FEATURE: General Mack’s Grapeshot – Carnival of Stars (Dir. Laura May Grogan)
Opening with a shot panning over a gaggle of ladders and loose film stands, ‘Carnival of Stars’ feels like a magician (in this case, visionary director Laura May Grogan) revealing the secrets of the illusion, tying everything together before the magic unfurls in front of your eyes. In the world of magic, this is called the pledge: showing you something seemingly ordinary before a dramatic rug pull shows something greater. The debut music video and lead single from General Mack’s Grapeshot is truly a sight to behold and a work of art in its own right, which perfectly accompanies the incredibly catchy tune exploring themes of escapism and anti-realism, teasing reality with skewed absurdist reflections transporting the listener to a wondrous, dreamy ‘carnival’ in the extended finish.
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- Mitchy McIvor posing for the camera with a star covering his eye.
The artist behind the project, Mitchy McIvor, recorded ‘Carnival of Stars’ during solo excursions to the Mornington Peninsula, but the music video itself was largely the brainchild of Laura May Grogan and Wild Rose Productions. Mitchy worked with the crew to bring his song’s ideas to life and found it to be an insightful and revelatory process.
“I didn’t quite know what it was going to become, (but) knowing the production team involved, the pre-production work and the overall concept, I was confident and trustful. Watching it back for the first time was a special moment. I felt proud and grateful to have worked with some talented people to create something very unique – which was the goal.” McIvor added that “The director Laura May has such an infectious creative mind and was able to take some initial concepts and blow it up marvellously into what it eventually became”
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- The crew at Wild Rose Productions setting up a silhouette shot.
The music video moves along at a super smooth pace with ample help from a treadmill. The ingenuity of making something visually incredible from relatively little resources is the driving ethos of this piece, and ‘Carnival of Stars’ boldly manages to pave its own way while being interestingly self-referential. References to old cinema abound, beyond just being in black and white. Laura May shared a bit about the inspirations, saying how a main point of reference for the music video came from novelist Alan Garner’s ‘Treacle Walker’, a book about a rag-and-bone man with untold wisdom. Cryptic philosophical passages from the book were some of the video’s driving forces, such as “For at the very moment you have now. It flees. It is gone. It is, on the instant, then”. She elaborates:
“The song is all about what is or isn’t reality, and we wanted to play with that in a carnival-esque way…. we wanted it to feel a little vaudevillian without the strong aesthetic associations of circus, more smoke and mirrors and playfulness than any kind of ‘freakshow’ exploitation feels. One of the biggest inspirations was the house of mirror scene in Charlie Chaplin’s ‘The Circus’ (1928) and Philippe Halsman’s hilarious surrealist portrait of Salvadore Dali & his cats. Playing with in-house camera effects was very inspired by the pragmatic and practical tricks in early silent films like ‘A Trip To The Moon’ (1902). Filmed through mirrored reflections and cheeky distortions, the art direction and cinematic movements are there to play with what is when and who is what. We were curious about what was real when nothing in a constructed reality really is. It is only the final seconds that show the artist unobstructed by the apparatuses of the clip, and that, of course, is not really real.”
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- Squid and Cohen Medson setting up a mirror shot.
Something that was definitely real and purposeful in the music video is the visual appearance of the piece being filmed in one take. Editor Lachlan Meagher brought the clips together in post-production and detailed how the seamless transitions and minimal cuts were a reflection of Laura May’s original vision for the film clip. Her intention to shoot the clip in one moving part, however, proved to be a bit logistically challenging.
“During the first day of shooting, we realised this, and along with the production team, (Laura May) made the call to simplify the idea so that it was roughly three scenes that we could stitch together in post. I’m used to salvaging bad footage and making something out of nothing, whereas with this project it was completely different. The director’s forward thinking made the editing process rather smooth, with a few minor challenges. I was instructed to use minimal effects, however, I managed to convince Laura May to let me use my favourite effect, which is the good ol’ Ken Burns (if you know, you know).”
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- BTS of Mitchy McIvor as General Mack in full swing for a layered glass effect.
Playing into the constructed reality, McIvor glides around the frame while moving in a fixed motion. As the song’s captivating chorus goes, “so much is really grey, looking for a space between the clouds and the day”. The space inbetween as visualised in the music video is achieved through long shots that pull between the artist and his surrounds. With the music video being filmed in black and white, the greys are incredibly accentuated and potently stand out, helping to bring focus to the visuals unfolding. Squid from Wild Rose Productions helped with this process and spoke to its challenges in coordinating.
“If anything the long shots made the shoot rather hard as I was operating and focus pulling myself using the entire length of a 12ft Dana Dolly. It was great to have the crew give me time to rehearse my shots multiple times before rolling. What we wanted to achieve was merely based on a very open aperture to create a soft touch, giving us the shallow depth we desired. I shot on our (Wild Rose) recently purchased Sony FX9 with Sigma FF High Speed Prime Lenses, hired from Offshoot Rentals in Preston. These lenses really helped with the contrast and softness Laura May wanted to achieve.”
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- Close-up of silhouette shot used in the music video.
Practical effects pop up in the piece, whereby mirrors, light, glass reflections and the odd hat trick both obscure and illuminate the artist, enveloped in a sea of greys. Feeling like we’re witnessing the unveiling of a grand magic trick, the song itself highlights the beauty in the mundane and the perfection in simplicity with the closing refrain “Don’t you wonder? Won’t you wander?”. And in a way, much like a magic trick, throughout filming (whether in one take or a few) we see that the people involved with bringing the visual abstractions to life are the real magic. The prestige of people power, so to speak. Laura May remarks:
“Everyone who worked on the production fulfilled multiple roles and we couldn’t have done it without them. They were generous and talented and made the shoot super fun. From constructing the set, participation in some arts and craft, positioning mirrors, using sparklers and confetti, etc. They were pivotal – Bingham Thurgate, Rachel Dash, Genevieve Honey, Nikki Thomas, and Georgia Campbell were brilliant extras. And Tori Styles, Cohen Medson, Scarlett Maloney all played dual roles in production and on camera.”
‘Carnival of Stars’ is the lead single from General Mack’s Grapeshot‘s debut album ‘Revel, Revel‘, which will be released February 27th, 2025. The song’s magically real feel is translated wondrously in this music video and there’s no illusion here about the charms in store for us all when the full set of songs comes out.
Here is the official video for “Carnival of Stars“
Music Video Credits
Director: Laura May Grogan. DOP: Squid – Wild Rose Production. Camera Assist: Tori Styles – Wild Rose Production. 1st AC: Cohen Medson. Production Design: Laura May Grogan. Production Assistant: Lachlan Meagher. 1st PA: Scarlett Maloney. Editor: Lachlan Meagher. Edit Assist: Squid. VFX: Cohen Medson. Stills: Squid – Wild Rose Productions. Extras: Bingham Thurgate, Rachel Dash, Genevieve Honey, Nikki Thomas, Georgia Campbell. Location: Nicholson Street Studios, Brunswick East, Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country.
