Aurora Dee Raynes - Crazy That You Love

Artist: Aurora Dee Raynes
Label: Tru Thoughts
Director: Portia Barnett-Herron
Screenplay / Conceptual Treatment: Stephen Raynes & Yohan Forbes (Kumo London)
Cinematography: Yohan Forbes, Ben Jones, Stephen Raynes
Drone Cinematography: Chris Bates (SkyhookTV)
Produced & Posted by: Preference Studio and The Farm
Grade: Nuala Sheridan at The Farm
Creative Oversight: Steven Raynes , Portia Barnett-Herron & Dan K Dan (Featured performer)
Camera System: Sony FX6 with mixed-format lens kit
Location: Shot across London and surrounding countryside (studio, rooftops, roads, parks)

Crazy That You Love is a love story told in fragments, dreamlike, documentary, and conceptual. The project began as a montage cut by Steven Raynes, using real-world romantic visuals to explore the layered emotional terrain of love: its hardship, its honesty, its tenderness. From this raw material, Kumo London’s Yohan Forbes wrote a conceptual treatment, crafting a structure that honoured the source footage while giving it emotional rhythm.

The treatment was passed to Portia Barnett-Herron, who directed the film in collaboration with Dan, the featured performer. Scenes were captured across rooftops, roads, and studio floors blending stylised movement, lyric performance, and observational realism.

Cinematography was powered by a small, deeply aligned crew  Stephen Raynes, Ben Jones, and Yohan Forbes formed the main camera unit, with Ben bringing a quiet emotional intelligence to the documentary-style morning and relationship scenes. His handheld lensing of Dan waking up by herself or trading glances in quiet brought depth and human honesty.

To scale the intimacy into visual poetry, Chris Bates of SkyhookTV delivered the project’s defining aerial sequences, from wide shots of Dan and her partner driving through the countryside to the final overhead pull-away: a warm embrace dissolving into open sky. Chris’s drone cinematography gave the film lift, perspective, and closure. His eye, control, and trust in composition elevated the entire project.

This wasn’t just a music video, it was a collective act of creative trust, and Crazy That You Love remains Aurora Dee Raynes’ most streamed track to date.

STRATEGIC INSIGHT

This project stands as a testament to what happens when every collaborator is trusted, credited, and given space to bring their craft forward.

Kumo London contributed both creative authorship (screenwriting, story development, pre-production) and technical execution (cinematography, lens strategy, and on-set collaboration).

More importantly, we worked in rhythm with Steven Raynes’ instinctive edit, Portia’s directional presence, Ben’s intimate visual language, Nuala Sheridan’s grade, and Chris Bates’ sweeping drone work, all under the shared belief that music video storytelling can hold emotional weight without spectacle.

This case study reflects Kumo’s future-facing ethos: embed deeply, author with integrity, serve the story, and honour everyone involved.

WHY THIS MATTERS

In an era where music videos are often driven by speed and optics, Crazy That You Love reclaims the form as emotional cinema.

The project demonstrates how real-world intimacy, poetic structure, and small-team collaboration can yield depth far beyond commercial expectations.

By nurturing authorship across every contributor  rather than centralising control,  the film became a living model for Kumo London’s creative code:

to value empathy as much as efficiency, and to let emotional rhythm lead visual design.

It’s proof that authenticity in modern filmmaking doesn’t require scale only trust, attention, and respect for human truth.

SERVICES DELIVERED

- Screenwriting and conceptual treatment.

- Visual story development from montage and mood-board.

- Camera operation (Sony FX6)

- Lens strategy by scene for emotional tone.

- Co-DOP on multi-operator team (with Stephen Raynes and Ben Jones)

- Embedded collaboration with director, editor and creative team.

- Integration of SkyhookTV’s drone footage into master shot design.

- Preproduction support, creative treatment, and emotional continuity.

RELATED WORKS

- Mychelle - Fordden Fruit Ft. ENNY: Produced under Kumo London with Yohan Forbes as Director of Photography, this session captured Mychelle and ENNY performing against a soft-lit live backdrop. The piece explored intimacy through handheld naturalism, using controlled camera movement to underscore lyrical nuance and soul-driven delivery.

- Ella Henderson - Ugly & Everything I Didn’t Say (Acoustic): Produced by Beyond Real Productions with camera operation by Kumo London for Warner Music UK. Filmed at The Church Studios using Sony FS7 and Cooke Primes, this project highlighted acoustic intimacy and tonal precision in live performance cinematography.

- BBC Sounds - Jools Holland Interviews: Cinematography and social cut-downs for BBC Sounds’ interview series featuring artists including FKA Twigs, Joy Crookes, and Sampha the Great. Commissioned by BBC Music and produced by Loftus Media, Kumo London delivered emotional clarity through intimate interview framing and adaptive multi-camera setups.

At Kumo London, we write and film from the inside out, not just making visuals, but shaping them around what’s true. Whether you’re directing a music video or building a campaign with emotional teeth, we can embed with care, offer authorship with clarity, and deliver visuals that hold meaning.

Let's shape a film that mean something Get in touch.