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[Editor's Note: Here's a little treat for ya - Tim (guitarist for Protest The Hero) and Marc Andre Debruyne (video director extraordinaire) walk us through the makings of PTH's latest offering, Bloodmeat, which is the lead-off single from their brand new album Fortress, which will be descending from the heavens tomorrow, January 29! Enjoy this video spotlight from the perspective of the artist AND the director!]

Watch Video: Bloodmeat

The Makings of Bloodmeat
Dave came with a bottle of Jagermeister shortly after lunchtime where there was a delicious catered meal. There was also a very nice pool table and I met a young man named Garth who claimed to be all right at pool. After he schooled me and made me look like an idiot, we talked about my future plans to play chess against Riza, who is apparently a grand master.

Marc Andre Debruyne, who directed the video, made our lives really easy. Pretty much made sure we didn’t look like entire idiots for the whole video. Since it was a performance video all that was required of us was to thrash around like no one was watching and really there were few people that were, and of those people VERY few of them were impressed.

At the end of the day we were all sore and bitter and maybe a little tipsy. Somehow Marc and crew made the video quite sexy.

- Timothy Fenton Lafortey Millar, esq

Protest The Hero are one of the best live performers I have ever worked with. With this debut single off of their new album, I wanted to give them a simple, yet powerful video - something that kicks ass and really focuses on their ability to perform. It’s really something just to watch these guys play. So that’s what we did - shot here in Toronto - we designed a space where I let the boys do their thing. It was a really fun day.

It was also a technically challenging day. The song is quite complex. Keeping track of which parts of the song I wanted to shoot in certain parts of the set sounds quite easy - but it’s not when you’ve got such a crazy track that has no structure whatsoever. Try finding the chorus in this thing! But that’s what I loved the most about it - completely unconventional.

I think Rody was ready to kill me at the end of the day. I had him jumping off tables, sitting on couches, and being at precise marked spots on the floor at specifically timed spots of the track.

All in all it was great that the guys were so cool with everything. I think Tim couldn’t have been happier. He showed up in the morning, said “can I wear this?”, referring the clothes he was already wearing, and I just replied “wear whatever you want” - they all seemed pretty happy with that.

As a director you’re faced with so many challenges trying to put together a decent video with such minimal budgets. But it’s times like this when you work with such great musicians who truly give it their all when you call “action”, that the challenge really pays off. And in the end you find yourself with something great that captures the energy of the track and that is really fun to watch.

- marc andré debruyne, video director

Links:
Official Site: Marc Andre Debruyne
Official Site: Protest The Hero
Album Microsite: Enter The Fortress

Posted on Monday, January 28th, 2008 at 4:04 pm by Lauren Toyota and is filed under Music & Videos.

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