"Heard It All Before", a film I directed for The Weird Girls Project, with Emiliana Torrini's music, just won Best Music Video at Northern Wave International Film Festival Iceland, beating Gus Gus's "Add This Song" and Roots Manuver's "C.R.U.F.F" This is my second award in Iceland, where my mum jokes that I am internationally famous.
The film is based around Emiliana Torrini's track "Heard it All Before" from her album "Me and Armini" and features The Weird Girls as gorgeous glittering mermaids. It was shot on a shoestring outside Reykjavik and makes up Episode 6 of the wonderful Weird Girls series masterminded by Kitty Von Sometime. Although the film takes a music video style format, it had none of the budget or industry backing of a music video, but was created totally independently, with Emiliana and Rough Trade's permission, but without their intervention. It was purely a labour of love. It was edited by the fantastic Julia Knight, using the facilities at Trim Editing. Back in October 2008, I documented the Weird Girls shoot on this blog.
My first Icelandic award in 2006 was for "Sunnyroad", also for Emiliana, which won The Icelandic Music Awards beating Sigur Ros.
This is the Weird Girls Site, run by Kitty:
http://www.theweirdgirlsproject.com/
Sunnyroad- Winner of Icelandic Music Awards, Best Video 2006
There's nothing better than a museum crammed with artistic treasures to fire up the creative furnace. In a city that continues to thrive on consumerism, recession or not, it's great that there are still so many havens of brilliance and beauty available to anyone who takes the time to look. And London's museums, while being some of the best in the world, don't cost the earth every time we visit them (financially or environmentally.) In fact, a great many of them are free.
Most importantly though, I believe we all need some inspiration, whether we are artists or not. Trying to create without having feasted our eyes on some of the most brilliant art in history is a bit like trying to make a delicious meal when you've never tasted one. You have no point of reference. We all need to create; from choosing a wallpaper, to bringing up our children; life presents us with a constant creative challenge. We need an armory. Trying to make sense of the world, and developing the ability to screen out the mundane (gas bills, house prices, Ant and Dec, Piers Morgan, health gurus, people who talk about their shares in public etc), is harder without cultural capital. Art isn't reserved for the upper and middle classes anymore, it's available to everyone. At the very least it makes us feel better.
Having a young baby means I spend a lot of time walking around, pram pointed in the direction of adventure. Inexpensive adventure. After a while pounding the streets becomes monotonous, not to mention dirty. My baby is too young to care whether or not we are attending "Monkey Music" or "Tactile Soft Play" down the community centre. ( And I certainly lack the sweet tempered patience to tag along and nibble biscuits in a drab collective bound together only be reproductive success. I'll save that until she goes to school.) So for now she might as well babble and coo from her pram, gnawing on a museum guide, while her mother hones her artistic noggin, a heritage she will one day inherit.
Some of My Favourite London Museums and Galleries
Free
The British Museum- http://www.britishmuseum.org/
Geffrey Museum- http://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/
The National Gallery- http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/
The Wallace Collection- http://www.wallacecollection.org/
I've just bought a secondhand drawing board. I'm delighted, inspired and content. But is this a good thing? One of the old cliches of art is that the artist should be unhappy. Lautrec, Blake, Bacon, Hopper, all miserable, all great artists. And there are countless others. So will all this happiness get in the way of my art?
Happy or sad?
A friend recently poo pooed happinesss altogether when, in response to her stuggle with a Januray diet, I fobbed her off with the common platitude "Well as long as your happy..." Happiness is bullshit," she said "Read Barbara Ehrenreich." I didn't, and I'm still feeling fine.
Happiness aside, I need somewhere to work. Virginia Woolf famously wrote that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." Acquiring the drawing board is my equivalent. The territory isn't just physical, it's mind space amidst washing up and unfinished jobs, soul room away from to-do-lists, a space I can escape into. It's also somewhere slopey where nobody can put their laptop, car keys or cup of tea down.
What if misery does make better art? Does happy have to care?
My latest short (working titled The Dangers of Damp), stars Willy Mason, Sam Mason and Sofi Thanhauser. We are looking for an editor to help us complete the film. Please get in touch via ali.taylor@academyfilms.com if you can help! Thanks!
