Making Amber Lawrence's "Hell to Hallelujah" Music Video

Had such an amazing time making Amber Lawrence’s “Heart” video, that I was very excited when Amber’s manager, Karen-Lee, contacted me about directing the clip for the new single, “Hell to Hallelujah”. Excited and nervous, this was a big one for Amber, it was a song about marrying her husband, Marty. Knew we needed to make a great clip to celebrate such a momentous occasion.

Amber has been doing this a while, so she knows what she likes - which is great because it helps create something special for her. She had told me she wanted something fun and joyous with lots of movements, with moments of wackiness, and I think we created that.

We settled on am idea that begins in the day with a hen’s party / kitchen tea. Amber loved the idea of the ladies sitting at a table, which she then climbs and walks across. Then it would culminate with a night performance, almost like the wedding reception, where Amber would sing and party. While this was a song about a wedding, we wanted to keep away from schmaltz and keep up the joyous fun.

I knew the perfect location. My Uncle, Phil Chenney, lives on the most amazing property in Glenorie. We had shot a day there for my feature film, “According to Otto”, in January and it is a very filmic locale. So thanks Uncle Phil, looks great in the clip.

Nicholas Price would again shot the clip, as well as producing it with me. We had Lakme Iyenjar focus pulling, with Cayla Blanch camera assisting on day one and Michael Giglio on day two. Kim Surya did a wonder with production design, Mark Anderson was assistant director and Lisa Mangion was Amber’s make up artist. Abbie Gallagher and Carolina Maquina did make up for the other actors, with Carolina helping with Amber on day two. A great crew of hard working and talented people.

A big part of the clip was going to be the bridesmaids. They were going to be having a LOT of fun while Amber performed. We needed six ladies who could sell this, and I think we succeeded. Lara Duncan (purple dress) tours with Amber as her backing singer, and I was so happy Amber asked her to join the cast. Lisa Ancelleri (yellow dress) is my boss at one of the schools I teach at, and I loved the idea of having a heavily pregnant bridesmaid, added some great comic value. Krystelle Pratten (lilac dress), is a teacher at the same school and was happy she came on board. Tasha O’Brien (green dress) has been in two of my plays and plays my daughter in “According to Otto”, so was great have her join us, the same with Sally Williams (pale pink dress), who I have known for many years in the Sydney theatre scene. The cast was rounded out by Abbie Gallagher (fuchsia dress), who I got to know when she began blogging about my web series, “After Nightfall”. When you watch these ladies in the clip, they are fantastic.

We shot the clip in July, which meant it was cold. We were very fortunate that the sun was out, and it was actually a lovely winter’s day, just bloody cold. The property looked stunning, leaves were on the ground and it looked very autumnal. Nick captured some very beautiful images of the property and that gorgeous winter sun. We arrived early and all the ladies went into make up. Kim set up the table first. The cake was iced, the food was put out and the table set. It looked incredible.

We did a few of the bridesmaids solo shots before hitting the table scenes. Choreography for the girls was led by Tasha, with help from the ladies (3 of them were dance teachers) and Amber prepared. Amber looked stunning in her white romper with the crystal headband. We began shooting and it looked great straight away, there was a feeling that this was going to turn out well. Amber’s performance was great and the bridesmaid were selling it.

Was a lot of fun when we moved to Amber standing on the table. It looks great because Amber was having such a good time. It all looks so effortless when you see videos, but we have to do the same thing over and over again, to get different takes and camera shots. The performers have to keep up the energy for every take, and Amber brought it every time. It looks so fun, because it was.

Next up was the bridge section of the song, where the ladies came down from the front porch and gathered around the trees. Loved the movement of this section, the cinematography looks brilliant and Amber really commands an audience with her performance.

It was lunch and then we were down on the road leading into the property. The sun was perfect and it was time to shoot the beginning of the clip. We started with Amber walking in doing the opening verse. She is a pro, so it was done very quickly and looked great. Then we added the bridesmaids. These ladies made me laugh, especially when they had to run in excitedly to greet each other. Each take was something new and hilarious. Bonus points to Lara Duncan, who’s run across the back (you can see it in the final edit) is just side splittingly funny. Amber had the great idea for the slo-mo walk, which we used at the end of the first chorus. We finished on that for the day, and it looked great.

Day one finished early and I was happy, everyone had done an amazing job (we couldn’t have finished early if we hadn’t). It was time to head home, rest up and get ready for the following night’s shoot.

Even though we were only filming what would become a one minute section of song, it was going to be a big night. We had a lot of extras coming, as well as a big lighting set up. Kim had begun setting up the fairy lights the day before, but there were still so many to organise. The verandah ended up looking stunning, but it took a lot to get there. Thanks to all the crew for pulling that out, and my Uncle, who was a wiz when helping out. The extras began arriving and we were getting ready to start. It’s hilarious that when I shot at my Uncle’s property in January it was 47 degrees, I ended up with a little heatstroke after that shoot. For this shoot, Amber looked up the temperature a little later in the night and it was only 3 degrees, 44 degrees cooler than when I shot there last time. Ouch.

Amber arrived with some champagne, it was a wedding party after all. She really is a lady after my own heart. She had also brought her husband, Marty, and adorable son, Ike. Ike had been ill, so it was great to get him there. Fans have been loving the end of the clip, so I’m so happy we got to shoot it. We did it first, so Marty and Ike could head to the warmth of home. It felt special when we shot it, and I think is the perfect ending to the clip.

Then we shot our “party”. Poor extras, they must have gone home and had nightmares of me screaming, “Energy!” at them. We wanted it to look like a party, so wanted those extras dancing. They all did so well with repeated takes and such a cold night. Then of course Amber and the bridesmaids shone. And a special shout out to my good mate and assistant director, Mark Anderson, who appeared as the male dancer with our lilac bridesmaid, Krystelle.

Again we finished shooting earlier than expected. Amber, the crew, the cast and the extras had all worked so hard to create something I knew was going to be special.

Then it was into post production. Samuel Fitzpatrick did the editing, and Keiran Lee the colour grading. Then Nicholas Price put it all together. I’m so happy with how it all turned out and I love when it finally gets released and people can enjoy it.

I love music videos, I always have. When other small kids were watching cartoons, I was watching music videos. I have some many memories of watching, loving and being inspired by music videos, so I love that I have been able to create some. Especially with a wonderful artist like Amber. Her new album is exceptional, if you haven’t heard it yet, do yourself a favour. And please, have a watch of the clip.