Holding On | Pattern Pusher battle camera trickery

“Holding On”, a new single from retro-pop trio Pattern Pusher, BBC Introducing’s “Ones to Watch” for 2022, is a song about hope. It’s a song about pushing through the bad times to come out the other side and hanging in there when things are tough.

The visually unique music video is directed by Tommy Gillard and produced by Simeon Costello for Spinning Path, who won Best Short Film at the 2020 BFI London Film Festival for their short film, “Shuttlecock“.

4:3

In the video, Pattern Pusher attempt to perform their new single while struggling to keep the aspect ratio fixed in 4:3.

“Nowadays, we have devices in all shapes and sizes and as filmmakers, it’s difficult to imagine how your end project might look on different screens. We wanted to create a music video that playfully used this to our advantage,” says Simeon Costello (Spinning Path producer).

“What if we filmed a seemingly normal performance video, but the band gets interrupted when the frames start to expand?” asks director Tommy Gillard.

Camera trickery

Spinning Path set themselves the challenge to find a way to work practically, only using large moveable props and camera trickery, with no use of digital effects.

“We love Pattern Pusher for their retro vibe and endless energy, so we wanted the music video to capture that by bringing in elements from classic silent cinema,” says Tommy.

Filmed at Spinning Path’s studio, located in Positive Light Projects in Exeter, the team created large moveable walls painted jet black and carefully framed to look like aspect ratio bars on camera. The team had to hit specific marks consistently across multiple takes, creating an electric tension on set

Feel-good

Known as one of the most energetic, happy and feel-good live shows on the scene, Pattern Pusher were cited as one of NME’s hidden gems due to their barnstorming performances at Boardmasters festival last Summer.

Fronted by Alex Johnstone on the keys, whose soaring soulful vocals are evocative of Stevie Wonder, Benny G brings his wild energy to the bass and Benny C’s grooving drum rhythms underpin an unconventional line up with a classic sound.