the nosebleed

in action with a turkey baster

A little while ago I received a phone call from producer Rohan Scully from Squire studios. Was I free to shoot a music video that coming weekend? 
'sure' I replied
 'great' said Rohan 'There's not a lot for you to do, just bit of styling and a nosebleed'
'Right a nosebleed easy peasy'
'No hold your horses its a nosebleed underwater in a swimming pool and we need the blood to really spurt'.
'spurt?!'
'yeah'
'Right ok, what on earth is this for?'
'Its the video for a song called drown by indie-folk singer songwriter Marika Hackman we've got these two brilliant Aussie directors on board and basically they want to drown her in a swimming pool'
'Righty-ho'
so I nipped to the shops and brought a turkey baster then went to the cupboard, got my box of blood (everything from thick and clotted to light abrasion I'll have you know) and proceeded to experiment squirting differnt varietys up my nose and blowing them out into beakers of water where mostly they either sank or dissolved, in the only thing that worked was a home made concoction of golden syrup and food colouring (drop me a line if you want the recipe its very handy for halloween) 

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Anyway on the day in question I made my to  the under water studios in Basildon Essex, where I met directors Brian and Karl as well as Marika and the rest of the crew. The studio is basically an enormous tank on the edge of an industrial estate ; a quirky and unpretentious venue which over the years has shot scenes for everything from James Bond to Eastenders. 

Brian and Karl get a safety briefing, Marika prepares for action, I hold towels (a very important task i'll have you know)

After a quick safety briefing the crew including chris parkes (the man behind all these beautiful stills) donned wet suites and diving gear and boxed their equipment up into waterproof casing - including one rather nifty bit of kit which had a built in rubber glove for easy underwater button operating! (What will they think of next?)   

But I digress. Marika was absolute trooper and cheerfully put with spending a day having her head held underwater as well as several  takes of squirting blood out her nose - See below for the full effect.

I hope I'm not just speaking for myself when I say that making this video was a brilliant experience ,'Drown' is a very haunting and melodic song and I think directors Brian and Karl were spot on with their vision for the piece. Please check my 'latest work' section to see the final result.

this was too good not to squeeze in