Director/ Producer Ali Taylor, Production and Post Sam Mason, DOP Whitney Lasker. Main Cast: Sam Mason, Willy Mason, Lexie Roth, Meredith Sheldon and Sofi Thanhauser
Martha's Vineyard isn't a grape growing winery owned by a cuddly old lady called Martha, it's a small island off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, inhabited by a fascinating mixture of artists, musician, hippies, fishermen, gardeners and celebrities. The geek in me notes that it's also one of the few places in the world that has a possessive apostrophe in it's name. Apparently there are only 5 places which do in the USA, and in the UK we have Bishop's Castle, Bishop's Stortford and King's Lynn according to Wikipedia. I can't think of any more. Anyway, the island is known as a summer colony, meaning that it's economy is mainly driven by the summer tourist trade, and winters are quiet.
You can find out more about the island here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha's_Vineyard
I spent 3 weeks there in springtime, before the tourist trade kicked off, and had an excellent time staying with friends Mara Carlyle and Sam Mason in Menemsha, a small fishing village to the North West. Sam is a native Vinyarder so I had the opportunity to see how life works on a day to day basis. It seems that the average long term resident is much poorer than the celebs and holiday makers that swamp the place in the summer. The young folk all seem to work as gardeners or baristas, as well as being in really brilliant bands, or creating art. In fact just about every person you meet is a talented musician; Sam is a great drummer, and often plays with his brother Willy Mason. Their friends Lexie Roth, Meredith Sheldon and Sofi Thanhauser are all incredible musicians in very different ways, not to mention visiting songstress Mara, who's talent on legs.
The island is a very inspiring place to write and relax, which was my intention when I went there to recharge the creative portion of my brain following hectic wedding plans and a busy patch of video making. Little did I know I'd end up rising to a bigger creative challenge set by Sam as he left for his gardening job one morning. "If you write a film script by the time I get back from work, we'll make a movie" he said. So that's what I did. "The Dangers of Damp" was written in a day and shot by Whit Lasker, Sam and I over the following week on Whit's Canon D5 digital SLR camera. It stars all of the aforementioned musicians (Willy Mason, Sofi Thannhauser et al) as various characters and will hopefully feature music some of their music too. Several pick-up shots were also filmed in June by Whit and Sam, with me directing from London. More to follow about that soon in another post.
In the meantime check out some of my favorite things about Marath's Vineyard.
Manemsha Fish Market- We ate lot of fish from here. The service is fantastic and the lobster is out of this world. You can even buy a baby Menemsha Fish Market T-shirt on their website, which has got to be a great thing. Right? http://www.menemshafishmarket.net/
Sofi Thanhauser- A brilliant songwriter and performer. She has fantastic presence live and gives a great performance as Victoria Van Der Hope a leggless spinster in "The Dangers of Damp" which I'm currently editing. http://www.myspace.com/sofithanhauser
The Dumptique- Dumptique doesn't have a website, but then it doesn't need one. This is a FREE thrift store at West Tisbury Dump, and it's the ultimate in recycling, cutting out the boredom and expense of ebay. You can bring stuff you don't want andtake anything you want. The qualiy of things here is surprisingly high, much better than the average British Charlity shop. This is probably because the turnaround is faster, well off residents regularly dump stuff and most people don't bring in crap. They accept- Clothing, clean and usable, shoes and boots, Books, Toys, Small household Items - NO furniture or appliances are accepted.
Che's Lounge- The place to hang out for music, culture and homemade magic. Just the posters for the gigs here are an artistic feat worth seeing. I've sent them a request to put them up on their facebook page, which they may be too busy to do....It's BYOB as the town is dry.
