From alt-J's striking original idea, Isaiah Seret has crafted an experimental epic for their song Pleader that draws on different artforms and ultimately has nearly spawned a new one. This is a music video that could also described as a short dramatic musical. 

It's set in a coal mining community in a South Welsh valley in the early 20th century, and at the heart of it is a young miner and his wife. But their fate is bound up with the decisions made by the whole community, who decide that the woman has to produce a child. In that way, they sew the seeds of their own destruction - but this is just as much about the boy with special powers who is left behind. 

In the midst there are real scenes of birth and destruction, powerful performances from Sophie Cookson and Morgan Watkins as the couple, and Ewan Hipperson as Llewelyn, their son, and a huge supporting cast. There's enough surprise and mystery here to keep you coming back looking for answers. And at its core, a breathtaking sequence: the terrible power of a volcanic cloud, destroying everything and everyone in its path.

ISAIAH SERET:

"Alt J’s Pleader is crafted as a short film musical, drawing inspiration from the novel How Green Was My Valley, the photos of Bruce Davidson, Tarkovsky’s The Sacrifice, and the lyrics themselves. 

"Set in a Welsh mining village amidst the backdrop of impending doom, PLEADER is the story of a community whom, in their supernatural wisdom, believes the birth of a child could save their valley from destruction. And while the child, blessed with a magnetic force, cannot stop the machines of war, his survival preserves the institutional memory of the land.

"Shot over three days in Wales, and produced by Biscuit UK, the film stars Sophie Cookson, Morgan Watkins, Anton Saunders, and Ewan Hipperson. It was brought to life with digital magic from Time Based Arts, who spent weeks creating these digital effects, and shot by cinematographer John Lynch and production designed by Marie Lanna. ‘

"When starting into the journey, the band sent me [director Isaiah Seret] one line to describe the video they want — an elegiac supernatural love story that ends in a tidal wave of earth hurtling toward the village. And I wanted to give them this film, but to bring in the transcendent feeling the music created for me, we put the tidal wave in the middle and ended it with the Child's return."