New Directors: Georgia King

The Last Skeptik: Me And My

Georgia King has carved out a consistent career as an actress in TV and film – appearing in a string of series, most recently as Goldie Clemmons in US sitcom The New Normal, and as Rebecca in this year’s Kill Your Friends movie – but her latest job saw her go behind the lens to deliver as the director on promo for artist The Last Skeptik’s track Me And My.

Featuring Charity Wakefield, of Wolf Hall fame, and Gossip Girl’s David Call, the moody black and white piece deals with the breakdown of a relationship between a cohabiting couple. Set in their shared LA home, the video plays out with strong, symbolic choreography as they wrestle with their emotions and resentment towards each other before finally calling it a day.

King tapped into the theme after a painful experience in her personal life and wrote the treatment a week later, homing in on the “sadness, repetition, anxiety, pain, frustration and disappointment” expressed in the track.

“I found that ‘right time’ moment with The Last Skeptik and Me And My,” she explains. “I had been looking to direct a music video for a while to explore, experiment and learn more. I was told the song was about loss and longing and I thought I could do it justice.”

Her approach came with a cyclical theme to complement the repetition and strong narrative with quick push-ins, unusual alienating angles, close-ups, pans and tilts via a Movi rig. The emotion was further emphasised with the limited palette in contrast to a bright paint-like substance which crops up throughout to remind viewers of the tarnished love at stake.

“I was really intrigued by stripping away colour and seeing how to use light and shade to express the emotions and layers of the music. It felt more raw, exposed and vulnerable to shoot it in black and white,” adds the director, who is represented by Paradigm LA. “The textures, patterns and lines really came to the fore without colour. The story is quite emotionally complex and I thought the black and white would bring simplicity to counterbalance that.”

She’s heard plenty of interesting interpretations about the film but what does it all really mean? “At the core, for me, it’s the tug and pull that you experience at the end of a relationship,” King responds. “The need to let someone go, to walk away from someone who has hurt you but at the same time the heartbreaking need to hold on to them, the overwhelming desire to continue to love them.”

On a more upbeat note, she recalls having an incredible time working with the reversing shots, speeding up, slowing down and quick cuts to tell the story in the edit, putting the film together with editor, Sushila Love.

King is excited about what lies ahead: “Directing gives me so much joy. I would love to do more music videos because I love how open they are creatively; your imagination can go wild. I’m also working on writing a feature script. That’s a big goal, I think. When I’m ready, though. I still have so much to learn. But I’m OK with making mistakes too. I’m not sure I will ever be entirely happy with what I make… but is anyone?”