matches and ‘who do you think you are’ type arguments. Today, we’re being nice to each other. Professional, even.
He’s home from Australia (where he now lives) for a few weeks and has a jam-packed schedule. I’m extremely happy he can fit this shoot in.
I knew I wanted two locations, indoor and outdoor. We have vaguely set up an idea for the indoor shoot – Camden Recording Studios in Dublin – but as I collect him to go there, we still have no idea where we are going to shoot outside.
I’ve picked outfit one. Jeans and a white top – splendid. Let’s do this.
The folks at Camden Recording Studio welcome us in and have a lovely Rhodes set up in one of their rooms ready to go. We’ve invited both Tadhg Peelo-Walsh and Sarah Lynch to be a part of the shoot! Two amazing musicians! We have about 2 hours to get this section of the video done. I remember I’m terrible at miming. When you have a camera in your face, suddenly you become extremely aware of your facial expressions and this in turn always leads to making AWFUL facial expressions! There’s no time to re-do anything! We’re now packing up.
Now, to make some actual cash in this lovely life of mine, I am a primary school teacher. (I know, shock horror, I can’t afford to live off the 17 Spotify streams I got this month). I’ve only moved home recently to Dublin from Melbourne, which means I’m job hunting for September. I have an interview TODAY! I quickly change out of outfit choice number one and into an interview-ready suit. Not my favourite look. I take my interview notes out and have a quick scan over them before jumping back in the car. I need to change mindsets, and fast.
Lovely Tadhg is off to play with Hudson Taylor this afternoon, so we leave Dublin city and drop him at the gig location. I now have 20 minutes to be at my interview, I leave Dara at home and get myself to the interview.
Phew, done! It’s June and it’s actually really hot for once, needless to say, I’m a sweaty mess. Time to put my musician hat back on .… I still have to choose outfit number two and decide where we’re off to next.
Leopard-print dress from Marks and Spencer’s is outfit number two sorted. Who knew Marks and Spencer’s were making clothes for the under-70’s these days? It’s gorgeous.
“So Dara, outdoor location, what are we thinking?”. I’m a massive fan of the Dublin mountains, so on a sunny day like this, it seems like the obvious choice. I want something whimsical at golden hour, thats my artistic vision. Completely original and never been done before, I know.
At this point Dara announces “I’ve been invited to a party tonight, I’m going to need to go to that”. Like I said, we’ve a very professional relationship!!! It’s 3pm, that gives us about 4 hours to figure-out the rest of the shoot. I work well under pressure. I’d bloody want to.
We hop in the car… to the Dublin mountains we go (a vast area, we’ll figure it out). We decide to venture towards the M50 and head up from that direction. The rush hour traffic has already begun. Bloody BRAY… we’re at a standstill. Not. Moving. Anywhere. After 30 minutes, we’re both feeling a bit stressed. Google Maps to the rescue, get us off this road immediately.
We eventually get to the next exit and realise quite quickly we’re not making it up the mountain. The road we’re on goes to Enniskerry. I’ve not been to Enniskerry in about a decade. I remember it to be nice, but could it fulfil the ‘whimsical golden hour’ brief. It had better.
The other brief that needs to be fulfilled is some drone footage. We've borrowed a drone for the day (thank you John Broe) and we’re driving through, what has to be said, are lovely, sun-drenched, leafy-green backroads of Enniskerry. I push on the breaks. I’ve spotted a small turn off on the road. With a sharp left, we’re driving down a steep country road and park up in small inlet on the lane. It’s perfect. A little bridge over a stream surrounded by green. It might be the driveway to someones house, who knows? (It definitely was).
I find a pensive spot beside the stream and wait for Dara to bring the drone down.
SHIT, there’s no coverage. To make a drone work, you need to log in from an app on your phone. You also need phone signal to log in. I’m in disbelief… There’s only one thing for it. We run back to car, and drive until we find coverage, leaving mental breadcrumbs along the drive so we know how to get back to our hidden location. It takes twenty minutes to find signal. We log in. Dara’s phone battery too close to dying for my liking. The sun is now nearing the end of golden hour. Drive, drive, drive !!!
We get back to said hidden location in Enniskerry. I make some more questionable facial expressions and this time miming is almost impossible as Dara has sped the track up to 10 times its normal tempo. He assures me this will make for a great visual when slowed back down in the editing process (you try singing along to a song at 10x the original tempo with no practice whilst making it it look good. I dare ya.).
And there the 27 Music Video shoot ended.
Dara made the party - I even joined him.
All in all, it’s not the best way to go about making a music video but in saying that, it’s a day I won’t forget anytime soon. Everyone involved was extremely talented and at the top of their game and I’m totally in love with the final result.
Oh, and I didn’t get the job !!!!! Why ever not, I wonder?
Here is the teaser! Full video out this coming Friday February 22nd.