The Dead Weather's Alison Mosshart takes aim for director Jonathan Glazer in "Treat Me Like Your Mother".

Pity the residents of the quiet suburb of Palmdale, two hours north of Los Angeles, whose peace was shattered by some 10,000 rounds of ammo courtesy of Jonathan Glazer's all-guns-blazing, fantastical ode to the lovers' quarrel for The Dead Weather's debut music video "Treat Me Like Your Mother".

"It was interesting seeing the locals coming out of the houses when the gunfight started," chuckles Sheira Rees-Davies, EP at Hello and Company, which produced the job with Academy Films. "They didn't know anything about it. We told them, but I don't think some of them realized the extent of how many bullets were being shot."

"Treat Me Like Your Mother" opens thrillingly on an exploding bomb. The shot then fades to a bleak landscape, where black-clad, machine-gun wielding duelers Jack White and Alison Mosshart trudge grimly and purposefully towards each other along a dry lake bed. They fire wildly, peppering each other with bullets, until they run out of ammo. White dejectedly throws his gun down and walks off, sunshine glinting through his bullet strewn body.

Prior to the shoot, Glazer worked with 60 Red cameras on a massive commercial job in Toronto for Nike. After discussions with DP Max Malkin, however, the director settled on the SI-2K HD camera, which Danny Boyle used to shoot Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.

Outwardly the video appears simple, but the two-day shoot had to accommodate the building of the long dolly shot that follows White.

"That whole dolly track was perhaps two or three lengths of a football pitch. Also to be honest it took time to rig all the squibs [in the four or five sets of wardrobe]," admits Rees-Davies, who noted that the fun part occured the day before the shoot. "Jack and Alison did a little bit of a rehearsal and went down to the gun range the day before until everyone was comfortable shooting guns."

"There was an amazing energy on set from Jonathan as well as Jack and Alison," says Rees-Davies of the shoot as a whole. "Jack was such a natural with the gun. I felt he was hitting his marks on the beat of the song."

Intent to know more about the creative process behind "Treat Me Like Your Mother", we managed to finagle a few (short) answers from the director himself. Here's what he had to say.

You're extraordinarily picky about tunes. Why this one?

I like the energy in it. I like the people that were involved.

"Treat Me Like Your Mother" seems to be about the mindless psychological violence that relationships can manifest. What's it all about for you?

Certainly where those impulses take you.

You've played with themes of self-destruction in your work ("Live With Me" and "Rabbit In Your Headlights" spring to mind). What interests you about that tendency in human nature?

Well, the Massive Attack video had that ingredient, where she was unreachable, but the Unkle video was the opposite. I'd say this video's about our tolerance levels and about the hidden damage that's done.

Your work has lots of fantastical allegories. "Treat Me Like Your Mother" is full of violence without consequence. What does that mean to you?

It's actually the illusion of violence without consequence. Clearly Jack's character is diminished at the end.

Where did this modern day duel of the sexes idea spring?

I listen to the music and I close my eyes and I think about what's actually happening here.

More prosaic, but the editing is key in ratcheting up the tension and narrative in this. Are you visualizing cuts, composition, locale, lighting right away as part of the idea, or does that come later when shooting?

All of that. It's all key.

Watch "Treat Me Like Your Mother" in the screening room.

www.academyfilms.com
www.helloandcompany.com