West Tisbury Farmers Market- The store to buy all your fresh friut and veg in. And they do really nice hummus, olives and decent bread. Actually that's one of my only winges about America, it's often hard to get nice bread. But that's not a problem here, and it's actually cheaper that Cronigs (big supermarket chain) for a lot of stuff. http://www.farmfresh.org/food/farmersmarkets_details.php?market=158
Dubbed one of the 25 most exciting bands in America by the NME 2008, Yo Maj, as the crew and I like to affectionately call them, are a force to be reckoned with. A lesbian, Christian rap band from Florida, I like them because they do what they love, and they don't give a Goddamn what anyone else thinks about it. This is their myspace page for those in doubt: http://www.myspace.com/yomajesty4life
The video was shot, without the band, in various locations around London using an all female cast and crew, and focuses on real people out on a Saturday afternoon. We filmed in places where ordinary women typically go: nail bars, hairdressers, a yoga class, a wedding shop and a women's art class. Although it was made on a shoes-string budget, it's been the video most representative of me as a director so far. It allowed me to shoot loads of things I've been dying to do for ages; nudity, latex, big bums, women having a laugh, Hackney streets, and for vanity's sake, a director cameo role. It's sort of rude in an innocent way.
Credits Producer- Liz Kessler Production Company- Academy Films DOP- Cathrine Derry Editor- Darren Baldwin Starring- Connee D as Latex LAdy
While shooting Yo Maj's video I also came across Bastard Batty Bass. It's rather good if you like that sort of thing. And I do. http://www.battybass.com/
I'm off to Martha's Vineyard next week to write and ponder the meaning of the ukele, trees and the sea. While I'm gone check out Mara Carlyle: http://www.maracarlyle.com/
There's no right way to be a music video director. But in my first year and a half of doing this crazy thing I've learned to be a happy one. Like this....
GO EASY ON YOURSELF Despite the gaps between jobs and the incredible perk of being master of your own time, you work extremely hard when a job is on. You pour your heart, soul, and often your fee, into every job you do. You've managed to carve out your little corner in a dog-eat-dog industry. Give yourself a high five and a little sweetie for being fabulous.
BE HUMBLE I know what I just said..but..you aren't saving lives. And nobody wants to hear about the famous person you met the other day or your agent in LA. When someone asks what you've been up to, don't say "Hangin with Dizzee in Shoreditch House” or "Living it up Groucho-side with Robbie", just say "Oh you know, writing, thinking, shooting, the usual."
TAKE CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM (BUT DON'T ALWAYS BELIEVE IT) One of the hardest things about your job will be deciding who to take criticism from, who to ignore, and who to mentally note as weirdo. As a general rule stick to what you know to be good about your work. Listen to advice from those you respect or people who've got a lot of experience. But remember, it's up to you what you do with that advice; you don't have to actually TAKE it. Learn to be a diplomat.
TRUST IS THE KEY Trust the artist/ band/ comissioner, and earn their trust back. They probably know who they are and what they want. They may need a bit of guidance and some spandex to really shine though.
DON'T LET NEGATIVE COMMENTS GET YOU DOWN For every 100 people who like a video you've made, a handful will hate it, with a passion, and they will be the most vocal. If someone makes a negative comment on Youtube about your work DO NOT PANIC! Especially if it looks something like this "Bruv dis vid is lame. wot da fuk is dat abot man?" or "Fail'. Under no circumstances should you ever post your own work on the website Antville. This is where the has-beens and never-weres of the promo fringe spend their hours i-winging and e-moaning. Emo at best, misanthropic at worst, these squawkers use jargon like "nice defoc shot but generally weak cut and concept" or "I would have dispensed with the slow mo and...bla bla". Don’t go there. I used to look at it and get wound up but I've seen the light. There are WAY better places to look at vids or upload your stuff, minus Cyber Meldrew.
WATCH STUFF Some ace sites, with a less poisonous rantings are: NOT FAT CLIPS- Which is great for animation, music videos and shorts. http://dekku.blogspot.com/
PROMO NEWS- Some Antville gumpsters do go on here, but generally it's a nicer feel. http://www.promonews.tv/ I particularly like Sarah Chatfield's (or Chatters) x-mas video Mixtape. Sarah ( at Colonel Blimp)is one of the many directors who manages to be lovely and very good at what she does. Big up her. http://www.promonews.tv/2008/12/19/video-mixtape-by-sarah-chatfield/
Keep looking on people’s blogs where a lot of fun stuff turns up. Company websites are good for up to date video news: Colonel Blimp, Bikini, Academy, Partizan, Factory Films, Blink, and Independent. Mr and Mrs Smith, Studio AKA and Annex Films for animation. Get Googling.
