- Music
- 11 Dec 20
Director Laura O'Shea insists that Doug the Pug's performance completely stole the show. "They always say that you should never work with dogs or children," she said, "but Doug actually took direction better than most humans would. He’s a natural!"
Limerick native Emma Langford had released her latest creative collaboration, a music video for her single 'Free To Fall'. The track iss written and performed by Langford, and is one of two solo tracks on her recently released second album Sowing Acorns. Recorded, mixed & produced in Dublin by Grammy-nominated duo Chris O'Brien and Graham Murphy AKA The Production Suite, the track made its way home to Limerick again to be mastered by Richard Dowling at Wav Mastering before heading out into the world.
Collaborating is a complicated process these days, as the pandemic attempts to kibosh any and all musical endeavours. 'Free To Fall' music video creator Laura O'Shea had to be extra resourceful in this instance, making the best of a strange situation, by keeping numbers down, acting in the music video herself and recruiting her partner in creative crime Tony Doyle and his dog Doug to play in the starring roles. Doyle is also joined on screen by Cork actress Bryony Flatman.
"We knew that we wanted to make something that was witty and heart-warming and had a strong message of connection for the season that's in it – a tonic for these strange times," Langford explains. "We threw around a few ideas, but when I adopted my rescue dog Willow in October, Laura joked that we should just make a video about dogs... We're both big animal lovers, so that notion stuck, and the rest is history!"
O'Shea recruited the help of Alba Fernandez as director of photography, and Danilo Zambrano as assistant camera.
"The concept for 'Free to Fall' came naturally through conversations I had with Emma about strong, everyday relationships that weren’t the usual romantic type," says O'Shea. "The bond between a dog and its owner really is a special thing and I was lucky to know an incredible actor (Tony Doyle) that comes with his very own pug."
The music video follows Tony from the moment he wakes up alongside his best friend, through his daily lockdown routine, working from home, and taking in Dublin's beautiful Saint Patrick's Park for a brisk walk in the winter sun. Tony's idyllic relationship with Doug hits a rough patch however when someone new enters the picture.
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Many animal rescues struggled this year as they couldn't carry out their usual flagship fundraising events, so Emma is sharing this message in the hope that viewers will click through and donate to Dogs Trust at dogstrust.ie/donate or to their own local animal rescue, wherever they are in the world.
"I've relied so heavily on Dogs Trust and other organisations like them for guidance on how to do best by our new family member, Willow, who we adopted from Sera Husky & Animal Rescue in Kerry back in October. I wanted to do something to thank them for their support."
Watch the video below.