Junodream 'Limiter' by Ned Botwood
Rob Ulitski - 4th Oct 2019
Promonews's very own Ned Botwood directs this mud-soaked mystery for Junodream - a nightmare of masculinity set in a rural wasteland.
Limiter follows a cast of men in emotional crisis, in a series of set-pieces examining the shame and pain associated with toxic masculinity. Junodream appear as bystanders in a dense mystery involving a travelling mob, a stalking intruder and a spectral electrical tower. The story culminates in a macabre dance sequence in a village hall, reimagined as a purgatorial nightclub.
The low-budget video was shot on location in Devon and cast locally. The crew had to work around a nationwide powercut, rainstorms, flying coastal debris and the 50mph gale that shut down Boardmasters Festival in Cornwall. DoP Jon Muschamp took advantage of the adverse weather conditions to create a gritty, colourful world, emulating the foreboding atmosphere of Andrei Tarkovsky’s film Stalker.
NED BOTWOOD:
I was trying to find ways to express all the shame, anger and emotional indifference that comes with a 'masculine' identity.
“The video emerged from a long, rambling conversation the band and I had about men. Limiter was written about a negative experience in a nightclub. And when I spoke to the band about it, we realised we had all had exactly the same encounter on a night out - meeting an aggressive guy, with a compulsion to wind you up for no reason.
"It made us think about all the poisonous ways that men interact with each other. You can call yourself a woke person, but you can still end up desperate to prove yourself to a 6’2 jock in a rowdy nightclub at four in the morning. I tried to imagine what this sensation would look like as a landscape. Then I built outwards, trying to find ways to express all the shame, anger and emotional indifference that comes with a 'masculine' identity.
“We shot the video in the middle of nowhere, and the producer and I exhausted every resource and connection we possibly could. We sourced all of our cast and kit locally. We actually found Lara (our fantastic choreographer) on a local noticeboard. Our listing was sandwiched between a photo of some lost sheep and a description of a stolen bike! The weather was so terrible, it’s a wonder we’re all still alive, so having a video as well is a real bonus.”
Rob Ulitski - 4th Oct 2019
Credits
Featured here in the credits?
Production/Creative
- Director
- Ned Botwood
- Producer
- Theo Cordery
- 1st AD
- Rhiannon Cartmell
Camera
- Director of Photography
- Jon Muschamp
- 1st AC
- Nathan Okan
- 2nd AC
- Callum Paterson
Lighting/Grip
- Gaffer
- Kristupas Zmejauskas
Wardrobe
- Make-up
- Mariana Seygas
Choreography
- Choreographer
- Lara Christopher
Editorial
- Editor
- Ned Botwood
Commission
- Label
- Rocket Music
Misc
- Loader
- Holly Isherwood
Other credits
Driver
Chris Smith
Cast
Jay Robertson, Jahgo Williams, Kevin Johnson, Leroy Ward, Jimmy Bennett, Richard Clevedon Smith, Devon Thelanderson-Smith, Mariana Seygas, Patrick Whitelaw
Rob Ulitski - 4th Oct 2019