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Javeon 'Mercy' by Ben Strebel

David Knight - 21st Mar 2017

Three years after the project began with the videos for Lovesong and Give Up, Ben Strebel's ambitious narrative to accompany the work of Bristol singer Javeon - originally an unfulfilled four video project - has come to fruition as a short film that features three new tracks from the artist's new EP Show Me Something.

Featuring Katy Sage as a bride pitched into an unfolding nightmare, Strebel brings us back to the moment when the unlucky bride's wedding descends into family feud-fuelled anarchy, following her into her hellish job in a roadside café and becoming caught up in an armed heist. And finally, a shot at redemption.

Strebel has reshaped his gutsy bride's adventures as a modern day epic and surreal R&B opera - a satisfying form of redemption in itself for the original project. 

BEN STREBEL:

"Mercy was always conceived as an episodic narrative stretched out across four music videos. The story was composed in response to Javeon’s first album, which had a strong sense of continuous narrative itself. Unfortunately we never got a chance to release the final two films, so the project always remained unfinished for both Jaevon and myself; the story untold.

"With the new LP came a new opportunity, and this time I wanted to bring together all the action into one epic film, which would allow audiences to feel the operatic scope of emotion and human interrelationships which had been there from first conception. Working with heady sound design and strong new lyrical material we wove the stories together so that now you follow Katy from the first fateful moment of discovery at her wedding gone to hell, to the final cliff hanger of her seeking revenge and redemption.

"The process of developing the narratives and characterisation has been so fruitful, and we’ve had such a strong response from industry and public, that the film has formed the basis for a feature script, in development.“

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David Knight - 21st Mar 2017

Tags

  • Director's notes
  • Drama
  • Narrative
  • Short films
  • Special projects
  • Surreal
  • R&B

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Credits

Production/Creative

Director
Ben Strebel
Producer
Adam Farley
Production Company
Executive Producer
Tash Tan

Camera

Director of Photography
Benjamin Todd

Art

Art Director
Kate Evenden

Wardrobe

Wardrobe
Sara Sensoy

Casting

Lead actor
Katy Sage

Editorial

Editor
St John O’rorke

Grading

Colourist
Houmam Abdallah
Colour grade company

VFX

Post production company

Commission

Commissioner
Caroline Clayton
Label
Virgin EMI

Other credits

MUSIC BY; Javeon & Zack Kemp

CASTING DIRECTOR

Kharmel Cochrane

SOUND DESIGN

Martin Sumeire (THE)

David Knight - 21st Mar 2017

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