jumP LA Cuts The Boxer Rebellion's "The Runner" for DarkFibre

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The Runner [1] from The Boxer Rebellion [2] on Vimeo [3].

Press Release from jumP LA

Take two gorgeous young models, plenty of sexy costumes and a London loft, and you have the perfect visual complement to the haunting new song "The Runner" by hot indie rockers The Boxer Rebellion. Directed by the UK collective known as DarkFibre, the new music video was edited by jumP LA's Nick Lofting, who gives the clip a magical, dream-like quality.

Says Lofting, "I've worked with them for several years now. They're a husband-and-wife team with Black Jack Films in London and Pictures in a Row in LA, and we always do weird and wonderful projects together." Past collaborations include high profile commercials for Renault and a year-long project about genocide in the Congo, titled "Unwatchable," due to be released next month. DarkFibre also note that, "There's a lot of trust between us, and we work together like a jazz ensemble - we give each other a lot of freedom and after doing so many projects together, we know what all our strengths are."

"We love working with Nick because he works very poetically with image," continues DarkFibre. "And Nick cuts in a very emotional way, which works perfectly with our style."

DarkFibre shot the video in a practical location - a London loft. "We were there for 24 hours, and our whole background is in performance art and improvisation theater, so that really informed our approach to this," they explain. "We went in knowing where we wanted to get to in terms of an emotional state with the two actresses, and a lot of it was creating the situations where the girls could respond. So we just let the cameras run, and we directed and just let them get on with scenes."

But this approach wasn't at all documentarian in style, they stress. "And we didn't set up scripted scenes and ask them to act it out, then call 'Cut' and do it again. It was all just one take, and we'd take each separate scenario and then just push it to the full."

In terms of editing the video, the challenges for Lofting were considerable. "They shot with the RED and a Canon 7D" he states.

The team's approach to the material - particularly the explicit make-out scene between the girls, was also untraditional. "Obviously you've got these two hot girls making out, but we were aiming for something much deeper than that," explains Lofting. "We wanted to explore a destructive relationship, and honesty."

"But we don't work in the usual way," he says. "It's all very organic and we start off by just playing with the footage and see where it leads us. There's definitely no start, middle or end with how they shoot, and the edit's the same way. We just play and mold and sculpt. I don't cut traditionally and go through everything and do selects. I cut very much from my heart and emotional response to what I see, so it's all about finding moments and then basing it around those."

Lofting spent a week editing the footage on Final Cut Pro with DarkFibre who flew to LA for the cut. "It's a very collaborative process and they definitely bring out the best in me," he sums up. "They don't micro-manage. We'll discuss the broad strokes in the morning, and then I'll spend the rest of the day playing around with images, and then we meet again and discuss it the following morning. They know when to rein me in, and when to just let me run with it. It's a great working relationship."

Coincidentally, the band was playing live at the famed Roxy in LA during the sessions, and the team was able to show them the video backstage, "and they loved it," he recalls.

Adds jumP LA EP Damon Webster, "The collaboration between Nick and Dark Fibre continues to create brilliant, provocative, and beautiful work"

Credits:
Artist: The Boxer Rebellion
Title: "The Runner"

Prod Company: Black Jack Films
Director: DarkFibre
EP: Bradley Woodus
Producer: Tess Mitchell

Editorial: jumP/LA
Editor: Nick Lofting
EP: Damon Webster

Cinematography: Stuart Graham

Color: The Mill
Colorist: James Bamford

Post Production: Absolute Post
Lead Flame: Owen Saward
Flame: Michael Smith

Talent: Hannah May, Andrea Chovanova
Stylist: Sascha Lilic

About jumP:
Bicoastal jumP is an award-winning creative editorial boutique focusing on commercials, features, short films, music videos, and emerging media content. The firm works with a wide-range of top-tier brands, directors, and agencies continually delivering powerful and efficient results for each of its clients. The company roster includes Partner/Editors: Luis Moreno and Michael Saia, Editors: Lin Polito, Troy Mercury, Terence Ziegler, Richard Mettler, Jack Douglas, Nick Lofting, David Trachtenberg, Mark Imgrund, EP Damon Webster, Head of Production Juliet Conti, and Partner/Managing Director Dee Tagert.