"Ready for a Savior" MV
4-MIN MUSIC VIDEO, ART DIRECTOR
Music video for first single on ANNETTE's debut EP, All Our Achilles Heels. "Ready for a Savior" is the story about every one of us, and how sometimes all we need is a little bit of help, to get to where we want to be.
Client: Annette Lee (Independent artiste)
SUPERHERO-IN-TRAINING
The bedroom was extremely challenging for two reasons:
the house we used for all the indoors shots belonged to a childless couple;
the room we were using for the bedroom was completely unfurnished;
...ergo we had to create the entire scene from scratch.
Annette (EP) and Ian (director) envisioned Nadia's bedroom to be one bursting with childlike wonder and colour in contrast to her mother's study. Keeping in mind that Nadia came from a low-income single-parent home, we sourced for affordable materials that are readily available to children (toilet rolls, construction paper, tape, wooden clothes pegs, plastic bags, paper bags, crayons, coloured pens). Then we stepped into the mind of a superhero-obsessed kiddo and came out vomiting this cornucopia on set.
LIVING ROOM
The original intention was to have the living room be a meeting space between mother and daughter—worn-down adulthood meets childlike wonder. But with the constraint of this story being about a poor single-parent family, we had to ditch the usual tech (TV, speakers, etc.) and ornaments (floor lamps, etc.)... which meant we had a very sparse room.
So we wondered, "what would a child do with a very empty living room?"
It was at this point that Nadia's rainbow herd of handmade superheroes and toys came stampeding into the living room from her bedroom, evidenced by the "TV console" that has transformed into a play area. Unfortunately most of this play area did not make it into the final edit, but here are some behind-the-scenes for memory sake.
KITCHEN
I believe in our initial discussions, we never intended for Nadia's madness to spill all the way into the kitchen. But once the cape-toting monster started creeping its way out of the room there was no going back. (Also because the director loved it!)
My favourite part of this scene = sticker animals stuck in the web of the spider!
PARK
The park scene was rather straightforward; all we had to prepare was the park bench and a bicycle.
It was the bicycle that wasn't so straightforward.
We had to look for a bicycle that looked like a children's bike but was big enough for Kaka (girl playing Nadia) to actually ride. Additionally, it had to be yellow/black themed (Batman). As it turns out, there's no demand for bicycles of this colour scheme! At some point we asked ourselves what a kid would do if they couldn't find their dream bike – out came the danger tapes, gaffer tapes and loads and loads of sharpies.
I have to say I love how scrappy the end result was – very conceivably a child's interpretation of the Bat-Mobil.
Budget constraints led to a very ordinary sleeping mask being offered as costume, which our itchy fingers (and excess of tapes) couldn't resist zhng-ing (that’s Singlish for upgrading!).
Favourite part of this scene has to be the bicycle bell which we recreated to look like a bat!
STUDY
The study was one room which stood out from the rest of the set. In stark contrast to the childlike, colour-bursting world of Nadia, her mother's study was a space reflecting the crushing weight of responsibility on a single parent. We designed it around the idea of a self-sacrificial yet struggling parent—in order for her daughter to flourish, Mom has taken up a job as a financial advisor, not necessarily something she enjoys, but something of necessity.
Even in the bleakness of the situation, we injected some Nadia presence through the little notes she leaves as encouragement for the mama she adores – again made with the scrappy materials only a child could reimagine, e.g. toilet rolls, takeout bags. (Favourite in this scene has to be the finger puppet peeking out of the lamp!)
Story: Ian Wee, Annette Lee
Director: Ian Wee
Cast: Julka Phoenix, Shan Chia & Daniel Chia
Producers: Charmaine Teo, Raphael Foo
DOP: Edmund Low
Gaffer: Leon Lim
Art Director: Ruthe Kee
Stylist: Yi-Jun Ian
Hair & Makeup Artist: Amber Lim
Camera Assistants: Ivan Chong & Nooradzuan
Key Grips: Shorts, Jeremy De Souza
Grips: Khaifad, Victor Yap
PA/Art Assistants: Melissa Tay, Neo You Bin, Nari Nasir, Opi Zam, Mohd Fahman, Joey Chia
BTS Videographer/Photographers: Syazali Bin Mohd Fazal & Nadia Ongkowidjaja
Graphic Designer: Sara Ho
Editors: Ian Wee, Annette Lee
Colorist: Eugene Seah
Camera Sponsor: Widescreen Media
Shot On RED
