The Band Explains: Öly - 'Hey You'
Öly speak to us about all things behind the scenes in the making of their powerful, serpentine music video for dark pop single, ‘Hey You’.
Where was the video for 'Hey You' filmed?
It was filmed in our city Toulouse (France) in an business district. Toulouse is also known as the pink city for her reddish stone all over the city centre, so it was quite hard to find a white/grey cold area. We also chose this specific place for the symmetry of the buildings. Our director (Sebastien Moutte from Pantomimes Pictures) is a big big fan of the symmetric stuff and it also fits our minimalist image. We also shot in a light studio with the snake to create those dark inside visuals.
How does the video connect with the song?
The song represent a feeling, the feeling of being attacked from all sides, the stress and the pressure of the streets and we really focused on recreating precisely that feeling with different tools.
Do you have any behind the scenes stories you could share with us?
The snake (Athena) is a good BTS story in herself 😄
We had a lot of questions to make sure we wasn’t hurting or bothering the animal in anyway but also to make sure that she wasn’t gonna kill any of us. Turns out everybody was safe and happy. The director was terrified at the beginning, even questioning his ability to shoot with the snake in the room but once the camera was rolling he was so absorbed by the beautiful image that he came closer and closer until being face to face with her without to the point where everybody else in the room got scared for him.
Can you tell us about the ideas/themes/imagery used?
The full story goes like this, first shot is the people shooting at the main character in the street until she snaps.
The we switch between the inside shots that represents inside her head and outside shots that represents multiple versions on the world being aggressive. The snake represent the main character, slow, calm and cold but ready to attack at any time. It also fits with the cello chorus that we like to picture as a snake charmer.
Is there a message the video is trying to convey?
Nothing ground breaking there but « be the snake » be peaceful but ready to fight.
Interview by Karla Harris