The Director Explains: Jack Devaney - 'Pebbles'
Sean Devaney speaks to us about directing his brother Jack Devaney’s dreamlike visuals for ,‘Pebbles’, which was inspired by French New Wave and Wes Anderson films.
Where was the video for ‘Pebbles’ filmed?
The video was filmed entirely on Brighton Beach, since the song was so connected with Brighton in general and was named after one of Brighton's unique features, it's pebble beach, it only felt appropriate to centre the whole video around it.
How does the video connect with the song?
To me the song always felt like something that played at the end of the party, the sun has begun to rise and you're one of the last people awake. It seemed fitting to set the video in this hazy period between 4 and 7am, when the sunlight hadn't hit the beach. The song's all about finally leaving a place you're heavily connected to but with the knowledge that place will always be with you wherever you go, so we created a story centred around 2 people who want to escape their situation, but while they can try to escape their problems, the only way to conquer it is to face it head on.
Do you have any behind the scenes stories you can share with us?
Because we could only film between 4 and 7am, we ended up filming for five days. I had almost the entire cast and crew staying in my family home, with people sleeping in every room available. We'd wake up at 1am; get some breakfast; head over to the beach for 3am; film until 7am; head home and go back to sleep, only to do it all over again.
Could you tell us about the ideas/themes/imagery used?
A big inspiration for the video was French New Wave and Wes Anderson films. It really heightened our dreamlike imagery and gave the whole video a wild colour pallet.
Is there a message the video is trying to convey?
5) Trying to understand running from your problems never works, that the only way to truly grow beyond something is to face your issues head on.