East London Meets Messed Up Kids in Jake Bugg Video

A gritty East London estate and a party of ‘messed up kids’ provide the backdrop for Jake Bugg’s latest EP. Inspired by the work of British photographers such as Chris Killip, ‘Messed up Kids,’ Directed by Andrew Douglas, mirrors the 20 year old singer song-writer’s current place in life; feeling estranged from the kid he once was and disconnected from the place he used to call home. 

“I don’t really live anywhere at the moment as I’m always on the road. Now after everything that has happened, going back feels crazy: I’m somebody looking in from the outside.”-- Jake Bugg.

The promo was shot at an ultra high frame rate, whilst tracking across the dynamic streets of Bow. Sam Ostrove’s seamless edit, throws viewers right in the middle of this diverse narrative, capturing every detail shrouded in the black and white metropolis. 

According to editor Sam Ostrove, “It was about finding a 'surveillance' technique that looked polished and didn't rely on external effects.  I confined myself to only using frame cutting and single frame edits with resizes across cuts to make everything feel seamless. With 1000 frames per second to play with, I knew something special could be achieved.

I wanted it to feel like you're assessing a scene you've just watched,” Ostrove continues. “When it swings back through during the choruses, we scope around, finding out things about the characters and uncovering nuances about the scene. Our hope was to leave the viewer with unanswered questions, wanting more.

Andrew Douglas let me try out these ideas by myself before coming in to watch my first cut.  There is no better feeling than exciting a director on first viewing. When Andrew looked over to me on the third shot, smiled and said "Woah..." I knew we were in a good place.” 

With a host of seasoned professionals behind his latest video, ‘Messed up Kids’ marks the start of something special for Jake Bugg and the team certainly delivered. Watch 'Messed up Kids' unfold below.