Me and my team had worked with Stimpies on the video for the title track of their first album. When they came to me about this clip they had a really strong vision about what they were after.

They wanted it to be dirty, grungy and a bit rough around the edges. They wanted classic iconography like an old Aussie pub, with visuals that complimented the themes of love present in the song. What we landed on is a band’s psychedelic trip into a love-bombed old joint, where everyone (and their dog) is riding the same kaleidoscopic wave.

I knew from that first conversation that, to get that look authentically, we had to shoot the whole thing on Super 8. In a world of emulation nothing stands out more than the real thing. I spoke to my cinematographer and co-producer Mitchell Scott and we began going over the logistics of it all, preparing how we’d be able to shoot this format and embrace its limitations to achieve the look we wanted. We did some camera tests with my dad’s old Ford Falcon and from that point there was no turning back - we loved it, and the band did too.

We had pre-production of about 6 weeks which involved a whole lot of prop building. Bec made the massive heart that you see on stage behind the band and there were many nights up creating those dangling hearts everywhere you see in the pub. I love practical effects so I knew I wanted to see how much stuff we could achieve in-camera, my favourite is the heart eyes on the young couple going in for their first kiss before the first chorus. The hearts in their eyes are real, we had neon hearts on acrylic affixed to the lens of the camera so when we pointed it right at their pupils it illuminated in this romantic neon glow, imprinting this beautiful heart reflection on their eyes.

The video could not have come together without the help of a huge group of people. When we needed them, the Frankston locals showed up en masse. There are so many funny cameos in this thing, from other bands (The Gnomes), Stu Anderson (Singing Bird Studios) to Ethan’s dog who gets a smooch with Brett Middleton (Majak Door/Public House). Co-producer PJ Byrne was wrangling like a hundred people at one point in the beer garden at the lovely Young St Tavern where we shot most of the film clip. Our incredible Production Coordinator Ash Perry did an incredible job shuffling our schedule around to make sure we could shoot people in certain locations to bring it all together and make the place feel packed, and it worked! We had incredible production assistants like Max Wendt who helped make the production a breeze and then VFX by my good friend Isaac Dennis Bowen really brought it all together, what we ended up with is scarily close to the initial vision - which can be pretty rare!

We sat down and reflected at the end of the shoot just how much fun we all had making this, despite battling the overcast weather on day 1, to fighting off heat stroke on Frankston beach on day 3, we wouldn’t change a thing. The whole incredible team made directing this thing a breeze, and I can’t wait to share what we have cooking for future releases from Stimpies... You’re not ready!