Director of Coldplay's Christmas Lights video, Mat Whitecross, has been speaking to website PromoNews.tv about working on the set on the South Bank of the Thames. He talked about the ideas involved, and the different incarnations the filming could have taken before they decided on a waterside location with a boat full of Coldplayers... [thanks mimixxx]
"Every Coldplay shoot involves a leap of faith," explains Whitecross. "The band are always intuitive and overflowing with great ideas. My job is to try and compress as many of them as humanly possible into a four minute track. Chris and Phil approached me three weeks ago to do a simple low budget video for their Christmas single. Just me, the band and a handycam, walking down Oxford Street at midnight..."
"A week later we’d narrowed the location down to their studio, a music hall, a central London rooftop, or possibly even Marble Arch. But finally we found ourselves on the banks of the Thames, building a huge stage, spraying confetti and setting off fireworks in front of a boatful of a hundred fans. The band are the most generous, trusting and loyal friends you could ever hope for. Working with them is like making a family video on a Hollywood budget. It doesn’t get any better than this."
Coldplay, Christmas Lights (Parlophone)
Director: Mat Whitecross
Producer: Hannah Clark
Production Company: Between The Eyes @ Pulse
Exec. Producer: Ben Pugh
Representation: OBmanagement
DP: Robbie Ryan
Production Designer: Misty Buckley
Construction: Steel Monkey
Production Manager: Natalie Bayle
Balloons: iLoom
Post Production: Marc Knapton @ Brewery FX
TK: Simone Grattarola @ Rushes
Commissioner: James Hackett
Chris Martin with Mat Whitecross film during premiere of film 'Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll' earlier this year:
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