To the Sun

At eight o'clock we finished shooting the last scene from the music video of the song To the Sun. Zed and I shot for three days. The first day involved some extra: Austin and Jin played the two bad boys who run after me on the street, push me in a dark alley and beat me up before stealing my bag and my money. 

Jin also provided the wonderful makeup for my bruised face. So real did it look that people looked at me with concern as I passed them on the street.

Directing this video - and working with Zed who does a wonderful job with the cinematography, is pushing me to develop more projects in the visual field.

I have millions of ideas for new videos and yes, perhaps a short film. (I don't even dare to think of a long feature) This brings me back to my teenage time when I wanted to be a film director... An attempt at entering the prestigious cinema school la FEMIS, an endeavour which sank in the deep blue sea after my mother inadvertently opened a letter she thought was coming from the film school but was actually a newsletter from a gay student group where I was volunteering!

Then there was this trip to California - Hollywood, to be precise. I stayed with my cousin Eliane who was an aspiring young actress, met some people from 'the industry', had a blast in San Francisco before returning to Paris and realising that music was indeed the direction I was to follow.

And now, it's coming back! Zed amusingly pointed out that my way of working was very close to the Dogma. No budget, lots of improvisation, no star... But it's the digital age. It would be hard (an impossibly costly) to shoot with a film camera!

To the Sun is now in the can. Nearly... The editing is yet to be done. Zed is totally unavailable for a whole month, so I have to find someone else to help me. Or learn to do it myself, as I did so many times in my life.

Listen to:
To the Sun (feat. T.i.n.)