Recently I had the privilege to appear in yet another music video! The video for
'Heads or Tails' by SA rock band,
Taxi Violence, were shot on different locations in
Observatory over a period of two days. The concept behind the video is very creative, almost like a short story! In a nutshell, it's about a man who wakes up and something terrible happens in his day, then he gets the chance to relive that day over and over. Every morning he gets up a few seconds earlier, which results in the day playing out, and ending, differently each time. Yes, this has been done before in movies, but squeezing an entire story line into a 5min music video, is a challenge. So, just like the title of the song suggests, the day could turn out good or bad. It's heads or tails.
I have a small part in 'day one and two'. In the first scene, 'day one', the guy, who plays the lead, walks pass me on the street. We smile at each other and turn around to quickly flirt. Another guy on a bike, the stuntman, rides passed us, looks at my legs and drives into a lamp pole and falls off his bike. I don't see this, because my eye contact is elsewhere. My character is not that different from me, see? In the next scene, 'day two', we walk down the street again, pass each other and briefly make eye contact,
but this time the lead isn't wearing his watch. So he stops the guy on the bike to ask for the time. I walked passed them and because of that, the guy doesn't drive into the pole because he is no longer distracted. The lead also doesn't get to flirt, because by the time he looks up, I'm already around the corner.
Even though this will probably show for 15 seconds in the music video, it was a 2 hour job. I probably walked up and down that street 120 times on heels! The poor actor who plays the lead role had to smoke almost an entire packet of cigarettes for his roll and the stunt man, well, I'm sure he experienced some degree of pain.
My scenes were shot early in the day and after that, I left. So unfortunately no photos of the other scenes or of the band,
Taxi Violence. But here are some
behind the scenes pictures for you:
I arrived at 07h30. Before I sat for hair and make-up, I quickly took some pics of the very first scene.
Getting prepped for my scene.
Talking to the director, Ryan Kruger, about the video and concept.
Finally, we start filming. Action! Up and down we go.
Camera positions change to capture different angles.
There was even a part where I had to act as if I'm flirting with the other actor BUT he wasn't there! So it's kinda challenging flirting with a wall and then pretending to be all in to it. It's some camera trick which will make sense once I see the end result. Overall it was yet
another great experience and even my first attempt at acting. I felt a bit intimidated and pressured, yet, so comfortable and at home.
This is what I should be doing for a living!
Ryan Kruger, who also directed the
Parlotones music video I was in, is an award winning director and I can't wait to see him work his magic!
J
(Images: writer's own. Please do not use without permission)
