The ingenious (mad, even) comedic imagination of Conor Mercury finds a home at EXIT
Last year, the eccentric comedic eye of an up-and-coming director became a new sensation in the indie music production scene, amassing a wildly impressive 85+ clips under his belt. Conor Mercury’s so mad, so risqué music video for Kirin Callinan’s If I Could Sing, found its way to EXIT where director, Glendyn Ivin, executive producer, Leah Churchill-Brown, and co-managing partner, Wilf Sweetland were intrigued.
Says Sweetland: “He was undiscovered and raw, but with a strong understanding of film language and narrative leading people down a sometimes-dark comedic street. Conor was perfect for EXIT; just what advertising could use right now.”
Watch the video here (unless you’re in the office).
Says Mercury: “The Kirin clip was awesome. I sent Kirin a 3D render of a guy, through Nicole the producer and Max my VFX artist friend, with a huge you know what and he loved the idea. Super lovely guy to work with and was cool that he was ready to go all out with a bit of a revealing idea.
“Wilf and I got to chatting over the next half a year or so and I got to know him better and meet a bunch of other people there. I did some work with EXIT that was super sick and so fun, and I drank heaps of magic coffee. EXIT has done heaps of awesome work that I’ve always admired so it feels awesome to be a part of that and do some cool stuff too.”
Says Sweetland: “Conor’s clips are so entertaining. His work is cheeky and the narratives he weaves are pretty unexpected – drawing you in until he has hold of you for the duration. He has a beautiful big heart, a charmingly disarming personality and we couldn’t be happier he is joining EXIT.”
Mercury is the film nerd who got inspired to go to film school.
Says Mercury: “My dad and I used to rent 5 DVDs for $6 every couple of days from the video store. I just watched so many, so after leaving school I went to film school,” he recalled. Then a chance opportunity from his best friend, Olivia, hooked him up to direct the Hands clip for Ricky Albeck. “It was so sick and fun to go cwazy with it, so I just kept going. Got to meet everyone at Interim Recording Studio and all the wonderful people there, then eventually artists like The Empty Threats and Twine and Avalon Kane. I just kept having fun and doing kewl stuff [read: music videos].”
Mercury’s style never sits still. It’s inventive, unexpected and captivating. “Mac The Knife is an awesome band that I’ve now worked with the most in Sydney,” Mercury explains. “But the first clip started from the desire to make it a kind of period piece and Bryn [Chapman Parish, Mac the Knife frontman] had found such an awesome spot to film in. It really came together from James Haskard’s camerawork and Jess’ styling, and Bryn’s dad made the stockades. The second one we did was much darker and more contained because we wanted to lean into a performance clip, so people could see how cool the band is on a personal level. I’d seen a TikTok where a guy was sliding around a supermarket and used that as a reference and we went from there.
“I think while I’ve been developing and figuring out the style of stuff I like to make, I’ve drawn a lot of inspo from Stephen Chow, Spike Jonze and Chris Cunningham mainly,” he added. “Most of the time when I’m coming up with ideas I try to find out what’s the core element or idea or concept that the artist wants to convey but really, I try to react to my honest gut feeling about whatever I’m making and try to follow that feeling. So, I guess you just got to keep it real and hope that it works out. And sometimes a perfect opportunity comes up to work with an artist in a different field to get something entirely different to what I could imagine on my own.”
If you haven’t noticed already by his comments, Mercury is an “awesome bloke” to work with: “I’ve got a li’l thank you list, too, to all the people who I’ve worked with a lot – wouldn’t be anywhere without them. Tim, Tim, Liam, Kadison, James R and Smorgy for helping me out so much right when I was getting started. Bryce, James H, Sam T, Nicole, Fraser, Tamara, Dom, Fraz, Emerson, Ben G, Morgan, Ryan S, Jaz, Kat, Max B, Hebe, Timothea, Jess, Mayah, Chris B, Big D, Nash, Jack, Jake, Sam N and Dave C and Carney and Hari, who’ve worked on like 5+ clips with me and always smashed it. And expanding interstate has really, again, only been successful for me through meeting such wonderful friends like Bryn Chapman Parish and the Mac The Knife gang, and Kirin J Callinan who have all been so kind.”
View Conor Mercury’s reel here.
To work with him, or find out more, email Wilf Sweetland , Leah Churchill Brown or Declan Cahill
