Mark Jenkin releases music video for Radiohead side-project The Smile

Mark Jenkin, Distinguished Professor of Film Practice at Falmouth University, has unveiled a new music video for Radiohead spin-off group The Smile.

Mark’s latest video puts Thom Yorke over 200 feet underground at the now abandoned Rosevale Tin Cornish mine for the alternative rock band’s third single, ‘Skrting on the Surface’. 

Shot on clockwork cameras with grainy 16mm stock that Mark hand processed in his Newlyn studio, the video marries the Cornish filmmakers’ signature style with The Smile’s ethereal aesthetic.

Commenting on the release while speaking to Shots, Mark said “You only have to look back at the music videos associated with the band members to see how much the music lends itself to being married to imagery… The music gives you so much to work with.”

According to Mark, it was the production of the track that made the a mine feel like the ideal location for The Smile’s latest release.

“The thing that jumped out for me was the production; the reverb on the track. That was, sonically, very reminiscent of being in the mine”, Mark said. “The natural reverb in some of the tunnels is insane. I’m sure you can hear conversations bouncing around down there that happened years ago.

“There was a real synergy between being underground and the production on the track. We played the track when we were shooting and it sounded incredible.

“Thom was really behind it from the start. He wasn’t originally going to be in the video but as I progressed with the idea, and seeing him more and more in the old videos, I realised it had to be him… It’s no revelation for me to say that he is a really compelling screen presence.”

‘Skrting on the Surface’ is Mark’s second video for The Smile, having produced ‘The Smoke’ just  two months earlier.

Mark will now return his attention to the edit of his next feature film, the ecosophical horror Enys Men.

Producer Denzil Monk told Channel 4 that the film “will investigate the grey area when it comes to the survival of the planet: whose responsibility is it? What can an individual really do?”
 

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