HAVE A SECOND INCOME WHEN YOU START This could be in the form of a Sugar-Daddy (Not really) , work in commercials, a job in the pub, a double life as a ship's doctor (I know people with most of the above, even the doctor), or a contract as a spy (I made this one up). In any case, it will raise your bank balance, feed your self esteem and enable you to have more time off, getting inspired, doing vanity projects for your mate's band and hanging out with Dizzee in Shoreditch House.
GO TO THE AWARDS But don't be gutted if you don't win. If you are really gutted do it in STYLE. Storm out shouting "I've been robbed!!"
DEVELOP PITCH BOUNCEBACKABILITY Don't be too upset when you don't win a pitch. It's so competitive that there's probably 10 other directors pitching too. Also don't sit around waiting for an answer. It's better to get on with something else. Often commissioners and producers get so busy once a job is confirmed that they simply don't have the time to ring up all people who didn't get the job. Having said that, there's a little handful of lovely commissioners who DO call up. May their bottoms be gilded in gold and their cockles be warmed in perpetuity.
BUILD A GREAT TEAM And cherish them. Sounds cheesy but I wouldn't be able to do what I do without the lovely people I work with. DOP's like Stuart Bentley and Ben Moulden have been great. Trim Editing and Academy films make a lot of things possible for me.
DON'T WORRY BE HAPPY ...In the words of Bobby Mcferrin form the 80s.
I'm forever banging on about how good this shop below my studio on Great Eastern Street is, and here I go now on my blog. A Child of The Jago is the brainchild of Joe Corre of Agent Provocateur and Barnzley Armitage of..a lot of fashion moments. It's a modern take on Turn of The Century mens clothing, inspired by, and centered around Hogarth's "Gin Lane", which glares out at you in neon colours from the back wall.
(To the lady who took the photo above, I took the liberty of using it. As I'm IN it talking to Dave.)
The reason I like this shop has nothing to do with who came up with the idea or how supposedly cool it all is. What I love about this place is the fact that it invites you into a world. It's an open invitation to another time, a parallel dimension where punks, pirates, gin hags and teddy boys coexist in a post apocalyptic dream world. Nowt wrong with that. What I also like about this shop, apart from the great decor, which I had a little bit of a hand in by the way, is the fact that the staff are so bloody brilliant. Forget about that snotty fashionista attitude crap you get in some places were you can't touch anything, let alone afford it. These guys are sitting in London's craziest dressing up box and they WANT you to get involved. They don't really give a shit if you aren't buying it, they are passionate about clobber. There's an inspired mix of vintage stuff and new designs ranging from hoodies to frock coats and original "Let It Rock" ties from Vivienne Westwood's original pre- Sex shop. And what's more I have to say that most of this stuff looks just as great on women as it does on men. When my website launches soon (www.alitaylor.tv) you'll be able to see some of their hats and ties on my models in my "director's lookbook". I certainly intend to use some of this stuff in a music video or two.
Here's a drawing inspired by the hats.
They are having a late night shopping and gin party on Thursday 11th Dec. So I suggest you get in there, get involved and dress the hell up. The new magazine "The Daily Terror" is also being launched.
WEBSITE: The website has a great jukebox thing on it.
Urban Outfitters in the US are selling a portable cross fader IN THE SHAPE OF A MIX TAPE!!!!
Although I'm not usually a gadget person, and I don't like using my blog to advertise stuff, (apart from me) I think this is ace. Unfortunately it only seems to be available online, and postage to the UK at $51 seems excessive for something that only costs $30. Urban Outfitters UK are really missing a trick because I'm sure this would be REALLY popular at Christmas.
