‘STAY’ INSIGHTS
When a music video calls for a packed, high-energy club, the challenge isn’t just filling a space — it’s creating a feeling.
For this project, our Director of Production, Ing, was immediately drawn to the brief. From the start, the goal was clear: the opening storyline needed to feel vibrant, stylish, and alive, the moment where the main character meets the girl of his dreams for the first time.
And that meant every visual decision had to serve one thing: energy.
Story First: A Night That Feels Alive
The music video unfolds across two timelines — reality and dream. In this first storyline, the setting is a club where everything feels exciting, magnetic, and full of possibility.
To bring that world to life, casting played a key role. Instead of generic extras, the crowd was made up of the artist Sonny’s real circle: friends, influencers, creatives, and fashion-forward personalities. The result was a group that naturally reflected the look and attitude of a young, dynamic nightlife scene.
Wardrobe became just as important as performance. Styling leaned into contemporary, expressive looks to reinforce the feeling of a hip, modern club culture.
Lighting: Defining the Mood (and the Timeline)
Lighting wasn’t just about atmosphere, it was also a storytelling tool.
Because the video moves between dream and reality, the two worlds needed to feel visually distinct. Colour tones and lighting styles were carefully designed to separate the timelines while maintaining a cohesive aesthetic.
To achieve this, Ing collaborated closely with a gaffer they describe as “one of the best in this era.” In fact, some of the visual references for the look came directly from the gaffer’s work. Together, they built a lighting design that felt bold, stylish, and immersive — the kind of environment you don’t just see, but feel.
Making the Space Feel Full
One of the biggest challenges in any club shoot is scale. Even with a large crowd, a wide frame can make a space feel empty.
Ing’s solution was to:
Use tighter lenses
Move physically closer to subjects
Layer the frame with strong foreground elements
Keep the focus on key actions while surrounding them with movement
By filling every layer of the image with people, motion, and texture, the club feels dense and alive, even within controlled production conditions.
Turning a Set into a Real Party
With a large group of people who didn’t all know each other, the atmosphere could easily feel staged or awkward.
So the team treated the environment like a real event.
A live DJ played actual club music throughout the shoot
The crew actively maintained a positive, high-energy presence
Direction was loose enough to let moments happen naturally
Many of the dancing sequences weren’t heavily choreographed, they emerged organically once the energy was right.
By the end of the day, the set didn’t feel like a set. It felt like a real night out.
The Result
From wardrobe to lighting, lens choices to on-set energy, every decision worked toward the same outcome: a club that feels full, vibrant, and emotionally charged.
For Ing, the excitement that came from the initial brief carried through the entire production, and you can see it in the final visuals.
Because sometimes, great cinematography isn’t just about how you light a space.
It’s about creating an environment where the energy is real, and letting the camera capture it.