Starr Whitesides

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The Weeknd "False Alarm [NSFW]" (Ilya Naishuller, dir.)

How do you one-up the epically awesome, and ultra-violent first-person-shooter turned music video "Bad Motherfucker"? The answer is apparently not a movie based on the concept — director Ilya Naishuller's Hardcore Henry didn't explode at the box office — but another music video, this time for a huge star like The Weeknd, stunts far beyond Michael Bay levels, and even a sly reveal at the end. Oh, and lots of bad motherfucking violence.

Ilya Naishuller, director: "After Hardcore Henry, I was pretty much set on not doing anything POV related, at least in the near future. But when this track from The Weeknd came in and I listened to it, I couldn’t help but get excited for the possibilities,” says Naishuller. The key, in my mind, was to make sure that whatever I shot in POV had to be a step up from all that came before, which I believe my team and I have accomplished in the video for False Alarm. Apart from the faux continuous-one- shot feel of the video, the visual aspect of telling this simple yet elegant ‘crime doesn’t pay’ story was greatly improved by using the Codex Action Cam which was introduced to me by Starr Whitesides, our DP on the project. It made the film feel much more cinematic than is expected and took the visuals to the next level.“