Music Video Director Los Angeles: Puppets, a Cadillac and Zulu's "The Right End"
Music video director Los Angeles: how a band that could not travel became a cast of handmade puppets haunting Zulu's The Right End.
Music video director Los Angeles: Zulu's The Right End is one of my favourite shoots, and almost none of it went the way a normal production would. We flew to LA with Richard Kendall on camera and my old roommate from Belgium, Sam, and then discovered the band could not travel. Only one member and the person financing the video were actually there.
A Twilight Zone Idea Born From a Problem
With most of the band missing, I needed a concept where their absence became the point. I landed on something close to an episode of The Twilight Zone: the band haunts the lead of the video, following him, except they appear as puppets. The lead is the only real person on screen, and everyone else is a small handmade figure closing in on him.
I had the puppets built in Shanghai with an artist. At the time I was shooting a lot of photography where I turn real people into toys, so I brought that technique into the film. Traditional animation combined with After Effects work in post is what finally gave them life.
Shooting Puppets in Hollywood With a Rug and Tape
There is something absurd about standing in Hollywood, the capital of the movie industry, shooting puppets in the street. We rented an old Cadillac and rigged the camera to it with a rug and a bunch of tape. Richard Kendall, who shot this with me, is a superb cinematographer who specialises in very high end automotive commercials, so the contrast was not lost on either of us.
I was directing million dollar car commercials in that same period. Working as a music video director los angeles on something this small and improvised was the opposite end of the scale, and I loved it just as much. Being able to move between both, the big machine and the run and gun film, is something I would not trade.
Taking the Cast to Coachella
One unexpected advantage of a cast made of puppets is that you can put them in a bag. We drove out to Coachella with our client, who had become a friend by then, and kept shooting along the way. I handled second unit camera myself in the desert on that drive, which is why the desert scenes have a different hand to them than the rest of the video.
Every project leaves a specific memory behind. This one is a whole stretch of time in Los Angeles: the puppets, the Cadillac, the desert, and a shoot that only worked because the problem forced a better idea than the one we would have had otherwise.
Credits
Label and artist: Boomber Records / ZULU. Production house: Studio Supreme. Director: Olivier Hero Dressen. Director of photography: Richard Kendall. Second unit DOP, desert: Olivier Hero Dressen. Producer and stylist: Luca Buzas.
FAQ: Directing the Zulu Music Video
Why are the band members puppets in the video?
The band could not travel to Los Angeles for the shoot, so only one member was present. Rather than hide that, I built the concept around it: a Twilight Zone style idea where the band haunts the lead as handmade puppets, which made the absence part of the story.
Where were the puppets made?
The puppets were built in Shanghai with an artist. At the time I was shooting photography that turned real people into toys, and this video was a chance to bring that technique into motion using traditional animation and After Effects in post.
Where was the music video shot?
It was shot run and gun around Los Angeles, including Hollywood streets with a rented vintage Cadillac, plus desert footage captured on the drive out to Coachella. I shot the desert second unit myself.
Who shot the Zulu music video?
Richard Kendall was the director of photography, a cinematographer known for high end automotive commercials. I directed and also handled second unit camera in the desert, with Luca Buzas producing and styling.
See more music video work on the Zulu portfolio page.
