The Director Explains: Pillow Queens - 'Holy Show'
Photo credit: Faolán Carey
We talk to director Kate Dolan about working with Pillow Queens on their road trip themed music video for their current single, ‘Holy Show’.
Where was the video for ‘Holy Show’ filmed?
We filmed the video all around North Dublin. I grew up in North Dublin, which can often be forgotten about when it comes to filming locations so I always like to try and showcase it in my work. One of my favourite places ever, since I was a kid, is Howth Summit. This is seen in the video where the girls are looking out at this amazing vista. A few weekends before the shoot I just drove around using Howth Summit as my starting point and tried to find places that felt like pit stops on a road trip. We got great weather on the day so all the locations look extra gorgeous.
How does the video connect with the song?
I feel like the Pillow Queens music is always really emotive. Without hearing any lyrics the songs will often make me feel emotional. The girls told me this song was about things you regret and getting “The Fear” over things you might have said to someone. I listened to the song over and over and it felt really nostalgic and bittersweet but it also gave me a feeling of yearning. So I got this idea about seeing vignettes of these girls on a road trip together but we also see them alone. In the video you can read it as these girls remembering their relationship but I also like to think that these girls maybe haven’t met yet and so the images on the road trip are in their future. They are sort of yearning for this connection they don’t yet have. It may not be exactly what the song is about but it’s what the song made me feel.
Do you have any behind the scenes stories you can share with us?
This was my first shoot back on an actual set since COVID hit in March so I think everyone involved was just really excited to be shooting again. We had such a gorgeous skeleton crew of like 5 people because we wanted limited numbers to keep the set controlled. It felt really stripped back and gave us a lot of flexibility. For a lot of it I would just give the cast a scene to play out with beats to hit and we would just follow them with the camera and let them play around in the space so the atmosphere was just really relaxed and fun. When casting we needed two actors who lived together so I put out a call and we were so lucky to find the girls the (Agnes O’Casey & Eavan Gaffney). They were so up for it and really gave it their all which really brought the magic on screen.
Could you tell us about the ideas/ themes/ imagery used?
As I said above, for me the video can be seen two ways. In parts of the video you see these women in isolated spaces without each other. You could say that they are remembering this road trip as something from their past. Or it can be images of them projecting their desires. I remember as a teenager, before I was fully out, I would often reassure myself that one day I would be free to go where I wanted, to do what I wanted and that I would find someone who loved me as much as I loved them. Those thoughts really kept me going in dark times.
Visually I wanted to capture the feeling of when you are in a relationship and you’re so obsessed with the person when you look at them it’s like the rest of the world isn’t there, everything else slips away and it’s like there is a vignette just around the two of you. We used these prisms in front of the camera to sort of skew the light around the girls so that things around them just felt like these gorgeous blur.
One other thing that was important to me for this shoot is that this was to be two women. Me and the girls in the band are all queer and we wanted to show this really positive queer relationship. I feel like when you see gay people in music videos (or film or whatever) you always feel like something bad is going to happen to them. Or if you see queer women in music video they are often through a male gaze and hyper sexualized. I wanted to see these two young women together just enjoying each other, with really down to earth intimacy and no bad things happen to them!
Is there a message the video is trying to convey?
I don’t think there’s a message as such. I guess you just want people to feel something when they watch it, maybe stir something inside their heart. I do think people will connect with the video because, regardless of gender or sexuality, I think most people on the planet have felt this kind of yearning for another person. We have all fantasised about jumping in a car, taking off on the open road, just running away with someone and forgetting all the worries and stresses of life (or maybe that’s just me?) I think we capture that feeling well with the video and hope people who watch it agree.
Interview by Karla Harris
‘Holy Show’ is taken from Pillow Queen’s debut album ‘In Waiting’ set for release on September 25th via Pillow Queens Records.