Thinking about forever

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This article was published 17/10/2016 (3552 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What if you woke up to a better life?

Videographer Avery Stedman and musician Graeme Barrett, who both come from the West End, explore the idea in their recently released music video for AudioOpera track Forever.

AudioOpera is Barrett’s solo music project, and the video is a precursor to his EP, Flying From the River, which will be out this October.

The video stars Kids in the Hall comedian Kevin McDonald as a recent divorcee who’s not sure how to move forward in his life. Barrett’s dreamy synth track is paired with washed-out surrealistic shots reminiscent of a gloomy Wes Anderson film.

“Graeme and I were throwing around the idea of, if we had someone like Kevin, what kind of story we could do with them,” Stedman said. “We were going back and forth on where this should go and then Graeme hit the nail on the head with the ending.”

McDonald’s unhappy character is beckoned to a public steam room, where he falls asleep and wakes up to a different reality (and outfit). After donning his new uniform, McDonald finds his new companions—all men around his age who welcome him to his new life. Stedman and Barrett say they wanted to leave the story open-ended.

“It’s similar to how a book is, what was the author actually thinking? You never want to reveal it because it takes away from the storyline so we leave it pretty open and let people have their own interpretation,” Barrett said.

“I don’t think it’s something we even pinpointed ourselves,” Stedman added.

Stedman, who works primarily with music videos, said having an interesting story is key to getting views. Forever was recently chosen as a Vimeo staff pick, proving that a little intrigue goes a long way.

“It’s a music video short movie hybrid, that’s kind of how I saw it,” Stedman said. “Music videos, people aren’t really searching for them. It’s nice that this one feels like it’s getting some love.”

The pair say working with an actor of McDonald’s calibre was a rewarding process, and the first time they’ve been able to hire someone so experienced.

“It was so nice to have him there,” Stedman said. “He was interested in the tone and asked, ‘Is this dry?’ and we’re like, ‘Yes, it’s dry.’”

The two recently moved to Toronto to further pursue their film and music careers.

“It’s tough doing what I do in Winnipeg because there’s not a huge market for music videos,” Stedman said.

To check out the video go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWY3DYS750E

AudioOpera tracks are available on SoundCloud at https://soundcloud.com/audioopera