The Director Explains: ORIAN - 'What Pulls You'
We talk with director Nick Scholey, Merle Sibbe and Mark Hunt about the ideas behind ORIAN’s moving music video for ethereal indie pop song, ‘What Pulls You’, that drives home the importance of individual expression and collective support.
Could you tell us about the ideas behind the video?
This was a special video for us because the theme of the song was recognizable and once we decided on a storybased video, we decided on telling the personal story of our team-member Mark, who lost his best friend to suicide. We talked about his process and based Luke's character, Steve, on that. Mark himself got into the role of Derek, his friend. The video was shot in Mark's apartment, that holds the actual memories the story is based on. The last hug scene is shot on the same location that Mark saw his friend Rob last.
What we wanted to show in the video is an intimate friendship and the struggle of seeing a friend slip away into desperation and the powerlessness that comes with that. By that, just as in the song, we want to show a real but often hidden mental battle, and raise awareness for the importance of mental health and reaching out when you need help.
Do you have any behind the scenes stories you could share with us?
A nice behind the scenes story might be that Mark and Luke didn't know eachother before the shoot but really bonded by playing long-term friends. Also possible to note is that Mark is not actually a professional actor but his personal investment in the story made us trust that he'd be food at it and he indeed played the role perfectly.
A funny note might be that, since we shot some messages and missed calls from Steve to Derek, the names of Mark and Nick in there phone are still Steve and Derek and they still call eachother that from time to time, when Mark does something Derek-like or Nick does something Steve-like.
In the basketball scene, Mark accidentally hit Luke in the face and he was bleeding but we made it part of the scene and they shot some selfies where Luke proudly shows his bleeding lip (they didn't make the cut though)
Interview by Karla Harris