Grace Davies - "Breathe"

"Performance music video for up-and-coming London-based singer-songwriter

Grace's words on the track:
‘Breathe’ is about reclaiming your power. It’s about taking all the shit that’s been thrown at you and owning it/turning it into something powerful. ‘The end of where you tear me apart’ - the start of a new beginning where I don’t let you control my life anymore. It’s a song I came back to 5 years after it was written, reflecting on everything I’ve been through as an independent artist and it means even more to me now than it did when I wrote it."

Our Pitch: 

"Our concept, at its most basic, is to have the light do what the music Our concept, at its most basic, is to h does -- the louder the song gets, the brighter the lighting becomes -- and we’ll create multiple layers of visuals to build up a tapestry to tell Grace’s story, all the while showing what an incredible live performer she is and fully lean into the epic scale of the music as it builds up."

Shot on a brand new ALEXA 35, with anamorphic lenses, we sourced an entire sound stage, lighting team and crew within the space of 2 days - shot in 1 and edited/graded in 5; making this a full week's turnaround. 

The idea was to start in darkness, creating a somewhat jazz-bar/femme fatale/film noir opening of a simple spotlight on Grace as the camera dollies around her, before introducing the lights and her band as the chorus brings the song to life. 

Whilst the plan was to get as much of the video 'locked off' by using a dolly track and tripod throughout, we ultimately decided to take the camera off the sticks, threw the shot list aside and let the energy of Grace's performance lead the creative process on the day to make good use of the limited time we had at the studio. 

The idea of shooting on anamorphic lenses was to have them react to the lights as they became brighter and brighter with each segment of the song - becoming 'too bright to contain' and create shard of lens flare across the visuals. 

Above all else, Grace and her team wanted this video to showcase her stage presence as an artist and inspire her fans to come on out to her shows when she's on the road touring her new EP and so we wanted to make sure that every moment captured that raw and emotional energy that she brought to the song.