HUDSON VALLEY, NY — The Dust Bowl Faeries (https://dustbowlfaeries.com) recently released a long form music video for their song Candy Store, off their upcoming album The Plague Garden, set for release Friday, November 20th. The Hudson Valley-based gothic folk/post punk band shot the video in the Catskills this past summer, but, according to director Lisa Thomas, the idea for the shoot goes back more than three years to when she first saw the band perform the track.
The video has an old-time feel, with a young couple struggling to keep their business afloat. Looking to collect on an insurance policy, they hatch a scheme to burn down their sweet shoppe.
"For Candy Store, we shot on the Red Epic Helium camera with Canon prime lenses,” recalls Thomas. “We used the Red for a few reasons: one because we wanted to really play with the frame rate, and two, because the camera had the ability to shoot up to 8K.”
Nicola Benizzi served as director of photography.
“I remember the morning we walked on set, we had the first six shots done in a matter of 30 minutes,” recalls Thomas. “I had never seen anything like it. I'm not sure if it was because Nicola hadn't been able to film for months due to COVID or because I'd created such an overly ambitious shooting schedule, with close to 90 shots to be filmed in two days time, but whatever the reason, he was on fire from the moment he walked on set. No pun intended!”
The shoot took place at the former Mayflower confectionery, which was in business from 1933 to 1990.
“The location, which was empty with a ‘For Rent’ sign in the window, in many ways called out to me to restore it for the shoot. So, along with the help of our amazing production designer, Jesika Farkas, we brought back all the former details of the one-time candy shoppe, down to the original candy cases, fixtures and lights,” Thomas explains. “The space transformed into a candy store in a matter of days, so much so that the locals of Catskill kept stopping in to try to buy candy. The challenge of the video always from a directing standpoint was to make it seem like the store was actually slowly catching on fire as the song progressed. We were able to achieve a really great look for this by working with two fire effects specialists and Thin Edge Films’ long time editor Fabrizio Fama.”
Thomas admits that she was very nervous about how to achieve the fire effects.
“I had numerous conversations with Fabrizio about how to achieve the look we wanted, and I believe all our conversations paid off. In the end the Faeries and I are immensely proud of how it all came together."
The video’s final scene, where the couple celebrates receiving their insurance payout, was shot at 89.91 frames per second, helping to create the slow motion effect.
The Dust Bowl Faeries are Ryder Cooley, Jon B. Woodin, Rubi LaRue, Liz LoGiudice and Andrew Stein.