The Last Skeptik: Be There

After our chat with the man himself last month, today we not only check out the Last Skeptik's ace new video for Be There, but we have a chat to its director, Cara Barry. Watch the creepy video, above, and then see what Cara has to say for herself, below.

How did you dream up the concept of the video, which presumably is a tougher challenge when it's instrumental and without lyrics to guide the narrative?

I was initially absolutely definite that I wanted to do an instrumental track. Each of the tracks from The Last Skeptik’s new album - Thanks for Trying- have a really strong narrative thread through them without the need for lyrics. I had a tiny wobble when I heard Lullaby with Jehst so almost u-turned and pitched for that but I honestly just couldn’t get Be There out my head (Sonny Malhotra’s video for Lullaby is out next and he smashed it). I was sitting on the tube scribbling notes and sketches in my books and doing that accidentally-staring-vacantly-into-people’s-faces-thing, which always gets me in trouble. I had to accept that the decision was already made.

Where did you film the video and how long did it take? Did you have a vague idea beforehand what you were looking to capture?

We shot everything in one freezing weekend in Southwold, in February. There was about seven of us on the crew and they were all people I have worked with before and trust with my life. I wanted to keep everything close and this was the first set I have ever worked on in my life that was consistently ahead of schedule. It was mindblowing. It all just came together. I am also a painter and a tiny bit of a massive control freak so everything was storyboarded, as I draw constantly. I also edited this one myself for the first time. It’s like giving your child plastic surgery.

What is the meaning of the scary tree man and the tooth. It's terrifying lolz.

Early sketch of 'Grim'

The “angel” sample from Be There lodged in my skull. I’d been thinking about fallen angels for a bit and had a load of imagery rattling around in there with the sample. I also signed myself up to go on a silent mediation course in the middle of nowhere for ten days. I pitched for the video in the lead up to it and didn’t really make the connection. I think some of my subconscious fears about the manifestations of my inner demons may have risen to the surface. Oopsie. The main thing everyone has said about the video is how creepy it is. I now think he’s quite cute. 

What was the toughest challenge involved in filming Be There?

Well the control freak in me really kicked in. I basically art department-ed the whole video, so I made EVERYTHING. I managed to get friends to donate pictures of themselves as kids, as I felt weird making ones of people I don’t know. I was in Smithfields at 4am begging for cow pelvises and pork bones to make the wings. I had to boil and bleach them before drilling them together. The absolute worst was the fish skeletons. They all came with salmon flesh and heads attached. I had to boil and hand-clean them. Skeptik actually helped with that hideous job. Fish grease is the WORST. My producer, Vanessa Farinha, ended up having to do the mussel shells. Shooting by comparison was a total breeze, especially the makeup, which was pure fun.

Yum, anyone else feeling hungry right now?

Where can people check your work.

I’ve finished dreamy, cage fighting short I wrote and directed called Spine  and it’s currently doing the festival rounds, so I can’t show it just yet. I am also directing another video for Thanks for Trying at the moment. It involves a food fight so epic, that it will shame the lost boys in Hook, so that’ll be about soon. I’m also in preproduction for my new short which has a bubonic plague thing going on. In essence, my aim is to get to the stage that if you see anything that looks a touch too disturbed and disturbing, it will probably be my fault. That’s the dream. 
Follow Cara

Pre-order Thanks For Trying from here.