The latest collaboration between Framestore and director Kim Gehrig of production house Somesuch is for Brittany Howard’s debut solo music video for “Stay High.”
A tribute to the singer’s late father, the beautifully stylized music video stars actor Terry Crews (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Expendables) as a man finishing a day’s work and returning home to his family.
The aim of “Stay High” is to move away from the glossy music videos that many pop singers create and present a natural and much more emotionally driven story which honored K.J. Howard, the father of Brittany Howard. Shot in her hometown of Nashville, the music video features lots of the singer’s family and friends, and Brittany pops up in several scenes throughout the video as different characters.
The clip features a color grade and subtle VFX by Framestore. “Kim wanted to really highlight the innocence of the video’s story, something I kept in mind while grading the film,’ said Simon Bourne, Framestore’s head of creative color who’s graded several films for the director. “The focus needed to always be on Terry with nothing in his surroundings distracting from that and the grade needed to reflect that idea.”
Ben Cronin, Framestore’s creative director and one of the compositors on the film, alongside Nuke compositor Christian Baker, added, “from a VFX point of view, our job was all about invisible effects that highlighted the beautiful job that Ryley Brown, the film’s DP did and to complement Kim’s unique vision.”
Client/Artist Brittany Howard Production Somesuch Kim Gehrig, director; Saskia Whinney, exec producer; James Waters, producer; Ryley Brown, DP. VFX/Color Framestore Ben Cronin, Christian Baker, compositing; Sophie Harrison, sr. producer; Simon Bourne, colorist. Editorial Trim Editing Tom Lindsay, editor.
Director Gia Coppola Teams With Mejuri For “A New York Minute”; 1st Episode Takes Us To The Grocery Store
Mejuri, known for turning fine jewelry into an everyday luxury, has partnered with director Gia Coppola (The Last Show Girl, Palo Alto) and The Directors Bureau in Los Angeles, for the first time reimagining the brand’s story as episodic content. In a series of microfilms, co-created by Coppola and premiering following New York Fashion Week, Mejuri eschewed a typical celebrity campaign and cast us as voyeurs to a group of aspiring young women--real people, not actors--at the crossroads of their adult lives against the backdrop of New York City.
Titled “A New York Minute,” the series features five real-life friends, who include one perfectly imperfect heroine named Emma. The women celebrate ordinary moments and interactions which reveal, sometimes retrospectively, the extraordinary within the mundane. Adjacent to the brand’s own community, the 30-something year old cast includes Laura Love (Emma), Rebecca Ressler, Natalie Vall-Freed and Rozzi Crane. Mejuri’s jewelry makes an appearance as the best supporting actor.
“When I met with Gia and The Directors Bureau team, there was instant creative and personal chemistry and a natural alignment on the desire to push and blur the lines between marketing, storytelling, and the construct of what a ‘campaign’ could be,” said Jacob Jordan, chief brand officer, Mejuri. “Gia was able to push that idea into something that truly feels new and artful, with a realism and relatability that almost feels jarring. Gia was such a perfect collaborator and partner, someone I had complete trust in to be a catalyst for Mejuri’s values of celebrating women as their truest selves. I can’t wait for us to continue to tell the next chapters of this story.”
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