Directing trio Crowns & Owls transport Octavian to a surreal wonderland in the hypnotic visual for Poison, negotiating a world between love, lust... and something much darker. 

Utilising four cameras - including the FLIR thermal camera - the visual is a tapestry of experimental setups, each shot in a stylised, hyper-exaggerated way. Turning traditional rap videos on their head, performance is still very much the focus of the video, yet Kaname Onoyama's mind-bending cinematography adds a standout unique flair and polish. 

CROWNS & OWLS:

“It was rad to build a world around this tune, and to have had the trust from Octavian to try something we’re not really seeing in UK rap videos. There’s some really nice themes going on in the song, but we focused on playing with the central idea of lust and imagining that as a poisonous substance.

"Using a custom rig we were able to use a dual camera system; one capturing reality whilst the other was simultaneously capturing a thermal version of the same shot. This allowed us to seamlessly slip between two worlds as we’re following the artists through a fever dream.

"The video was shot just before the UK Covid-19 lockdown, with post happening remotely during quarantine. We’re so thankful to all of the amazing individuals who helped this video come together during such strange times.”

This is the result of using four cameras - two Alexa Minis, a Flir thermal camera and an Insta 360.

KANAME ONOYAMA (DoP):

“This music video, which we shot in one day, is the result of using four cameras (two Alexa Minis, a Flir thermal camera and an Insta 360) and many different setups and lenses. Crowns & Owls are a trio of directors/photographers, skilled both artistically and technically, and with a precise vision of what they wanted for this music video.

"It was very interesting to look with them for the right setups to make this vision a reality; and, in spite of the very little time we had to prep everything, I am hopeful that we managed to create something as crazy, disturbing and beautiful as they had in mind.”