Finneas and Ravishankara collaborate on Cleats

Last month, we witnessed Finneas falling down an elevator shaft and getting hit by a car in For Crying Out Loud.

Now, in Cleats, it’s his heart, not his body, that’s taking the beating. In their second back-to-back collaboration, the director and musician again play with perspectives. A sort of bittersweet ode to high school infatuation, Cleats is a light indie-pop tune that is also a bit tongue-in-cheek. The video plays out in a messy bedroom, with a miniature Finneas observing his teenage self and the object of his unrequited adolescent love. From the floor, he sings and watches the drama/comedy play out.

With painstaking detail, the director and DP Iain Trimble approached the lensing of Finneas for the film by first shooting all background frames with a 5" stand-in model, acting as though they were a 5" film crew filming a ‘normal-sized’ actor in a land of giants. This type of model edit gave the team a match-back reference for all of the lighting and optics that needed to be composited perfectly.

Finneas – Cleats

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Production Company Another Video
Director Isaac Ravishankara

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Credits

powered by

Production Company Another Video
Director Isaac Ravishankara
Executive Producer Doug Klinger
Producer JJ House
Production Designer Tye Whipple
DP Iain Trimble
VFX Supervisor Paul Santagada

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Director Isaac Ravishankara and Trimble then shot Finneas with exactly matched framing, scaled up as a 6' film crew with a 6' subject. Some frames were even shot from over 50' away, rather than scaling down the plate image, ensuring the angle, distortion, etc. would carry through and the final image would look photo-real.

Ravishankara is an Indian-American director of commercials, short films, and music videos, known for depicting emotion through movement in his work. He looks through the lens with an endless sense of curiosity, striving to bring out new perspectives and creative concepts to every project he dives into. He strongly believes in the power of collaboration with his clients, agencies, and crew.

Ravishankara has directed national campaigns for brands including Adidas, Converse, Gatorade, Samsung, and Jockey. Millions have seen his acclaimed, Vimeo Staff Pick-honoured music videos for artists like The Lumineers, Hozier, Kesha, NIKI, and Oscar/Grammy-winning composer Ludwig Göransson, among others.