Lizzo Faces Her Demons in ‘Love In Real Life’ and ‘Still Bad’ Music Videos

Above and throughout: BTS from the shoot, courtesy of Echobend Pictures

Over the last few months, Lizzo debuted two singles, titled ‘Love In Real Life’ and ‘Still Bad’ from a forthcoming album. The singles were accompanied by Colin Tilley-directed music videos, shot on 35mm on location in Prague, with production from Echobend Pictures and production service from Compass Rose ’s group partner, Stillking Prague.

In the videos, Lizzo faces her demons, quite literally, while dressed to the nines and performing impressive choreography backed by dancers in picturesque locations, including Barrandov Studios’ Parisian Street standing set. The videos are thematically linked with Lizzo appearing on the hood of a white car at the end of ‘Love In Real Life’ and also at the start of ‘Still Bad’ to signal narrative continuity.

Colin has worked with a lot of powerhouse artists in his career and the collaboration with Lizzo and her creative director, Molly Hawkins, was defined by a mutual desire to find a fresh, unexpected direction. “Lizzo is so open to pushing the limits and I was truly inspired by that. I was lucky to have my co-captain Molly as we conceptualised on this for quite a bit of time before we really landed on the concepts. We wanted to try and push it in an exciting new direction. Lizzo had great feedback throughout the process and was just down for going for it. It’s the best feeling ever as a director to have a team that is not ready to settle just to settle,” Colin says.

One thing Colin knew from the outset is that he was “really dying to shoot in Prague again,” having previously worked with Stillking Prague and producer Lida Ashwell Ordnung on Halsey’s epic album film, ‘If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power’ .

Both of the music videos have a bold, unapologetic energy that plays with horror tropes. Colin says that the music inspired him to pursue “a more narrative direction with the storyline while still giving the space and freedom for Lizzo to really perform and dance A LOT.” The videos’ aesthetic balances glamour and decadence with ‘80s flourishes and grit. Colin says that the inspiration for the videos came from Molly sharing Jonathan Glazer’s spot ‘Temptation’ featuring a dancing devil. Then “eventually, of course, [Michael Jackson’s] ‘Thriller’ came into picture when it came to the moment when people are turning on Lizzo. But we didn’t want to go with straight up zombies, more monsters in her imagination,” says Colin.

While Lizzo’s team made her costumes, Stillking Prague was tasked with outfitting 20 dancers and extras in their looks and prosthetics. “We produced beautiful feather costumes with claws and prosthetics for faces, birds’ beaks, and melting face masks. Since the timeline was quite speedy, we had two teams working on the last few days, day and night. We had a lot of creative calls which were all worth it as the looks turned out really well,” says Lida.

To further bring Colin, Molly, and Lizzo’s creative vision to life, the Stillking team had to track down not one but two Cadillacs, and one had to be refinished in white by the team so it could be burned, for real, in the forest scenes. While that was a challenge in and of itself, safety had to come first: two fire engines and eight firefighters were on hand to closely supervise.

Colin and director of photography Tehilla De Castro looked to the location to provide aesthetic guidance. “Prague as a backdrop gives the video some grit and we were so inspired by the texture…Tehilla De Castro shot this; she is a truly special DP – I love her aesthetic and I felt it was perfect to blend grit and glam. Her ability to ride that line on 35mm is special so all the credit goes to her on that look,” he adds. The production took place across several locations including the majestic Prague Castle, featuring in the night driving shots, while the club scenes were shot on location in Invalidovna, constructed during the years of 1731-1737 and inspired by the Hotel Les Invalides building in Paris.

For Echobend producer Danielle Wright, the goal for this production – like all she approaches, regardless of scale – was all about how to “best utilise the resources we have to serve the creative vision.” She says that as a producer “you’re always beholden to a budget,” adding, “you can choose to see that as a limitation or as a parameter that makes you think more creatively. Working with Colin is such a wonderful experience because he approaches filmmaking the same way. We did a lot of logistical dancing in both pre-pro and real time on set to make sure that we were putting our resources in the places that best served the story – sometimes that meant us coming up with creative solutions in other places but, ultimately, a lot of those solutions actually made the films better,” she explains.

Transporting the equipment — including two cameras, a dolly, a Technocrane, a Fox crane, and a Steadicam — was another challenge for the team, as the crew and talent navigated multiple shoot locations and harsh winter terrains. Plus the shoot wasn’t without challenges caused by the weather and the need to shoot outdoors in the middle of winter. The Stillking team recreated and built a lake with surroundings replicating the forest Colin was shooting on location. “Our great art department with PD David Baxa built the heated lake so Lizzo and the dancers, dressed in bird creature costumes, could perform the scene in the water. The set was constructed in one of the oldest wooden studios at Barrandov Studios, built in 1931,” Lida explains.

Colin recalls that “the most challenging day was in the forest in freezing cold temperature. It’s crazy when you’re shooting in zero degrees! It usually makes you want to shoot more interior but that wasn’t the case here, everyone really toughed it out and pushed through some very cold days. Especially the dancers. Shout out to them and Sergio on the choreo!” Lida, who’s no stranger to Prague’s frosty weather, says that “Lizzo and the dancers were very brave and they all pulled through. Of course, we did have heaters and blankets, but when they had to be on set and act, it was very cold!”

It’s clear that a shared creative vision and a commitment to craft was shared by every single person involved working on the production. “We just had such a great team on this one; Colin, Molly, commissioner Andrew Reid, and of course Lida and the Stillking team – all wonderful creatives who really care about the vision and are willing to get their hands dirty to make things happen,” says Danielle.

Never deterred by a tight budget, central European winters, or a challenging schedule, Lida confirms that “when you have a great understanding between a group of people working together, you can do a lot of great work in quite a short time.”

Compass Rose’s group of service production companies consists of Stillking Films Prague and Cape Town, Icon Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia, Entity Films Slovenia and Croatia, Spectrum Mexico and 24/7 Spain, Portugal and Chile.