Kenzie’s new video
Close to You — featuring ASTN — comes weeks before the release of her debut album “Biting My Tongue.” The album reflects the artist’s newly-found voice and how she will no longer be a people pleaser. According to the LA-based directing duo MOM (www.directedbymom.com) — Ray Larkin and Matt Plaxco (pictured) — the video is actually part of a much larger package that the pair are working on for the artist.
Close to You was one of four videos that MOM shot on the day, along with still imagery for each video and album art.
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“It’s been pretty fun, to be honest,” says Larkin of the experience, likening it to MOM’s work with smaller indie artists. “I really love working with artists on a one-to-one basis. Just being able to text them and not having to go through a million channels. It’s been nice to have this creative-director role with her, because we’ve really gotten to know her and listen to what she wants and how she wants to be represented, and help her execute it visually. There’s been a lot of trust in us.”
In the video, Kenzie and ASTN sit on a dark-red carpet, facing each other while singing the emotional track. The lighting is minimal and the camera movement is slow. The few cuts give viewers the impression that the performance was captured in a single take.
“We were hyper specific with both stylists, and went through all the carpet colors with our production designer,” Larkin recalls of the set-up. “It was a really important part because it was such a simple video.”
Plaxco agrees, noting that the goal was to be “very simple, not fancy and minimalistic,” with contrast and color making the statement. “We wanted it to be devoid in color,” he expresses.
Close to You was the last music video shot on the day of production, and like all of the other elements, was captured on film.
“We shot that whole video in about 20 minutes,” Plaxco recalls. “It was a single, 400-foot can (of film), so it’s like 11 minutes of footage.”
FotoKem handled film processing, and the edit was performed by Ugboaku Opara at PS260.
“We got a recommendation from our rep, who knows a bunch of EPs over at PS260,” Plaxco recalls. “They recommended her and she was an absolute sweetheart. Any type of tweaks we had, or edit notes we had, she was very accommodating.” Plaxco handled the color grade, using Blackmagic Design’s Resolve.
Collectively as MOM, they share skills in directing, photography, editing and color grading, and will take on added responsibilities when a deadline or budget dictates. In this case, he created a 4K ProRes 422 master for Hollywood Records, who can then create additional deliverables or aspect ratios as needed.
“Biting My Tongue” will be available on July 26th, and at press time, MOM was editing the next video that will be a part of Kenzie’s debut package.