Behind The Scenes of INHEAVEN's "All There Is"

The idea behind "All There Is" was to follow on from our visuals for "Bitter Town" and "Baby’s Alright". We have the same characters, and the audience and band act as voyeurs of their somewhat typical suburban lives.

"All There Is" is a story about Vivienne and his personal journey from boyhood into early adulthood. We see him gain confidence and become the person he wants to be. We learn about his affections for Amie, and how they started out life as childhood friends. Does she feel the same? Only time will tell...

Characters

Vivienne [Sid Phoenix]

He is the catalyst for the whole journey. He is young and discontent with his current living situation. He doesn’t want to live in his weird suburban town full of bullies and terrifying housewives, he wants more. He wants to see the world, he gets lost in music and is infatuated with Amie who we see him meet in our first video for "Bitter Town". I think Viv embodies all of the emotions our songs invoke; he is quite a tragic character with a side order of eternal optimism and inspiration.

Amie [Amy Griffith]

We are still getting to know Amie’s character in "All There Is", however this is the first time we get to see how she and Vivienne originally came into each other's lives. They were childhood friends, but he has always been infatuated with her. She is Viv’s kindred spirit, they both want more than the terraced houses they live in - she loves art and travelling, and wants to know what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. We know she cares for Vivienne deeply, but whether they can forge a life together and get out of this dead end town is yet to be seen.

Visual References

I love kitchen sink realism mixed with classic Hollywood optimism, and we’ve tried to get our visuals to sit somewhere in the middle. As a band we had a strong vision that we wanted to create something that felt cinematic and didn’t just sit as a traditional music video promo.

So many films influence us for different reasons, but for "All There Is" there was a clear visual meeting point with the following films always being in the back of my head whilst we were shooting: the opening scene of In The Name Of The Father, Kes, My Girl, Les Quatre Cent Coups, E.T., Say Anything..., The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner, Forrest Gump, and Secrets & Lies.

Production

We had found a location in Wimbledon that I was desperate to shoot in... but when you are not a film production company and just an up-and-coming indie band it’s surprisingly hard to get studios and hire companies to take you seriously! I wanted to shoot with a very specific camera and only wanted to use anamorphic lenses, so production was a pretty stressful time. However I am happy we didn’t compromise because we managed to get exactly what we wanted [for a very small budget].

However because we didn’t compromise on the location or camera equipment it meant we had to be in charge of art department, costume, props, casting, catering etc as well as directing, producing and performing! I do think the only way you can deliver what you want is to be integral in all of the decision making - although it probably would have been nice to have an extra pair of hands available. Next time we will get a few more crew on board!

For anyone that wants to make their own music videos, I would honestly say you do not need any expensive camera equipment. I spent the first three years making shorts on camera phones and £100 cameras, the most important thing is a vision and a strong narrative.

Shoot

We have worked with the same crew for the all our videos which is great when you are trying to have a loose continuity running through them all. We cast exceptional actors, including the young children [fun fact - Young Vivienne is actually played by my cousin Felix], everyone worked day and night to help us deliver the shots I wanted.

Post Production

Grading is probably one of the most important parts of the whole process, it completely brings your video to life and I wanted to show the past with the present through subtle colour techniques. You should be able to tell the difference between the shots of Viv and Amie when they are young to the ‘present’ version of them and the band. It’s very en vogue to use a creamy, washed-out palette - basically something closer to the original natural light you will see below. However, for a more cinematic viewing experience, we pulled out the deeper colours and tried to give the film an ‘ageless’ quality. "All There Is" is not set in any specific time - it’s not the '70s like some might think and it’s not today, all our visuals should defy time and space and exist in their own world.

We shot the whole production completely outdoors with only natural light, so you can see the stark difference from before and after grading.

Videos

If you haven’t watched all three I urge you to watch "Bitter Town", "Baby’s Alright" and "All There Is" together so you can have more of an insight into this slightly strange suburban world Vivienne and Amie live in.

Find images from INHEAVEN's original mood board and behind the scenes shots on the following pages.

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Photos from Original Mood Board

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Behind The Scenes Photos