In August of 2015, Mark Devlin Visual Design was contracted to created video content for Judas Priest’s ‘Redeemer Of Souls Tour”. Mark was particularly excited about the content for one song, “Screaming for Vengeance”. This song describes the feeling of being trapped in the reality of modern day social injustice.
For this song, lighting director, Tom Horton requested to have Judas front man, Rob Halford, placed in a straight jacket, with a full face mask and strapped into a restraining chair, as he struggles to free himself from the crazy world around him. Great idea, Right? Wait.
Rob informed us that he would be out of the country at the time of the shoot. He asked me if I new anyone in their late 50’s early 60’s, 6″ 1″, 205 lbs. that could body double him for the shoot. Two months later we would do a second shoot at rehearsals with Rob in the same outfit, as he rips off the mask, revealing the man in the video to be himself.
Sadly I admitted: “Yes, I do.” Sadly, because I knew that met his criteria exactly, meaning I would have to shave my head BALD, dye my beard brown and get tattoos on my head, in order to become Rob Halford!
With the assistance of my wife, Patricia, the process began. First step? Off with the hair!
Next a bit of color.
Ignoring the multitude of nicks and cuts, the results were definitely in the right direction. I was beginning to feel a bit heavy metal.
Next was a trip to the studios of body painter, Nicolette Spear. Nicolette produced stencils of Rob’s tattoos, which she used to apply permanent dies to the sides of my head to recreate the same tats worn by Rob.
Now I was camera ready.
After a quick trip to Universal Pictures’ Wardrobe department, I met with cinematographer Gianny Trutmann, were I self directed the one day shoot.
The final step of this video involved tracking the song lyrics to the walls to create a psycho frantic effect. After review the final edit, I felt my visuals were too recognizable, so the footage was all speed up 1000 percent. Three days before the start of the tour, we shot a close-up of Rob in the same wardrobe, ripping off the mask to complete the last scene of the project.
Were the results effective? You be the judge.
See more work by Mark Devlin Visual Design at www.md-visualdesign.com