Creating the “Wanted” Visualiser for Lila Iké
I was commissioned to create a visualiser for Lila Ike’s “Wanted”. A song lamenting the loss of young men to crime in Jamaica, where I served as director and cinematographer. I go in depth about the creation process of this visual we made in Jamaica
“Wanted” Visualizer, Performed by Lila Iké, Directed by Yannick Reid
I was commissioned to create a visualiser for Lila Ike’s “Wanted”. A song lamenting the loss of young men to crime in Jamaica.
When I first heard this song, the production reminded me of something I would have heard on my parents radios in the early 90s.
Jamaican Pantomime - credit: Jamaica Gleaner
In my youth my parents would carry me to the Pantomime; A form of local theatre with exaggerated and comedic tongue in cheek styles. This was my reference for the visual.
I wanted the whole video to feel like the viewer was watching a Pantomime. It’s exaggerated, there’s a lot of pretending, but it’s all deliberate for that vintage effect. For me it is also like pulling out the deep culture or Jamaican-ness of the song, without adding too much of a heavy layer to an already serious theme.
Most of this film used practical effects, to make it feel like true theatre. It was also plenty fun seeing how these turned out. The spotlight gives you that feel like you’re in a late night small cosy theatre, and the lights come on to reveal Lila, who I have as the ethereal narrator of the film.
When I conceptualised this film, I had our lead talent Karlon, in my mind. I don’t think he acted before, but the character I envisioned was him. Thankfully when we reached out, he was interested and I think he did a great job.
This is my favourite moment from the film. A key element where Lila as the Narrator, crosses unfortunate paths, and they both break the fourth wall, by looking right at the viewer. being able to incorporate narrative elements like these is personally so rewarding.
Which each phase of the films story I chose to play with the lighting. The almost inverted colour here in the beginning =, helps to communicate -the transition of the character, the almost other world state. At this point the character flirts with riches he has from his robbery. The colour is also a foreshadowing matching police colours, and again, Lila breaks the 4th wall talking to the viewer but the character (wanted youth) is not aware of her presence.
I don’t want to give away the whole video in this post, and leave some open to your own interpretation. This project wouldn’t be possible without the teamwork from my crew.
Yannick Reid - Director, Cinematographer, Edit & Colour
Habibi Bailey - Producer
Karlon Edmonson - Wanted Youth
Hasani Cole - Gaffer
Ayana Riviere - Stylist (Lila Ike)
Shaquiel Brooks - Photographer & BTS
Aaliyah Hinds - Stylist (Karlon) & PA
Osunya Rose - Style assistant (Karlon)
Tonisha Kong - Make-Up
Latoya Reid - Hair
WOF Tiny Space - Studio Location
Far Eye Films - Production rentals
Brookly Bowl, Las Vegas #CoachellaTour2016
Vegas vibes and Yannick almost gets arrested
Another huge hotel/casino rolled into one.. bigger than the last one + it's vegas so it was just a totally different energy and night life vibe. I almost got arrested apparently
The funny story here before the pictures:
we hopped the balcony of our venue to jump on an adjoining roof, to get a shot for a video. We were there for roughly 5 minutes, we were waiting on someone to bring a charger. Then out of the cracks and other roof, a security guard pops up.. smiling like the chesire cat, asking if we have clearance to be up there. (Spoiler: we don't), he continues to smile at us.. he pulls his walkie talkie strapped to his shirt, closer to his mouth without losing eye contact with me. In the back of my field of vision we see some people from our venue appear o the balcony where we came from.. there arms are folded.. they are displeased lol! The guard asks us who we are.. we explain that we playing the brooklyn bowl tonight, I point to Protoje, tell the guard he's the artist. The guard looks over at the guys from our venue- "Do you know these guys?".. They shake their heads from side to side disapprovingly.. I nervously laugh. Once again the security guard fixes his gaze on me and repeats his walkie talkie movement,.. this time saying "The guys from brooklyn bowl don't know these guys", at me he says "Do you guys have ID".. I try to look innocent by saying no. At this point I knew that was code for, I want to stall you and arrest you while more guards come... same time I see another guard popping up from the other roof. I look back at Proto and Paris and they're like "Let's go".. Proto shouts to the guard "hey man, we're gonna get off".. I scurry off without another word, Two guards now looking at my back as I clumsily climb back over to our balcony. The promoter or person who's in charge of brooklyn Bowl.. a guy who looks like Colonel sanders, tells me to get rid of my camera and rig and he doesnt wanna see it again. then they banned me from taking pictures later and a whole lotta extra drama with police that pretty much blew over....
godddamn...
gallery below
Throwback Feature: Kabaka Pyramid Live
A throwback feature to Kabaka Pyramid's epic live show at Triple Century Sports Bar, back in 2013. Gallery Inside
For this Thursday's throwback feature, I dived once again into the archives of my older hard drives and found a set of images fairly dear to my heart. I found images I took from Kabaka Pyramid's live show at Trippple Century Sports bar, to promote his freshly released "Lead The Way" EP, back in 2013.
Here's the promotional trailer for the show for some TBT feels (not my work btw):
If memory serves, I do believe this was the first Kabaka show I attended (meaning his own show, that he headlined), and as a fan I was eager to be apart of capturing that moment in time.
Unfortunately, Though I had found my bearings where composition in concert/stage photography is concerned.. I was still shooting JPEG (for all who know what that means) on my Nikon d700 (Also might have been my first concert shooting full frame), and the double whammy is that I didn't save the original files (fail!), So I couldn't even apply a refreshed edit to them like my Who Knows Feature. So the images you are seeing are just the same as they were released initially, how I edited them along with my old watermark, haha!
Kabaka and Masicka performing "Choppinz"
Despite the above negatives, I can still say these are some of my favourite images, I remember the joy I had when I reached home after this show and loaded up my memory card. The images (to me) reminded me of the photography I would see of young rappers or afrocentric acts performing in underground clubs in NY. The images felt super authentic to me, while capturing an energy I myself love to see.
The show itself was amazing, one i'll never forget.. an endless session of high octane bars, and Kabaka kept the crowd going with a seemingly endless set of features: Koro Fyah, Keznamdi, Masicka, Jesse Royal, Protoje, Iba Mahr, Chronixx and the Mystical I-Wayne.
Trust me it was exciting. Very glad I still gave these images to share with everyone!
Gallery after the jump! Click Images to enlarge (works on mobile too!)
