Dominic Fike - Politics & Violence
Music video & album artwork
It had been our ambition since founding Double Take Projections to feature projection mapping, on a high-profile album cover. We were blown-away when the opportunity arose to shoot for the long-awaited debut album from Florida based singer/songwriter Dominic Fike. Building on the immense success of hits like "3 Nights" and "Phone Numbers," Fike's debut is a fleshed-out continuation of his candid song writing, built on a fused soundscape of rock, alt-pop, and hip-hop. We were tasked with producing an all-encompassing image that touched on Fike’s personal experiences and frustrations that are featured throughout the album.
“What Could Possibly Go Wrong” – on the shoot? Plenty it turned out: a global pandemic, a supermoon and some of the worst weather we have ever shot in…
When we started discussions with Fike’s creative team we were excited to hear that they were fans of our work – referencing ‘On The Massacre of Glencoe'' where we projected poetry onto the mountainsides and landscapes. They loved the scale of the projections and its juxtaposition with the natural world, astrology, graphic design and light. We were pumped when they tasked us with recreating this effect at Monument Valley in the Nevada Desert.
Needless to say, our team was up for the trip… and then the world went into meltdown with Covid-19. With our travel plans up in the air we researched alternative options in Sweden, Switzerland, France and Ireland – before Fikes' team in LA agreed, the best option was staring us in the face. We determined the Buachaille Etive Mòr just outside Glencoe was the surface we wanted to project onto. It had the scale and drama they were looking for and would be the perfect hero image for two sides of the album cover.
Even though the chosen location was in our home country - there were still huge travel and logistical issues that our team had to overcome. After gaining the relevant permissions from the Scottish Government and following Covid-19 guidance we had no option but to massively reduce the size of the crew. We had the added complication that we were not permitted to stay in Glencoe over the three-day shoot and would have to travel the 4 hours home to Edinburgh every evening after we wrapped.
The creative team had a strong vision for what they wanted us to achieve before we set off for Glencoe. With skeleton staff we travelled prepared with the agreed projection positions, site mock-ups and the graphics provided from LA. We needed the light conditions to be perfect for our desired moody effect. We studied the weather and moon cycles in advance but in typical Scottish style the heavens opened un-forecast and wrote off the initial evening’s activation. On day two we came across a completely unexpected problem – a Supermoon. Usually on these shoots we desire projecting during a full moon so that the landscapes are evenly illuminated by the moonlight – allowing us to create a balanced shot. We couldn’t believe when we edited the RAWS that they resembled daylight. Frustrated and cold our team set off back to the wilderness needing a break in the conditions.
Thankfully the heavens parted and allowed us two hours of perfect conditions to beam x4 20,000 lumen projectors onto the mountain side. Our projectionists perfectly positioned the text and logo onto the landscapes and our photographer captured the panoramas of the stunning stars. An extra stood in the foreground to help the photographer focus the foreground where Fike would later be superimposed in the foreground.
We were delighted with the images - with the clouds perfectly hugging the mountain side, the red glow of the projector beam illuminating the foreground and the clarity of the text. All we had to do was drive home and help deliver the edit- the best laid schemes o' mice an' men.
For a number of reasons Fike was unable to travel to Scotland for the shoot so we agree in advance that we were going to super impose him on the front of the cover. We wanted the portrait to complement our landscape image and were wary it could look photoshopped. LA based photographer Daniel Pratopcyk & creative Reed Bennett took on the responsibility of shooting in studio. They cleverly used the same lens and subtilty matched the colour from the projector beam for the lighting in studio. Fike’s gaze up at the album on the mountains was a stunning touch and makes the viewer wonder about the possible lyrics of the album and the artists thoughts. Its extremely clever and subtitle art direction and we loved the end result.
Clayborne Bujorian brilliantly pulled everything together – expertly grading the panoramas, combining the portrait and adding the extra album lyrics in a vinyl cover ratio. We were delighted with the end result and laugh about all the things that did go wrong. Its been one of our favourite projects.
_______________________________________________________________________
Client: Dominic Fike & Columbia Records
Location: Buachaille Etive Mòr, Glencoe, Scotland
Date: May 2020
Creative Director: Reed Bennett
Portrait Photographer: Daniel Prakopcyk
Landscape Photographer: Adam Robertson
Album Graphics: Clayborne Bujorian
Project Partners: Psycho Films
Projector Spec: 4 x PT-RZ21K 21,000 Lumen Laser Projectors
Location: Buachaille Etive Mòr, Glencoe, Scotland
Date: May 2020
Creative Director: Reed Bennett
Portrait Photographer: Daniel Prakopcyk
Landscape Photographer: Adam Robertson
Album Graphics: Clayborne Bujorian
Project Partners: Psycho Films
Projector Spec: 4 x PT-RZ21K 21,000 Lumen Laser Projectors