I might get in touch with New York friends though...Perhaps I could use this as a tool in my project with Mr Dan. (Dan and I are swapping roles with him doing visuals and me doing music on a strange music video, or should that be a video-music? )
I'm feeling quite inspired by all the art I've been looking at recently and am about to start working towards an exhibition of my own. Here are a few pieces I've done in the past. I call these "Tarts". They were inspired by Hogarth's visions of London and my own imaginary London, which sinks slowly into the encroaching Thames like a dystopian Venice. I'm hoping to develop the theme further and to bring some of my own experiences into the mix for an exhibition next year. I was really touched by Adam Neate's gesture of sharing his art with London for free. I'm disappointed by people selling it on Ebay though.
If you are interested in art AND tarts, have a look at ART TART. The tartiest artiest tart around.
Being dedicated, but not too dedicated (like the campers who've been there since wednesday, and scare me frankly), I started queuing early for my secret RCA cards. By 5:30am the queue already stretched right around the RCA building, down the side of the Albert Hall, into the small mews behind the college, round the courtyard, down a dead end alley and back out into the courtyard. People were armed with hot flasks and high spirits. It was good fun. Watch out for my queue-film coming to youtube near you.
I had a shortlist of about 90 of the 2, 700, that I genuinely liked. Narrowing that down even further, there were 20 that I especially liked. I'm happy to say that all the ones I got were in my top 10. Here they are.
..So I'm pretty happy with that. They'll look great framed as a set. Perhaps I'll go every year and build up a collection...
I didn't think it would be worth having a 30th birthday bash unless it was done in style. These days, what we lack in the ability to stay awake for days on end, fueled by cheap alcohol and excitement, we make up for in sheer fabulousness (and the luxury of being able to afford a bottle of wine over the £2.99 mark.) That said, the world is apparently falling apart at the seams out there and one needs to be prudent. Gone are the days when inviting all your mates to a cocktail bar, where they will ultimately end up buying hundred quid rounds and starving for a week to compensate, is welcomed as a good idea. Come to think of it, it was always a crap idea and probably won't be missed anyway.
I must admit my inner socialist is loving every minute of this apparent financial and ideological shake up. I'll go into why as soon as I finish reading Das Kapital on my big leather sofa with a glass of champagne.. Anyway, I thought an old style house party was the appropriate thing to do under the circumstances. My friends are a creative bunch so I decided to go with the theme "Comrade or Capitalist" and leave the rest up to them. I wasn't disappointed.
Here a real life painter Emma, or should I say Frida, shows her solidarity with our communist brothers and sisters. I pose with her as a rather tarty "Russian Proletariat"
Above Trotsky (aka Becca) pretends not to be eyeing up Frida's impressive painted plaster cast bodice. We all know what you are thinking Trotsky. Below the plaster cast bodice in its full hand painted glory. The artist spent most of the afternoon on her fabulous masterpiece.
This dashing chap above known as "Dave" has not let the irony of the theme pass him by. No, he has harnessed it to good effect with an outfit I call "Capitalising on Communism." I'm not sure what he calls it but I like it. I wish to thank Dave for this wry axiom and for being the first person to arrive and last person to leave the party. Well done Comrade.
This is Comrade Trotsky again above. I was VERY impressed with this look. Especially the moustache. Below this Oil Man, known to other capitalists as Charlie, shows off his facial hair. Yours may be more expensive but Trotsky's is bigger Dear Comrade.
Below Che Guevara (aka Luca) shows his communist colours with a proud smile. He's been eyeing up the table football and fancies challenging the capitalists to a match.
Ms Kahlo continues to look fabulous throughout the night and appears to be enjoying her white russian cocktail. (vodka, kahlua, milk on ice.) She even queues patiently for bread and makes no mention of her paintings or injuries all evening. At one point I see her chatting happily to a pair of hanged bankers and a lady wearing a $2800 price tag on her clothes.
According to Marx, capitalism will inevitably lead to disaster when capital is centralised in large corporations, eventually causing the demise of the middle classes. In other words "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer." I'm not sure about the demise of the middle classes but this fine fellow below, known as "Rich" (!) to his friends, arrived with a dapper entourage of free market ideologists all bearing chilled champagne.
