How Toxic Lovers Come to Life in This Surreal Music Video

Reminiscent of the art house genre, Skydaddy and Tyler Cryde’s music video for ‘Tear Gas’ explores an intimate portrayal of a couple’s complex relationship.

In a bid to spotlight the sentimental feeling of relatable relationship moments, the music video’s director Jasper Cable-Alexander opens a door into the couple’s uncanny world through a variety of shots. With some scenes shot by the couple themselves, the unusual characters bring the audience into their world, capturing candid conversations and intimate moments. 

The transitions between the obscure shots generate an emotional entanglement into the complexities of a toxic love, something that Jasper is keen to authentically capture. While the music by Skydaddy and Tyler Cryde was written to capture the feeling of a relationship that turned sour, the musicians left the visuals up to interpretation. 

Channelling inspiration from work such as ‘In The Mood For Love’ and ‘Buffalo 66’, incredible prosthetics and a natural improvised environment, the music video delves into a strange love story. To find out how it all came together, LBB’s Lucy Briggs caught up with Jasper.

LBB> As this promo explores a great sense of intimacy, how important was it to capture such closeness between the characters (for example - the candid conversations)?

Jasper> I feel that in relationships, no matter how serious the moment is, there are always those awkward moments in between; just candid conversation to break the deathly silence that often feels quite human and funny. I felt that it was really important to show that in this film, I love the idea of taking people on a journey with these unusual characters to laugh and cry with them.

LBB> What were Skydaddy and Tyler Cryde keen to capture through the visual representation of their music?

Jasper> The track, ‘Tear Gas’, was inspired by an empty tear gas canister that Rachid (Skydaddy) had found. It also details a past relationship that turned sour and all the emotions that come along with toxicity, but the visuals were left open to my interpretation.

LBB> How did you envision the campaign/what ideas came to mind following the initial conversations you had?

Jasper> Rachid sent me a multitude of tracks, and when I heard ‘Tear Gas' it sparked so many ideas because the song sounded so beautifully visual to me. I find a lot of concepts come from collaboration, often conceived in the corners of pubs, which is exactly what happened with me and Rachid, we chatted about all sorts until some ideas started swooping in. I think it’s because it's casual and we can bounce ideas until something lands. 

We began with the idea of a couple in a bedroom, showing them in their most intimate moments and entangled in the complexities of a toxic love. 

A few weeks later that idea really spun from there into creating these creatures looking somewhat evil and distant but acting out relatable moments in a relationship.

I wanted to turn them into creatures because I felt that’s the kind of feeling that is evoked when you don’t quite feel like yourself. I think seeing the couple as otherworldly speaks to the emotional tone that resonates within a toxic relationship.

LBB> With your background in working on music videos, were there any previous projects you reflected on as sources of inspiration? When did ‘In The Mood For Love’ and ‘Buffalo 66’ come to mind?

Jasper> ‘Buffalo 66’ the movie, came to mind for a multitude of reasons. It evokes a similar feeling when watching it that I looked to convey with our story; really uneasy and uncomfortable, whilst also presenting this strangely sentimental feeling. 

I loved the way they translated that, especially through the obscure camera angles that the film introduces to make you feel uneasy while watching Vincent Gallo (Billy) and Christina Ricci (Layla) hesitantly and slowly fall for each other in this strange love film. And again ‘In The Mood For Love’, I have a passion for watching films about relationships with unique perspectives, and I feel that’s what ‘In The Mood For Love’ did while taking place in one main location. 

LBB> The incredible makeup and prosthetics are a key part of the promo video - how important were these during production and what was the inspiration behind them?

Jasper> The prosthetics was a key part of the video, built into the idea from the beginning. Mathilda Mace, our prosthetics artist was so key to the making of this video. She did such an incredible job. There was a lot of back and forth between me and Tilda on how we translate that toxic love in the form of a creature. 

