Old home movies are one of my favourite styles of film to watch. In fact, anything shot pre-2000s on film/tape media is my favourite. There is something about the quality and texture that magically preserves anything, and I mean practically anything into this otherworldly look-a bygone appearance. To me, this is what I love best. Call me old fashioned, because I am. I’ve never really been interested much in glossy high end production looking visuals in general. I know there is a time and place for that, but a lot of the time, you lose the visceral when “high end” is essentially the end goal. I’ve come a long way in my practice and my career as an artist, and one thing I have consistently held onto is my approach and efforts to preserve a feeling in a timeless capsule. I do love that there is technology and editing presets out there to emulate an old school look, but at best, as long as I can, I always prefer to shoot the medium itself and embrace the idiosyncrasies that happen naturally.
Admiral Fallow, a long standing Glasgow outfit of some very lovely individuals, recently got me involved with their press photography for an upcoming tour as well as the visual support for releasing new music. We hit it off like wildfire and the jokes were unstoppable. It’s really nice to meet fellow weirdos with an absolute dry wit, so wonderfully dry, if it was a stick, it would catch fire in the sunlight. My kind of people. After a successful day of photography, it wasn’t too long before I was contacted again to work on the music video for their next single. In the same timeline, we traveled together throughout the Fife coastline for a festival. I was to shoot some live footage for press. So I also brought my camcorder with me for the music video and off we went. Couldn’t have picked a better day for it weather-wise. I came home with heaps of scenes. It aided well to another recent day of driving with lead singer, Louis, to capture country roads. To our surprise, we even discovered there is a California in Scotland-it ultimately made the cut of course.
My initial plan was to create a montage of found archival home videos mixed with my own captures as well as some more modern looking wide screen/cinematic scenes I have shot over the past years in Scotland to produce a visual relationship and narrative of travel nostalgia. After a few hiccups with navigating the treacherous waters of copyright, I abandoned the idea of using found footage, and stuck to my own work and filmed more scenes with the intent of recreating what I was attracted to within these old films from the 60s. One of my favourite filmmakers is Adam Curtis. His way of stitching together quick cuts of weird and wonderful scenes is absolutely something I can give a nod to with my own decision making for this particular film.
There is something special and enrapturing about watching scenes of travel. You get lost in tangents of your own similar experiences when a small visual delight triggers a dusty memory. It’s important to celebrate the times we get to enjoy the better days of warmth and sunshine and peace of mind. Escapism if you will, but not in a total denial of reality. A permission to self to escape your mind’s daily routines and dive into the scenes that make you nostalgic and happy. The song, The Shortest Night, is a sunny masterpiece, full of imagination and wonderful musicianship. It has been an absolute honour and joy to conceptualise and create this film. I hope you enjoy it and it brings you some happiness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlw4SHU5uT0&t=264s
-Laura Meek