The Pretty Wild, a sister metal-core duo, recently called on director Joshua Shultz (www.joshuashultz.com) to produce the music video for their new track “Living Ded.” According to The Pretty Wild’s Jules Wylde, who also served as art director on the project, the song is about “reclaiming power through an intense and seemingly unbeatable struggle.”
The video weaves together both Western and vampiric themes, with the sisters performing in an old church, lit through natural light via its large stained-glass windows. A group of vampire bounty hunters have tracked the sisters to the location, and are looking to take them down with their long riffles. But the duo can see it coming and are about to turn the table.
Shultz recalls receiving an email from the women a few months ago, noting that they were a fan of his photography and music video work, and wanted to collaborate.
"Originally, it was to do a photoshoot," he recalls. "Before the email, I wasn't familiar with their band, and then after I looked at their stuff and I was like, 'Whoa! These girls are incredible!’ Not only are they super talented, in so many different aspects, but they're such great, kind people. In my older age, I find that who I work with has a lot to do with how I like the people — who I want to be around."
The one-day shoot took place at a church in the town of Victoria, TX. Making things tough was a lack of electricity and water on the 100-plus degree day. A generator helped to power the lights, fog machine and a single fan.
"We were all profusely sweating," he shares. "And then, I remember there was the guy assisting me (Juan Eff). I gave him the 1st AD credit, but he really was just assisting me with whatever I needed. He was a local guy. He did a really great job."
The indoor shoot at the church went longer than anticipated. Part of the problem was the need to move all the old pews back into position — something that wasn't anticipated. This left only 45 minutes to shoot the outdoor segments, which Shultz recalls as being “run & gun.”
Shultz shot the video in the raw format using a Canon C300 Mark II and Blazar anamorphic lens. The video is presented in an extremely wide aspect ratio.
"I actually shot it in even wider," he says of the final edit. "I shot it, and it worked great, but I was like, I feel like the label isn't going to let me go as wide as I want. I cropped in to what's called 4K Academy. It's not your 16-by-9. It's a little bit wider and felt a little more cinematic. In-camera, I think I shot 2.39:1."
His intent was always to present the piece in black & white, so he kept an eye on the highlights and shadows while monitoring the shoot, but still struggled with the monitoring the bright outdoor sequences and will use a better monitor on future shoots. He used Adobe Premiere to perform the edit, putting the performance footage together first and then adding the narrative elements.
“I always sync the audio first,” he shares. “And then this one, I probably wasted time because I edited all of the performance before I did the narrative. I should have just done the narrative and then edited the performance underneath that, but I wanted to see what all the performance was like first, and then I built the narratives, which ultimately worked.”
He sent The Pretty Wild a first cut and received only a few notes back, allowing him to quickly move on to the color grade. The black & white look was designed to emulate film stocks from the 1980s, with higher contrast and a certain level of grain.
"The girls are incredible leaders, and they put a lot of trust (in me)," he shares. “Because we didn't have a lot time, I would do the notes immediately and send it back. I think we had two rounds of notes and then I colored it. They had no notes on the color. They loved it!"
From the completion of the shoot to the final delivery was just 10 days. He ultimately delivered a 4K file.