Music video,
4:34 minutes,
English,
NS,
2008
Synopsis
An incontinent cat treads the boards of a cardboard theatre in a music video for the Tom Fun Orchestra.
Creative team
Writer/director: Alasdair Brotherston
Personal statement
Director Alasdair Brotherston says:
"I first met Ian (singer) and Victor (banjo) of the Tom Fun Orchestra whilst we were all working together in a cafe in Edinburgh, Scotland a few years ago. They were pretty creative guys and were always playing at peoples flats or making films themselves. We got on really well, so when they headed back to Cape Breton and started up a band there was always a loose arrangement that I might do a video for them.
When the rough mixes for the album started to emerge I immediately knew I wanted to do something for Throw Me To The Rats - its an excellent track with some great imagery in the lyrics and, structurally, it had some great moments to tie the action up to. Albert (trumpet) hooked me up with Darcy from Shot On Site and suggested that we apply for some money from Video Fact to make a video and, to our surprise we got the funding.
I had a good idea that I wanted to make a puppet theatre and film the action live in an effort to break from the perfectionism of digital animation that I was beginning to find a bit prescriptive and unspontaneous. I then decided to recruit an artist I knew from my time at Edinburgh College of Art called Jock Mooney as I knew that his illustration would be perfect for this job. He also brought some great ideas and a slightly perverted sense of humour as well as a spare room in which to do the shoot.
The shoot itself turned out to be a bit of a nightmare and what had planned to be a fairly straightforward operation with most of the action caught in camera on set ended with myself and Jock setting up a green screen in his room and working puppets that were being held in place by jacket potatoes. Although it seems funny now, I distinctly remember being not that pleased at being holed up in a small room with blacked out windows, surrounded by several halogen lights on the hottest week of the year.
The video has been a bit delayed in being released so I can't wait to finally get peoples reactions."