Behind the Scenes: Jamie Reilly - A.I. Blues

Jamie Reilly is a guitarist who was putting out a lovely wee tune with an angular fuzzy riff. We didn’t have much idea on what to go on, but the themes and sound of the song gave it a kind of dual futurism and industrial vibe. Jamie explained the idea behind it which involved technology and A.I.

It was still the dreaded pandemic lockdown, so a cast of thousands was out the window. Bands miming the tune were out the window, so I opted for an interesting location. The sugar sheds in Greenock.

Greenock has always been an interesting place. It has everything in Scotland all in a oner. Seaviews. Mountains. Industrial history. Shipping history, and 20th century social depravation. My grandfather is from there and I was spending a fair amount of time there visiting my partner’s mother. We’ve since moved there.

We could only really use Jamie so I reckoned we’d need some sort of interesting location. The venues were shut so it had to be out doors. I’d had my eyes on the sugar sheds for a while so suggested it to Jamie. He was less enthusiastic cos he was from Greenock and it didn’t hold the majesty that it held for me. I eventually convinced him.

You can build an entire video out of a location. “Real” films spend lots of money on people finding the perfect location. I just look out for something that’s a bit interesting.

On the day of the shoot the weather was pretty bad and there was also some cars and boats parked along the road, so we couldn’t use the perspective shots I’d planned. The big doors, red bricks and rusty walls make for more than enough texture for a video anyway.

From there it was “just” a live performance video. I did some stop frame photography to go with the jerky movement and used a fractal effect over the video. We decided to break the whole thing up a bit with a little bit of archive of a 60’s film about technology.

I love this video because it’s a great example of a location making the video. Bands should constantly be on the look out for interesting locations. It’s one of the ongoing challenges in making interesting music videos.

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