A gritty East London estate and a party of messed up kids provide the backdrop for Jake Bugg‘s latest music video for his album Shangri La. Inspired by the work of British photographers such as Chris Killip, “Messed up Kids,” directed by Andrew Douglas, mirrors the 20 year-old singer songwriter’s current place in life – feeling estranged from the kid he once was and disconnected from the place he used to call home.
”I dont really live anywhere at the moment as I’m always on the road. Now, after everything that has happened, going back feels crazy. I’m somebody looking in from the outside,” said Bugg.
The music video, shot at an ultra high frame rate tracking across the dynamic streets of Bow, opens with a spoken interview with Bugg before launching into the artist’s new single. Sam Ostrove‘s seamless edit plunges viewers in the middle of the frenetic narrative, drawing the eye and refocusing on details shrouded in the black and white metropolis.
According to Ostrove, “It was about finding a ‘surveillance’ technique that looked polished and didn’t rely on external effects. I confined myself to only using frame cutting and single frame edits with resizes across cuts to make everything feel seamless. With 1000 frames per second to play with, I knew something special could be achieved.”
“I wanted it to feel like you’re assessing a scene you’ve just watched,” added Ostrove. “When it swings back through during the choruses, we scope around, finding out things about the characters and uncovering nuances about the scene. Our hope was to leave the viewer with unanswered questions, wanting more.”