https://youtu.be/dot0PpnhLpM
I had an idea in mind to create this music video for Leper's Fon Ghrein (Beneath The Sun) for a while now...around two years I believe. In that time, I captured several sunrises and sunsets. I uploaded some of those separately, but they became the video footage I ultimately created this project around.
When I finally started to work on this project, I took the video clips of the sunrises and sunsets then by changing the speed and splicing the footage I set them in place throughout the duration of the song...mostly in the chorus section. I also took some live footage I shot of Leper performing "Fon Ghrein (Beneath The Sun)" in 2018 at Wilson Abbey as part of a Tiny Houses benefit.
The lyrics of the song speak of the evil "beneath the sun" so I began searching and compiling footage that depicted evil such as war and other terrorist acts, oppression, police brutality, and riots. I also searched for footage of natural events such as tornados, hurricanes, waves, and volcanos to add to what I already had. Same with abandoned places...I searched some more footage to add with what I had captured already...my hope was to add more of an apocalyptic feel. I also felt it could in a way show the ecological evil done by humanity and the earth's reclamation of those places.
After a fire in a church in Chicago this spring, I decided that I wanted to capture footage of the ruins of the church before it was torn down. I also visited another site of a church which had burnt but some of the walls remain standing. I sought out footage and news coverage of these fires as well as that of Notre Dame from a few years ago to include in the project.
I decided to also compile footage from the civil rights movement and other protests which I included among the footage in the chorus sections of the song to sort of give the feel of the masses shouting "Beneath The Sun" along with the band. I included some of that footage in a verse of the song where oppression is mentioned as well. This footage is not being used with the intention to call the peaceful protesting evil.
With the verse on oppression in mind, I began to organize the clips in the verses to be at least somewhat related to each other. In the first verse, I took some clips from a visit to the Shrine of Christ's Passion after using some nature clips during a percussion interlude. From the clips of Christ's passion, I then took some old war footage of kilted soldiers as they marched and dropped dead. I believe this was likely from a movie set in colonial times. I continued with a clip of graves from our visit to Savannah that were from the Civil War era. Next I used footage from Nazi Germany prior to World War II then added in war footage from World War II. I figure there's not much more representative of evil in modern history than the Nazi regime. I took clips from nuclear bomb testing and a dramatization of the bomb drop on Hiroshima. Next I used clips from Waco, Texas, Columbine, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the World Trade Center, the January 6th insurrection, and finished off with clips from the current Russian invasion of Ukraine. There is one line in the middle of the verse about hope found after joining the dead. I took a couple more clips I captured during our visit to the Shrine of Christ's Passion including St. John The Evangelist Parish and the resurrected Christ. I also included a clip I shot in Berlin, Germany of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church which stands in ruins.
In the second verse I organized the footage of abandoned places and nature for the first part. I combined some old footage from 2014 when visiting the abandoned City Methodist Church in Gary, IN with some exterior footage I shot over the weekend while driving through and stopping. I also got footage of the power plant nearby in Michigan City where I met with Skot and Rachel Shaw to capture some footage I felt would flesh out the beginning and ending instrumentals of the song. While shooting this footage Skot showed me some footage he captured while in Colorado of deer carcasses. While I wasn't able to get that from him, I found footage of someone else scavenging and coming across several carcasses. I found some clips of a recent fire in a homeless camp and added another clip of another camp before the fire clip. I then organized the clips of churches burning using the footage I shot of the ruins of the churches in Chicago as well.
The third verse had lines regarding oppression so during the instrumental interlude preceding those lines and through until the last line of the verse I included footage I had compiled showing oppression starting with the civil rights struggles, the riots in Los Angeles, the Standing Rock protest, and all that surrounded the killing of George Floyd. Going into the last line of the verse I took some images I had captured at Graceland Cemetery this spring and a couple years ago from the Zion Evangelical Lutheran ghost church of the burnt crucifix still hanging on the wall then I used the live footage of Jennifer Mercy singing the last line.
In the fourth verse I decided to use some more abandoned places footage including the Iron Works and Prison in Joliet, an exterior shot of the belltower for a factory near McKinley Park, some footage from Hurricane Ian, some shots from the ruins in Cedar Grove Cemetery in New Orleans due to Hurricane Katrina all leading into the line "chase the wind" which I used the live footage and added a clip from the Forge of the new bass player, John. I followed up this live clip using more clips from the ghost church as well as the faces of those who had either committed some of the evil acts depicted throughout this project or had a hand in it.
The final parts I worked on were the instrumental at the beginning of the song. I had Skot and Rachel Shaw meet me in Michigan City to get a couple clips of Skot playing the guitar solos. I also hoped to capture Skot and Rachel standing watching the sunset over Lake Michigan. The idea came from a scene in Blade where the vampires watch the sunrise over a body of water. Besides getting these clips, Skot had an idea to walk up over the dune nearby with his scythe. This ended up working well. I put a sunrise which I sped up at the very beginning then added Skot walking and standing with his scythe. I added some shots of the waves on Lake Michigan, some post sunset shots, a shot of the Chicago before using the clips of Skot playing guitar. One of the takes, Skot sat on a rock next to the water and the other he is standing by the dune with the Michigan City power plant behind him and the catwalk structure of the pier over him as well. I layered this footage as well as used it separately at different points with it ending as a drumbeat begins which was where I began the project using waves from the Pacific Ocean and lava flowing from our Hawaii trip, a volcanic eruption (captured by someone in Iceland), lightning and tornados to transition to the footage used in the first verse.
The ending I used a sunset clip I had shot in Hawaii sped up. I also used a clip of Skot walking with the scythe again after we finished shooting was was used in the beginning. I used some more waves from the Pacific Ocean, another shot of Chicago, and the shot of Skot and Rachel watching the sunset to end the project. This sunset didn't work out quite as I had hoped due to clouds moving in but it is still useable.
After making the project for "Far A Bheil Do Gath (Where Is Thy Sting)" I tried to minimize the use of cemetery footage a bit if I could...even though the subject of death remains.
A lot of the footage I compiled I shot with my camera as it played through the television screen. I had already planned to use effects to degrade the footage somewhat (such as "bad film" and "bad tv") so I figure this method would just enhance the effects further.
I added the "bad tv" effect at random spots throughout the project in pretty short intervals that are likely easily missed.
I added the colorize and colorize gradient effect, changing the white to red as I did before with "Far A Bheil Do Gath (Where Is Thy Sting)." I plan to keep that as a theme if I do more videos for songs from "This Next Song Is About Death."
I added the "bad film" effect after adding the color effects to the entire project. I changed the setting for the saturation aspect so it wouldn't cause the red to turn into a pinkish color. I also added the "vignette" effect to blur and darken the edges somewhat. After processing all this, I added a second dose of the "bad film" effect, again removing the saturation aspect.
I used Motion 4 to create the title and credit at the end and used the bone font. I included the GRRR Records logo in the corner.
I am hoping that the end result of all this is to the liking of the Shaws and others in or associated with Leper. It was a few years in the making mostly due to needing the opportunity to capture the shots I wanted to make this project. I am glad that I was able to do it!
Some footage was filmed and some was compiled, titles created, and all was edited by Joel A. Swanson.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9ZwEF2QQpMCrULqZ3e-5fqVxb_2UCHl