Initially, they were going to be more animalistic, but we found that long noses were a great nod to Pinocchio and being a liar. It helped send a subtle message of a strange poisonous undertone, the subtle fangs as teeth was another way to highlight Flo’s deceivingly lovely face until her teeth break out as she smiles at Harrison.

LBB> The lovers (played by Florence Pick and Harrison Charles) had to convey an organic connection, what was their on set chemistry like and how did you encourage them to explore this sense of closeness?

Jasper> Florence and Harrison were amazing, I could set them a theme and they could improvise for hours. When we talked about their individual characters I was probably a bit too obsessed with their back stories but, just to give you a flavour… Susan (Florence) owns a latex factory in Pontefract. She was brought luck (from a heavy gambling addiction) when she was younger and managed to buy herself a factory. Carl runs a global perfume chain headquartered on Whitechapel Road. He discovered he had a strong sense of smell when he was a kid, but he is very lonely and always likes to watch rom-com movies alone. We then thought about different ways the pair would interact with each other, and it was super interesting to explore a sense of closeness between them. How would these creatures usually kiss? How they would cuddle and hold each other, and how human-like would this be?

LBB> Many of the scenes in the video were improvised - was this particularly important to creating the promo, and how did you allow for Florence and Harrison to explore this?

Jasper> It felt like by creating this natural improvised environment, it gave them a platform to kind of explore their characters, and just let them be. This kind of rawness gave such an emotional visual. They would sit there and talk and we would let them just explore the conversation, I would occasionally direct them into certain topics like how they eat food and when things were really working for the story- although they could probably tell with the smile on my face- we would all be laughing but trying not to interrupt the sound (which made it even funnier).

LBB> Throughout the process, you placed the audience in a ‘fly on the wall’ perspective to highlight this love story. Why did you choose this perspective and how did it add to the storytelling?

Jasper> I feel like being a fly on the wall is what I’d wanna be in another life. I love to people watch. One of my favourite things is to sit and be quiet watching the world go by like an Italian grandma. It’s something I’m obsessed with seeing and imagining the stories go by, so I think this is why I chose the perspective of telling the story like this. Rather than giving Florence and Harrison a full script, it felt necessary just to send them in a general direction and watch their stories come to life. It felt much more natural and I think that’s why we can see the closeness between them. I’m sure if they had had a word for word script we would have lost some of that. 

LBB> In terms of all of the different perspective angles, what was the thought process behind creating a range of different shots? 

Jasper> We didn’t have the budget to shoot the entire video on film, but I always feel like working within these constraints gives me more push for creativity. So, I gave them a camcorder, so we could shoot and play in between our 16mm shots. It began to feel like we had uncovered the secret videotapes that they’d been filming in their relationship that no one is ever supposed to see. Like a holiday style blog from the early ‘00s (which I like to think is what this second-hand camcorder was last used for).

LBB> Were there any major challenges during the process of creating the spot? How did you overcome them?

Jasper> Of course the prosthetics were very challenging. However, Tilda completely outdid any challenge. No noses were lost during the process of shooting. Shooting on film is always a relative challenge, the day before the shoot the camera decided not to work, and by this point, it was too late to change cameras - thankfully the film gods came through.

LBB> What are you most proud of in the video? What are some of the elements that the audience has responded to so far?

Jasper> For me, this is my favourite film I’ve created so far. We were lucky enough to do a live screening, playing the music live while screening the film in front of an audience for the first time, and to see people laughing and crying at this film that we’ve created felt incredibly special to me, it was the first time I’ve watched an audience laugh (intentionally) at a film I’ve made before. It felt like one of the best feelings in the world for me, that's what I am most proud of. I’m very excited to explore comedy more. 

LBB> Are there any fun or funny moments from the set which you can share with us?

Jasper> Watching Harrison and Flo all day was just hilarious. It was just the best day as they would crack out joke after joke. Sometimes things would fall out mid-take, and tears would run down their eyes from the contact lenses. The attempted kiss was amazing to watch as their noses would get in the way every time.