The Daily Chase - 'Lotusland'
The God Complex, the feeling that above all else, you are above all else. Completely absorbed in your own actions, believing a level of divine right has transcended you above others. Self-absorption in its truest and purest form. In a visually striking and aggressively paced clip for The Daily Chase’s Lotusland, Director Ben Heidrich, the drummer from the band, shows us the dangers of the narcissist who believes himself a king.
The music video for Lotusland explores the darker truth of modern technology and the metaverse. The human race is sold a product promising a better way of living, a new world away from the ordinary reality. A place where you can become anyone you want to be, the king of your own world. The character behind the desk is a pawn of the corporation and truly believes in the product he is selling. He becomes completely absorbed by the system and gives in to the hold of the metaverse. The narcissism in the consumer.
The Daily Chase’s Lotusland is in all parts a cautionary tale about the dangers of the metaverse and technology, a manifestation of the conceit and self-importance of the user, and a visually impressive and stylistically appropriate accompaniment to the metal song. Heeding their warning, or at least being aware of it, serves us well.
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The Daily ChaseName of Band or Artist
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Ben HeidrichDirector
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Ben HeidrichWriter
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Headstrong FilmsProduction CompanyOperation Ultra
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Ben HeidrichDirector of PhotographyOperation Ultra
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Tom ScottDirector of Photography
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Lachlan RussellDirector of Photography
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Rahj JordanDirector of Photography
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Rahj JordanVisual FX
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Bonnie HeidrichKey Cast
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Jamie WayKey Cast
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James WilksKey Cast
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Seth DannenbergKey Cast
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Chris LalicMusic Production
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Project Type:Music Video
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Genres:Metal, Drum & Bass, Rock
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Runtime:3 minutes 35 seconds
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Completion Date:January 7, 2022
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Country of Origin:Australia
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Country of Filming:Australia
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:RED
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
Ben is a 33 year old film maker from Australia. He is the Director and co-owner of Headstrong Films, alongside Lachlan Russell and X-Games Gold Medalist Jackson Strong. The team specialise in producing Action Sports films for TV series and Documentary’s. Working with companies such as X Games, Monster Energy, ESPN, Porsche, and Rockstar Energy Drink; they’ve produced films in Australia, USA, Europe, and India. Ben has been filming for 20 years, 10 of that professionally. He has also been riding freestyle motocross for over 2 decades. Ben won Best Sports Documentary Category in 2010 for the Australian Video Producers Association Nation Awards. His goals are to travel the world working in a wide range of film and story-telling projects.
The 'Lotusland' video took around 8 months to film due to lockdowns and getting stuck interstate. I filmed the band scenes in SA, parts of Rory in Darwin NT and the rest in NSW. The storyline also evolved as time passed leaving me to drop scenes and film completely new sections during the process. We started with shooting the band scene in SA in early 2021. This shoot included the scenes of Rory stumbling around the urban environments and also some of his vocal pieces. We then filmed Rory’s room scenes from a hotel in Darwin city near the end of the year. The canola flower parts were filmed in Lockhart NSW and the rest was filmed at our Headstrong Films in Wagga Wagga. I obviously can’t film myself during the full band shots, so I had our long-time band videographer Tom Scott jump in for those scenes.
The aesthetics of the ‘imaginary world’ needed to be super contrasting with the real world. They needed to paint the picture of a safer and happier place, a world that was desired by the character. I timed the shooting days to line up with the canola farming season in Lockhart, NSW. My film company is based in Wagga Wagga so there’s plenty of canola fields around. My wife, Bonnie Heidrich, played the woman character in the video and has been in a bunch of videos previously. We’re always doing photoshoots, so the outdoor canola field scenes just came naturally, and we had a lot of fun.