How Will Wightman kept his buzz for Tommy Holohan

Back in 2021, Will Wightman blew us all away with Heart Failure; an EDM musical written, directed, composed and edited by the wunderkind that not only established his natural affinity for music in motion, but also picked up a few gongs along the way.

Now, at the tail-end of 2024, he's channelled all of that manic creative energy into his first music video through BLINKINK - a madcap tale of a man and a fly for Dublin native Tommy Holohan and electronic artist Megra's transcendent Show Me The Sky.

Showcasing Wightman's wit, flair and innate connection to the track, the film is both disgusting and delightful. We sat down with the director to find out how he did it.

How did you get involved with the project, and what drew you to the track? Was the concept something you were already considering, or did the music inspire it?

I’ve had this loose concept buzzing around my head for a good while now (semi-inspired by a true story and my own OCD), but Tommy’s music really unlocked it for me. I actually wrote the video to another one of his tracks a year ago. The timing didn’t work out that time, but when he came back around with this amazing new EP, I jumped at it. 

I love the energy and cinematic quality of Tommy’s music.

I love the energy and cinematic quality of Tommy’s music. His tracks often evolve through different motifs and paces in a way that’s quite rare for dance music. It’s so perfect for telling a story with different emotional beats, which is what drew me to his work.

With only two characters - one of them being a fly - it seems like casting the lead was crucial. How did you find the right actor, and what made him stand out?

I feel so lucky to have found Harrison. There were a lot of different performance gears that we needed to switch between to make this work, from the out-and-out comedy beats to the more intense emotional moments, and the much more physical, almost choreographed movement at the end when the fly has taken control. 

When casting this, I was looking for someone who was prepared to absolutely throw themselves into the insanity of what we were trying to create. It’s a role that requires 100% commitment. Harrison absolutely delivered. 

I think he’s a star, to be honest with you.

What was the first key element you focused on for the shoot? Was there one aspect that felt more critical than the rest?

Certainly, the most unique challenge of the shoot was trying to bridge the gap between our characters and their worlds. The whole video rests on the relationship between Jared and this fly, but the two characters were never on set at the same time. Directing both actors and my team to always be thinking about the character we weren’t filming was really integral to making these two different worlds not feel entirely separate from one another. 

Hopefully, we pulled it off, but you’ll have to be the judge of that!

The film incorporates quite unique visual effects, especially with the fly. How did you approach the visual style, and what influenced that choice?

For me, bringing the fly to life was the final piece of the puzzle that really unlocked this idea. How could we create this character and his world in a way that felt crafted and memorable, and also didn’t break the bank? Ultimately, it came down to leaning into what we didn’t have. 

Rather than trying to make it feel like the fly was actually a real fly in a real space, I wanted to lean into the exaggerated way a character like Jared might envision a fly and how it would crawl into his brain. Using techniques like miniatures, prosthetics, and matte paintings also helped to make the tone feel fun rather than horrifically dark.

Bringing the fly to life was the final piece of the puzzle that really unlocked this idea.

Designing the fly character itself was also a challenge. Should he have a fly body? Six legs? An exoskeleton? How do we make him funny and characterful but still clearly a fly? We did a lot of concept art and ultimately arrived at this half-fly, half-sweaty trucker aesthetic - Jared’s worst nightmare.

How did the shoot go? How long did it take, and were there any significant challenges?

We had a two-day shoot, which, for the number of shots we had planned, was a super tight turnaround. We did one day in the studio and one day in my tiny flat. It was a hectic but super fun couple of days. Then we came back and shot a few pick-ups of close-ups and miniatures that didn’t require the actors.

Time was really the main challenge. I like to do a lot of takes, so I really had to discipline myself with a clear plan for each shot. That way, I knew exactly what I wanted, and we rattled through everything as quickly as possible. 

No time for experimenting!