Viral rapper Jimothy Lacoste has flown to Crete to wave ‘Bye London’, in a new music video from Great Guns director Calum Macdiarmid.
Suitably for a song titled ‘Bye London’, the video marks a departure from Jimothy’s classic urban setting, as he’s transported to Crete after selecting one of its cloudless beaches for his Zoom background. Still at his desk and in his dressing gown, he’s dropped into its pristine sea, ready to embrace this change of scene. Swapping subways and cityscapes for cliffs and caves, a whimsical montage follows of Jimothy executing his signature dance moves all over the island’s wild landscapes, joined by an unlikely lineup of costars in varying degrees of nudity.
The video features an array of breathtaking locations across southern Crete, selected by director Calum who had recently been living on the island. To capture these locations at their most beautiful - at dawn - the crew hiked down mountains familiar to Calum alone in the pitch black of 4am, props on backs. Jimothy’s costars, whether nude or clad in a trench coat, were then chosen on site, spontaneous passers-by who were up to the task.
Wide shots of Crete were filmed by Calum using a drone, navigating heavy winds, a nail-biting crash, and entanglement in a palm tree. These crisp images contrast and highlight the lo-fi textural qualities of the DV footage that’s also peppered throughout, a common thread across Jimothy’s videos, captured on an original Sony Handycam from the ‘00s. The motley mix of these grainy shots, Zoom screen recordings, and drone footage weaves an undeniably unique and playful visual experience.
Calum Macdiarmid comments: “The way Jimothy and I worked together basically involved me writing some ideas for scenes, and if he liked them he'd say “sick bro” and we’d shoot. One of the joys of working with him is that he’s unbelievably committed to the cause: if you want him stood on top of a motorway tunnel, he's there; on top of an abandoned roadside digger, he's there; in front of the nudists that have just shown up, he's there. Projects like these feel like real filmmaking - because you're not waiting for lighting, make up, camera, etc. You’re able to operate really fast, reacting to situations and genuinely exploring random ideas as they come up.”