It started out as an idea and turned into an amazing few months of making it a reality. Blue Skin is the title of local pair Shotgun Cubs’ track (keep your eyes/ears our for their second EP) and its immersive music video is the graduating project of Lucy Lovegrove.

Lucy is a University of Canberra graduate and holds a BA in Media Arts and Production / BA International Studies. Her love for art blossomed from a young age with painting her favourite subject in high school and college. Lucy was accepted into the ANU School of Art painting stream, but after taking a GAP year and travelling around Europe, she decided to study film-making instead.

During her studies, Lucy decided to make a music video as the process was not so linear as that of screenwriting and felt more natural to create. She had the idea of massaging paint into some statues and whilst talking online to a friend about the concept, the ideas ‘just flew out of her fingers’, an experience she describes as never having felt before.

Hours were spent listening to Triple J Unearthed searching for the perfect local band in which her concept would adhere to. Eventually a friend from work put her onto ‘Dubstep / Folk / Drum and Bass/ Acoustic’ group Shotgun Cubs. Upon meeting, Lucy pitched her idea and the result was stunning.

Lucy describes the next few months as intense as the team nutted out the logistics of making it ‘rain’ paint whilst figuring out how to maintain control of the volume and timing. They ended up making their own mixture with flour, food dye and water as it was a much cheaper alternative for the quantities needed. All-nighters were pulled while desperately trying to paint costumes with thick acrylics to try and stiffen them so they didn’t move in the breeze. As with all creative endeavors, flexibility ensues and due to their location essentially being a wind tunnel, a directive decision was made that the statue’s clothes would have to move in the wind.

Like any creative project, the mix of talent is always interesting. Lucy’s team consisted of talented cinematographer Josh Jessop-Smith, housemate handyman Seb who built their rig inclusive of fire hydrants, pressurised air and piping, Susan from SZN who designed and created the costumes, Margy Wylde-Browne who assisted Lucy with experimenting with body paint and latex, Brad from Se7en on hair and Kathryn Rose on make-up. Aside from the final few minutes of the shoot, where three of the boys chased Lucy with fire hydrants and pressure sprayed her with the leftover paint, complete faith was entrusted in the team but says Lucy, “I feel incredibly lucky and rewarded for the experience”.

These days Lucy finds herself working as a Video Preservation Officer at the National Film and Sound Archives, freelancing on video productions (most recently a kinetic typography video about Canberra), studying at the Screen Acting Studio at NIDA. She also recently signed with Sydney-based talent agency Eaton Management which has led to a lead role in an honest and gritty short film where she will have to learn to dance for the first time!

Update: Blue Skin has been listed as a finalist in the Industry Awards (Music Video Category) in the 2014 Atom Awards! The winner will be announced in November.