It's been great taking on various personas (as well as various outfits...) and posing in front of the camera is definitely my idea of fun. Plus, putting the meaning of my songs into a more visual form is wonderful.
Parlour Game (la Danza d'Amore)
The atmosphere of a Victorian steam fair suits this track admirably. Having visited the Hollycombe Steam Collection in Liphook many times as a child, it was the obvious choice for a film location.
The day of the filming was cold and grey. It was nevertheless very fulfilling and exciting. Hollycombe were very helpful and welcoming, however that same night they were putting on a special Hallowe'en event. The officials at Hollycombe let us have use of the galloper (carousel to you and I) for an hour before the fair opened, but we hadn't quite finished filming when people began to arrive, curious about the video shoot. One lady, who hadn't noticed us (despite my romantic Victorian attire and the camera crew) interrupted the shoot by sitting on the horse next to mine and a member of the Hollycombe staff was obliged to ask her to move to another horse!
The carousel had to go round slowly otherwise we'd have been really dizzy, being on it for so long! This gave the video an ethereal, slightly 'Alice in Wonderland' feel, which nicely captures the mood of the song.
I'd like to thank Ben, Katy and Nick from wateringcan media for a fabulous job, Hollycombe for welcoming us and my old school pal Verity, the cellist from the Holywell String Quartet who play on the album, who kindly came down from London to be in the video.
The song is dedicated to Sally Gray, a close friend who died a week before we shot the video. It was a difficult time for us. I'd already dedicated the song to Sally at the beginning of 2009 because she was indirectly responsible for the inspiration behind the song and also because the melody reminded me of her. There are little things that reminded me of her at the shoot, such as a bag she gave me which appears at the start of the video. Sadly, Sally didn't live to hear the finished version of Parlour Game.
Everything
Well, the waiting's now over and we're delighted with the finished product that Pete Allen has achieved with the video for Everything. When we saw Pete Allen's presentation for his concept for the video, based on several Pre-Raphaelite paintings, we loved it instantly. We needed a 'shabby artist's studio' for the location and via a friend, persuaded the Guildford Adult Education Institute to help us out. We needed to find someone to play the artist in the video - "a sort of Jackson Pollack image". I had seen someone that I thought might fit the bill walking around Cranleigh and about a week later while out with my manager in the car, I spotted him. To my amazement and considerable embarrassment, Sharon just abandoned the car (she was driving), ran after him and asked if he'd like to be in my video - I should say here that neither of us knew this man, but he said yes! So a big thank you also to Matt Moody, who looks perfect in the part.
The actual shoot was a long but really enjoyable day. I like that I got to play two characters: the artist's model - just an ordinary girl - and the darker and more exotic artist's muse, whispering into his ear. See if you can guess which paintings Eleanore's poses remind you of...
Hidden Wings
The Hidden Wings video has been a lot of work as I've actually done this one myself. Don't groan - it's very entertaining and actually looks pretty good (in my opinion!). The song is about all the people who helped with the making of the album, of whom I had loads of footage. I interspersed clips of all of them with me singing the song.
A friend of mine, Marilyn Bailey, who is a portrait painter, agreed to let me film myself in her beautiful studio. Serendipitously, the lighting arrangement actually made me look like I had wings - you'll see what I mean when you watch the video.
