One of my favorite types of landscapes to film is a cloud forest. Of all the beautiful places on Earth, they seem to be the most mystical & enchanting. There’s one particular cloud forest that I’ve fallen in love with, tucked away in a hidden river valley located in the Gifford Pinchot Nat’l Forest, just 45 minutes from my home in the PNW. When I first listened to “ECHO” and chatted with Julie, it was the first thing that came to mind.
So early one morning back in the fall, I drove up to this spot and launched the drone, hoping to catch a bit of magic. And I was not disappointed. The fog rose with the sun on that very chilly morning and transported me & my “third eye in the sky” to a heavenly realm. And I was once again reminded why I sold all I had in Nashville & moved my life to this gorgeous part of the country. It was for this moment… and so many more like it.
Julie just didn’t bring her music to the table; she had some great ideas that invited me to explore a new level of creativity. Something I had never tried before was blending live footage of musicians & singers with my aerial footage. Julie had videographer Alex Barnes film the recording live in the studio. Alex sent me the footage to color grade & blend in with my visuals. For me, it was a new approach to editing music videos, and one that we all ended up being very pleased with. I’m so thankful for clients who push me into new ways of creating.
And to top it off, “ECHO” features my favorite soprano singer in the world, Grace Davidson, whose angelic voice is featured on some of my most beloved modern classical projects, including those scored by composer Max Richter. It has been a dream of mine to have Grace’s voice fused with my landscape cinematography in an official manner, as her ethereal vocals have inspired much of my own work, especially visuals of cloud forests.
You might not know this, but most drone cameras aren’t exactly the best at filming in low light conditions, not unless you have a fairly expensive setup. Luckily for me, DJI’s flagship foldable drone, the Mavic 3, equipped with a Hasselblad camera, features a new Night Mode with high ISO, which really helps in filming in low light. But then there’s the daunting reality of flying in the dark… something I wouldn’t typically recommend to anyone!
But when Julie reached out with her initial idea for her nocturnal composition, her main request was to end the music video with a beautiful shot of moonlight reflecting on water. Could I achieve this with an iPhone or my brand new Sony A7III? Of course! But it wouldn’t really be that… dynamic. Not for me, at least.
So I checked the weather & moon phases, and in a rare aligning of the planets, there was a full moon appearing on a clear night in the Pacific Northwest… in the fall… right at the beginning of rainy season. It was too perfect! So at 3am on Sunday, October 29th, I drove out to the Oregon Coast and sent my drone out into the void.
We also took a “less is more” approach with the aerial footage in this edit, blending in rare moments of moonlight and dark ocean waves with monochromatic footage of the chamber orchestra, filmed by Alex Barnes. This intentional balance with delicate dissolves resulted in a finesse that I am really pleased with.
Julie Cooper is an incredibly prolific pianist & composer whose work has graced multiple mediums, such as Film, Television, Radio, Video Games, & Advertising worldwide. She has scored multiple cinematic orchestral and chamber albums for Television Drama, Wildlife and Natural History documentaries, along with numerous drama commissions for Theatre, BBC Radio Drama and the Concert platform.
Some of her own personal projects, such as “Continuum” & “Symphonic Skies”, were greatly inspired by nature & landscapes, further connecting the relationship between music & land—a relationship I am most fond of these days.