Ollie Stephens' Official Music Video by Rowe Films

OLLIE STEPHENS - ELEVEN (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)

It's finally finished! You may have seen my blog post a few weeks ago updating you on Ollie's music project. Well after a successful album launch, the official music video we have been working on in the background is finally complete and I must say, I'm quite proud of this one. 

We had an absolute blast producing the video. Despite having listened to the song countless times during the edit and post-production, I'm still in love with it. A modern day, contemporary ballad with buckets of emotion and a strong message. This is testament to Ollie's songwriting abilities and I hope the accompanying video does it justice. The main message Ollie wanted to get across was about going through harsh, difficult times, to the point where it can almost become overwhelming, and then coming out the other side, to a new start. For the video, I wanted the viewer to be taken on this journey, ending almost with a feeling of being reborn. We embarked on the project with little more than this rough outline of an idea. We did no storyboarding, just a 100% 'run and gun' approach.

We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world and wanted to capture some of that beauty in the video. The best way to achieve that was to simply get out there with cameras over the course of several days. As you will see, Ollie's dedication to the cause was incredible. It was a pleasure working with someone so open to ideas and suggestions, and not once did he grumble when I suggested something that would quite likely put him in considerable physical discomfort! Heavy rain, forest, bare feet. Say no more! The only other must for this video, was to create a truly epic ending to match the epic crescendo in the latter part of the song. I think we achieved it, with a little help from my drone! 

For the film geeks out there, when it came to deciding on a "look" for the video, Ollie was completely open to suggestion. I decided to get creative and go for a cinematic, film look, with a strong colour grade. I used a heavy film grain in an attempt to achieve a timeless look. We felt that it would suit the song well if it looked like it was shot on film, rather than in a digital format. The old school 'film' look is a tough one to pull off, because digital footage naturally looks very different. I definitely wanted to use colour and saturation (or a lack of) to further Ollie's message, and you will see how this develops throughout the film.

We're currently looking at a short 'making of' feature to accompany the video, so if you're interested, watch this space!

Anyway that's enough chat, I sincerely hope you enjoy the video and please do head over to Ollie's page or website www.olliestephens.com to check out more of his work and his incredible debut album. Enjoy!