Epik's Music Videos Portfolio

Kirkby – “The Way She”

Tai Campbell, our Creative Director:

This is a world like no other. For a song as unique as ‘The Way She’ (not to mention this being Kirkby’s debut single) the video had to be unique. So I set out to create of the most challenging music video I’ve ever made.

Kirkby as an individual is a very spiritual man and his music, a lot like him, communicates meaning through metaphors. Therefore metaphor and spiritualism had to be communicated in the visual approach which birthed the concept of double exposure.

The key to using double exposure in this music video, which is mainly used in photography, was to combine the human form with natural elements – fire, smoke and water, each representing a different mood and feeling. I also combined images of Kirkby and the model Stephanie fusing them together in ways that felt right for each moment; her inside of him, him in her mind, the fantasy unfolding inside of them. I got to have a lot of fun with it.

The shoot itself was arguably the most challenging I’ve experienced. Usually you shoot to get it right in camera with space to make adjustments in post; here the cinematography had no margin of error and had to be shot in a VERY specific way. The lighting had to be slightly overpowering in order to create definition; the object had to be filmed against white and the element against black. If this wasn’t correct at the filming stage then the whole music video would have been blown.

Directing the style of performance was just as important. It was crucial that Kirkby and the model Stephanie existed in the same world, a world of passion and fantasy. Slow pensive movements, holding stares, relying on expressions – all these key elements had to be built up without overdoing it.