What So Not (Chris Emerson) and Daniel Johns (Silverchair – you know the one) have today dropped the music video for their debut collaborative track, ‘Be Ok Again‘ and it takes you on quite a bloody ride, let me tell you – both emotionally and visually.
Half shot at Bronte Beach, half shot at a Sydney warehouse, the video follows what feels like a journey we know all too well – when a relationship’s fucked you up so bad you need to get out the other side and live your best damn life again. To represent said best damn life? Jumping castles of course.
What So Not (who was so involved in the creative direction he co-directed, part-edited and starred in the video) told PEDESTRIAN.TV:
“The clip opens with an inner monologue. A paralysed body, a clouded mind and a conflict between past and present. We used water to represent this cold helpless feeling. But the melancholy is momentary – this song is about breaking free. The kiddy pool represents a ‘portal’ back to reality. Friends, light & colour all around you. You just have to pull yourself through.”
Mad Pantry‘s Luke Eblen, who filmed, produced and co-directed the piece added:
“I came up with idea for the bouncy castle at like, 1am, after everyone had gone to bed and I was having a party for one in the kitchen trying to work out how I could fill the space with colour on a shoestring budget.”
In fact, What So Not + Luke called upon friend and Bronte local Miki Davis for the beach scene, used a fan call-out for the inflatables part, and sourced the props and inflatables from hardware and thrift stores.
As one can imagine, it turns out Daniel was an absolute fucking enigma on set. Luke used a small room with dropped black fabric for Daniel’s take, which he said worked a treat because “he had his own little world to operate in”.
What So Not added: “I’ve worked with Daniel on a lot of music & we’ve actually become quite good friends. I was very grateful he trusted me to put him on show in the clip, in the narrative we created. He pulled up day of by himself, jumping straight to camera & delivering a performance to rival Keith Flint of The Prodigy.”
“The whole film crew we gobsmacked at how much he crushed his performance – I mean literally walking off set post-shoot, looking like they’d seen a ghost it was so good.”
Classic Johnsy.
