Extreme metal band Cradle of Filth turned to Loki Films' (www.lokifilms.co.uk) Shaun Hodson to produce their latest music video. "White Hellebore" is off the band's upcoming studio album, "The Screaming of the Valkyries," which will be released this month by Napalm Records.
The White Hellebore is an alluring woman who is in danger from the predatory Black Widow. The video is set in a morgue, with the corpse of a Hollywood starlet being prepped for an autopsy. But, there’s a twist. Through her dealings with occult forces, she’s able to avoid the grave, instead affecting the mortician, whose extreme actions with her on the slab allow her to carry on.
The video does not feature any band members, as the musicians were spread out and unavailable during the production timeframe. Instead, Hodson assembled a small and versatile team to pull off the shoot, which spanned just two days. Hodson's partner Amy Lucas took on the role of the actress, Belle Shore. One of the morticians, Dean Addison, also served as gaffer for the production. And James Dunkley, who also plays a mortician, is the one who connected Hodson with the band.
"Once we had this come across our desk, we both sat down, because we have a love for horror films, (and) we wrote the whole concept,” says Hodson of his collaboration with Lucas. “We took ideas from The Exorcism of Emily Rose and
The Autopsy of Jane Doe," he reveals.
Photo: Shaun Hodson
The project came together over the course of just a week. Day 1 focused on the morgue shoot, which was set up in a small warehouse. On the second day, Hodson set up plastic sheets in his own living room and shot all the blood splatters that completely cover Lucas.
Hodson employed his own Red cameras for the shoot - he has a total of four, but in this case, chose the 8K Red Weapon and 6K Red Komodo, which was affixed to a DJI Ronin gimbal. The video is presented in an anamorphic aspect ratio and was framed that way in-camera using Laowa Nanomorph lenses.
“I definitely wanted to capture this on anamorphic,” explains the director, noting that he uses Aputure LED lighting and tried to avoid the flares that are often the result of shooting with anamorphic lenses.
“I definitely didn't want that,” he reveals. “I wanted the light to be soft, even to the point of the moonlight coming through the window. I didn't want to haze it. I didn't want to have that whole ‘beam’ sort of look to it…I wanted to make it look dark, moody, miserable, with no light really touching on the camera, or glowing, or flares, or anything like that.”
Once the shoot was complete, Hodson quickly moved on to the edit, knowing that the project’s delivery date was just four days away. He cut the video using Apple’s Final Cut Pro.
“I love working in Final Cut,” he states. “I think they've got some great plug-ins at the moment.”
He points to Color Finale 2, which he uses for the final color grade.
“That brings a lot of what DaVinci can offer into Final Cut,” he says of the tool, adding that in the case of White Hellebore, much of the look that ultimately appears in the final release was captured in-camera.
“I wouldn't say it’s heavily processed,” he says of the grade. “A lot of the color palette, we got in-camera. The very blue tone for the moonlight and a very tungsten-y look hitting from the side, off the lamp…I literally just put in a nice contrast curve, and then I designed a LUT that I knew was going to work, which basically gives me a bit of a mood and feel like the darker scenes fromThe Ring.”
The edit was completed with little time to spare, and Hodson admits that the process was a bit nerve wracking, especially when the band and management asked to see an early cut.
“It did make me sweat a little bit,” he laughs. “They were asking to basically see the footage.”
Since the band doesn’t appear in the video, there was concern that it not live up to the imagery conveyed through their own striking appearances.
“That is when we start to add in the bloodshot,” Hodson relates. “And as soon as I showed (vocalist) Dani Filth, he looked at (it) and was like, ‘Oh, yeah! That's it!’”
Hodson is currently editing a few new projects, as well as setting up future bookings.
“And Dani has also given me a nod, saying, ‘Give me a few days and we need to talk.’”
Cradle of Filth (
https://napalmrecordsamerica.com/cradleoffilth) will co-headline the 2025 edition of the North American Chaos & Carnage tour, featuring fellow co-headliners Dying Fetus. The tour crosses the US beginning April 17th.