Dan Pearce - Endangered Spaces
It’s hard work working with Dan. Not because he’s demanding but because he wants to push what we do with every project to do more. It’s great for me; stocking up on new ideas and influences for Dan to come along and let me go wild. And that’s how I end up staying up late, perfecting a transition.
The process is worth the pay-off.
With this project, Dan has been planning his next exhibition after “Endangered”, which became known as “Endangered Spaces”. The transitioning from one to the other was actually part of the video for a while, but it just didn’t work as part of the whole.
We had an idea of what direction we wanted to head in with this video. I find that when I can see Dan’s vision, be on the same page as him, I get what he wants as an end-product - unless, of course, he’s just incredibly polite and tolerates my goofiness.
The shoot was mainly split into two; wandering the streets of Shoreditch one windy December morning as Dan looked for inspiration and influences for his work, and I documented that whilst also realising that I never dress correctly for whatever weather is going on.
The second half was in Dan’s studio covering his process as he created a piece from scratch. It’s pretty straightforward here, just documenting each step and getting enough footage, especially as my editing process was a lot more technical to what I normally do.
Dan got the track “Majesty” by Wasiu cleared for the video, and it mixed perfectly with the vibe we’d talked about for the project. So cutting the video to it was pretty enjoyable, other than being stunned by the bass late at night.
I dropped by Dan’s a few weeks later to do one or two pick-up shots of Dan’s bottles, and we talked about how varying the videos I’ve made for Dan so far are. The first is about three years old now - Dan being my first major London-based client after moving there - then the first project I shot after moving back from Australia last year, then also being the last project I shot last year, and the first I shot this year.
What I’m trying to say is, Dan’s good to measure my life by it seems.
It’s aways fun to work with Dan, he’s up for any idea and thought, which makes sense why he didn’t question me holding my camera sideways at points. It reflects in his work that constantly grows and evolves to absorb and adapt to his new techniques and methods whilst still maintaining the DNA of his style.
Below are two versions of the video; “Endangered Spaces”, and an extended version that we found it hard to part ways with. Both are fun watches, just don’t watch them late at night with the volume up.