Contrary to the stereotype of the miserly capitalist these real life bankers were very generous with the fizzy stuff. They could be seen openly mixing with communists and even offering them a "top up."
On the table footy however communism and capitalism battle it out tooth and nail.
As the evening evolved I began to discover more about various comrades. One ally, known variously as W.I.Z, Andrew or Johnny, if you please, had grown his facial hair to a precise communist length and wore genuine Spanish period clothing. The result, as ever, was rather fetching and divine.
At one point Comrade Dave was photographing comrade Wiz photographing me. It was very postmodern but not at all bourgeois bohemian.
Above this Sister of Socialism Mita De takes the theme to its abstract and thoughtful conclusion with her "worker bee" interpretation. Top marks for thinking outside the box Comrade.
A lady of untold beauty known as Constance, who has appeared in some of my films, shows a remarkable socialist profile.
Meanwhile, determined to attract the attention of the Oil Man, I transform myself into GOLD for the latter half of the soiree. There's nothing like the power of pure ore to grab a prospector's interest.
As you can see this works a treat and the Oil Man is lost for words.
All in all the night was a success. Thanks to all Comrades and Capitalists who came, dressed up, dressed down, poured top ups, created a scene and generally made it so much fun. More pictures to follow on flickr soon. Feel free to send me pics too if you have some.
MOSCOW MULE
2 oz vodka 2 oz lime juice 8 oz ginger ale
Mix ingredients in a highball glass with ice.
WHITE RUSSIAN 2 oz vodka 1 oz coffee liqueur milk (or cream if you are a capitalist)
Pour vodka and coffee liqueur over ice cubes in an old-fashioned glass. Fill with milk or light cream and serve.
I've had a lot of positive feedback about my involvement in the Weird Girls Project. I'm editing the video right now with Julia Knight at Trim. However I must admit there's been a surprising number of "concerned" emails about the health and well being of the girls. Specifically people in the UK and USA have been worried about my immense cruelty at putting 16 girls in a pool when Iceland's autumn temperatures were dipping to -2 °C. I can see why people might worry ; There I am wrapped up like a Siberian explorer, yelling into a megaphone while the girls, clad in spandex, are making flower formations in the apparently freezing cold pool.
However if appearances can be deceiving double that on film shoots and multiply it by the square root of 100 in Iceland. Icelandic people, by the way, have made no such appeals for the prevention of cruelty to mermaids. As they all know geothermal heat has been used by people since time began. And Iceland happens to be a hot-bed (sorry) of geothermal activity, being situated on the mid-ocean ridge of the Atlantic Ocean where tectonic plates meet and magma reaches the sea floor. The water at Sundlaugin Laugaskarð pool is naturally between around 35 and 40 °C. The girls were mainly complaining of being to hot!
WEIRD GIRLS SHOOT BEHIND THE SCENES http://www.flickr.com/photos/kittyvonsometime/sets/72157608316502781/
I'm over the moon about how The Weird Girls Project photos have turned out. This photo shoot was done alongside the filming of the video, which uses "Heard it All Before" by Emiliana Torrini as the soundtrack. There was also a documentary shot on the day. You can see how the project has developed from September to the present day, including Emiliana's reactions to the shoot, Perez Hilton's love of her music and info about the shoot day, by following the blog below.
This is me being a director. This is a standard look in the trade. The megaphone is a recent addition to my ensemble. It works so I'm sticking to it.
Some of my girls being fabulous.
If you'd like to see the full collection of official photos, taken by Hörður Ellert Ólafsson follow this link to producer and artist Kitty-Von -Sometime's flickr page.
The video, which I directed in Iceland earlier this month, is currently being edited at Trim in London and will be out very soon on this blog. I'll be keeping Perez Hilton informed too because he's a big fan of Emiliana. Aren't we all!
Oh happy days! Iceland's weather gods decided to be very kind to us yesterday. Weeks of rain clouds parted to reveal bright sunny skies, the perfect shoot weather. Today the rain is back on in full torrential force, making us feel that we were fortunate indeed.
On top of that, the 16 lovely Weird Girls and crew who took part were all brilliant. The theme and location will be revealed when the video comes out in a few weeks time. Editor Julia Knight and I are very excited about cutting this.
