Zebra & Giraffe`s new EP “Slow Motion” is 5 tracks of heaven. From track one you are taken on a journey of carnival catchy guitar riffs, romantic slow jammers with haunting voices, rocking beats and heavy guitars and closing the EP with soft melodic piano hooks. Greg Carlin's voice is unique, soft yet, inviting and rough. For me, it is one of the most thrilling albums I've heard in 2015.
The video for the track It's All The Same is haunting
beautiful. The music video is a collaboration by Director/DOP Trevor Calverly
(who also shot the band's "Sons" music video in 2013), visual artist
and photographer Elsa Bleda, and Zebra & Girafe lead singer Greg Carlin. It
was produced by Carlin and Alan Shenton for Hoodlum Music and stars actor Adam
Heyns alongside Bleda. Additional scenes were shot and directed by Tristan
Holmes. The video was edited and graded by Carlin. Initially when Greg and
Trevor met up to discuss ideas, they settled on a classic 'road-tripromance'
narrative, but both felt the story needed a unique angle. Trevor had been a
long time follower of Elsa's Instagram account and the beautiful photos from
her numerous train rides around South Africa. They reached out to Elsa to see
if she'd be interested in collaborating on the project and bringing her knowledge
and vision on board to help adapt the road trip into a train trip. With Elsa on
board, the three set about adapting the narrative to ft a train journey and
also planned possible routes across SA. It was eventually decided that they'd
take the Shosholoza Meyl train from Johannesburg to Matjiesfontein, hop of
there and drive down to Cape Town, and then shoot the final scenes on train
rides from Cape Town to Fish Hoek. "Planning the routes and ftting
everything within budget was quite a task" say Carlin of the planning
phase. "We had a very short time to find actors, book tickets, and plan a
route that made sense. We also planned to shoot mostly on the fly and in tight
spaces, and this meant shooting with a single handheld DSLR camera and only
using natural light." Shooting took place over 3 days in early October
with the bulk of the train footage being shot on the train trip from Jozi to
Matjiesfontein. The handheld DSLR setup meant Calverly had enough space and
freedom to move around the small cabins and still get the wide shots he wanted.
Shooting on the train also gave the video its unmistakable handheld feel. Actor
Adam Heyns was hired to star as the co-lead alongside Elsa and plays the part
of a loner musician, traveling around the country busking and playing tiny
bars. Along the way he meets Elsa’s character and they fall for one another. A
romance ensues but quickly dissolves as she realizes that he’s played this game
with many women before. The opening bar scene was shot at the historic,
saloon-like Laird's Arms in Matjiesfontein. The crew also shot cutaway
sequences in some of the many ornately decorated rooms as well as in the
gardens surrounding the hotel. Carlin: "The staff at The Lord Milner in
Matjiesfontein were a great help - they let us shoot all around the hotel and
grounds with no notice. The town has such an interesting look and feel about it
- I'm glad we got to include it in the video". After that the crew headed
to Cape Town shooting extra train footage on trips along the coast from Fish Hoek.
Additional scenes were shot at Cape Town's infamous Dive Bar Lefty's, and at
the Two Oceans Aquarium. When it came to post production, Carlin decided to cut
and grade the video himself - "We really maxed out our budget on the shoot
days and I thought I'd take a shot at the edit and grade. I'm really happy with
how it came out. Trevor stuck really closely to the script and Adam and Elsa
did such a great job with the acting that it was easy to cut! I love working
with Trevor because he gets such beautiful shots . I had enough usable footage for 3 videos!"
Upcoming Shows:
2 December - Pop Art Theatre (Maboneng, JHB) Acoustic (with
Ruby Gill)
3 December - Pop Art
Theatre (Maboneng, JHB) Acoustic (with Ruby Gill)
4 December - Rumours
(West Rand, JHB)
5 December -
Sundowners (Alberton, JHB)
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