Thanks everyone who took part!
Availible soon to watch at http://www.alitaylor.tv
My journey began at the receiving end of a facebook message from producer Kitty Von Sometime asking me if I'd come to Iceland and shoot the first full video Episode of The Weird Girls Project. That was a couple of months ago and sitting in my small but perfectly comfy room in a Central Reykjavik guest house, I can't quite believe the time has come.
The trip from London was uneventful until I arrived in Reykjavik to find it snowing heavily. Fortunately I was wearing most of my clothes, double gloves etc . Myself and one native Icelander were the only ones left outside the airport as numerous families and pre-booked mini busses carted people off to their respective homes and hotels. There were no taxis. Apparently most cabs still had summer tyers on so we were unlikely to see very many. Luckily I was rescued by the nice Icelandic guy who eventually found a cab, offered to share it and then was generous enough to cover my share of the fare by way of "A welcome to Iceland gift". Very nice, thank you. I wish I'd asked his name. That would have been polite.
My luck didn't last at the guesthouse. Well it did really, but it had a lapse. Following a sign that directed me to the back of the building in the adjacent street, I came across some sort of icy death slide disguised as a path. This would have been fine, I have been snowboarding, but somehow as I fell to the ground my suitcase handle managed to wallop me in the mouth. I arrived at my guest house looking like I'd just been in a bar brawl. And as I stood there spitting blood into the snow, wearing all my clothes and a silly hat, in front of the sleepy looking middle aged man I'd just woken up, he said, "Welcome, come in" as if I was the most normal person in the world, and I knew I was in a very special place indeed.
They seem a generous and trusting lot. I just hope they don't laugh at my duck-billed bruise face tomorrow.
The upcoming Episode 6 of The Weird Girls Project, to be filmed at a secret Icelandic location next week, looks to be plagued by fearsome weather. Fortunately for us it's unlikely to be as snowy as in the episode above. This time around we are hoping for a distinctly unsnowy feel. Emiliana has agreed to let us use her new track "Heard it All Before" as a sound track for the episode.
Luckily the production team being ever so resourceful and creative have a few locations up their sleeve for me. And in the true spontaneous spirit of Weird Girls we won't really know where we are shooting until the last possible minute.
Fingers crossed that wherever we are it's not as dramatic as the image below suggests!
Every few months in Reykjavik there's an invasion of spandex clad girls or giant bunny rabbits. The Weird Girls Project is part art project, part massive giggle. Originally a photographic project conceived by Reykjavik artist and lycra celeb Kitty Von Sometime, it has developed notoriety in Iceland over the past couple of years as something of a phenomenon. The concept is simple; Get a bunch of girls together, dress up, have fun and be very, very silly indeed while the whole spectacle is photographed. All this in the name of a laugh and confidence boosting, according to Kitty. Sounds good to me. The exciting bit; not a single one of the dozen or so girls who typically sign up knows what they are actually going to be doing. It's all a surprise. I like surprises.
It is now going cinematic and aims to create a film, directed by a professional music video director ( Me), without losing it's ethos of spontenaity, fun and surprise. To make things even more exciting, my good friend Emiliana Torrini has agreed to let us use the track "Heard it All Before" off her new Album "Me and Armini" as the soundtrack. We are all really looking forward to it. I made Emiliana's Sunnyroad video a few years ago so I'm looking forward to making a film that uses her music as a soundtrack.
I'll be leaving for Reykjavik on Oct 2nd 2008 and will be blogging the trip as I go. All will be revealed about this years amazing costumes and ace location.
What's Icelandic for "Sounds like a right laugh" ?
(If you have not see the Sunnyroad video, which I enjoyed making so so much, here it is. ) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=MyuL1z2tejs
This dashing chap above known as "Dave" has not let the irony of the theme pass him by. No, he has harnessed it to good effect with an outfit I call "Capitalising on Communism." I'm not sure what he calls it but I like it. I wish to thank Dave for this wry axiom and for being the first person to arrive and last person to leave the party. Well done Comrade. 
