Bawal Clan and Owfuck’s latest music video takes us back to Ligtas, a collaboration for the times. Bawal Clan and Owfuck come together to deliver a cinematic experience for LaPain. Directed by Gian Mawo and filmed at the World Trade Center in Binondo, Gian brings his creative vision and passion to the project, adding visuals to help tell the story behind the lyrics and the beat. Drenched in blood and dark undertones, tense emotions begin to manifest and rise as the film goes on. The artists and director give more insight on the concept and experience filming their just released music video, LaPain.

Gian on the concept and filming the video:

I already worked with a few BC members while filming tv commercials, but my college friend and fellow director, Joshua Cesario, formally introduced me to the group. We started talking about this project last year during the height of the lockdown. Like everyone else during that period, I wanted a creative release and do something to get busy while local production was still on hold. I did the conceptualization last year, and we’re able to shoot it early this year.

Just like any of my projects, I start with a solid vision first. Set the tonality and visual language of the film. Do intensive research o yung tinatawag na “lawak utak”. You also need to put yourself in the POV of the artist and fully understand what the material or their core message is.

I want the film to be dark that there should be a feeling of uneasiness to it when you watch it. It’s like something terrible is going to happen. I want that feeling to manifest towards the viewers. I think the song is about them sending a stern message to doubters, non-believers, and haters. The “caged preys” in the film represent those people.

Everyone is laid back and chill. Parang tropa tropa lang yung vibe. We shot the video inside the World Trade Exchange Building in Binondo. Big shoutout to Miss Donna for letting us use the building and also for supporting the project.

Owfuck on their experience working with Gian and the music video:

Working with Direk Gian and his team was one for the books. The way they executed the plan and made the music video happen, that’s already hard work, so kudos to him. He made the music video beyond our expectations. It was really chill and we didn’t feel tired at all.

When Gian sent the deck, of course we already expected that it might not turn out as planned. But, when we got to the set, it really is the execution that impressed us. The cinematics, the props, the venue, the whole set was already a war-zone and he did not disappoint.

Again, the filming of the video was not tiring at all because he kept surprising us with his set props and execution. We were like kids watching a magic show and he was the magician. Hahaha. Most memorable for us was the talents drenched in blood, looks so real and went so well with the concept.

We really have no idea when the pandemic will end, when we first released the album everything was set already including watch parties and events for the album. However, the pandemic really slowed things down. So of course, we didn’t want the fans to sleep on this album so we thought it would be really nice to have visuals and that’s all thanks to Direk Gian.

Nuevo speaks:

Thought it was maaaad cooool.

Abstract. Ambiguous. Dark. Past. Present. Future. In 1.

Makes you feel like the demons we face today aint really sh!t compared to whatever our ancestors went through.

Pretty dope to be filming in Manila again.

Seeing the Bay Area / Intramuros / Tondo / Binondo from a top view / helipad perspective felt super surreal.

Isipin niyo… puro palasyo diyan bago dumating yung mga mananakop.

Iba ang kalakal. Iba ang kultura. Iba ang pagkaintindi at takbo ng buhay.

Kataastaasan. Kagalang-galang.

The shots with the smoking cube were dope! haha

That was sickkkkk!!!

Felt like we were actually fulfilling a duty in a video game, if you ask me.

Zip zap zoom with direk Gian’s team.

They executed their vision for the project very well.

DZ SVG gives his thoughts on LaPain:

Personally, I feel Lapain is about getting back at people who wronged us. You reached out and they tried to bite and cut off the helping hand. Also for people who were planning on doing shit, they’d definitely regret and deal with the consequences of their actions.

When I saw the the plans I was already stoked with the aesthetic alone. I didn’t know much further until the shoot. And after I saw how the shots were done, I was thinking, “yep, this sh!t is going to be dope.”

Gian was really great, everything was smooth, I was hella surprised with his vision.

Yung Bawal expands on the Bawal Cinematic Universe:

Honestly I would’ve wanted to make a whole series of videos that were connected, personally I wanted to make sorta like a marvel universe and have a story, but due to covid that concept was put on hold. Sometime during covid or maybe pre-covid, cause we did start the project and got all the recordings done pre-covid, Gian reached out to collab for a video, we sent him songs to choose from, and he picked LaPain, which had a different name at the time. As for why it was the first MV, Gian was the one that made it possible despite all the setbacks and issues with covid.

It was just crazy seeing everything with no expectations and knowledge of the concept, so every time I saw the rough takes after each shot I was like dammmmnnnnn this gonna look sick. The still shot of OJ’s scene looked like a japanese film poster, Lexus on the stairs just felt like a classic hip-hop shot, yeah too many but these 2 def stood out the most for me.

With the album coming out during the start of the pandemic, and with the battle against the virus ongoing, the groups address what it was like filming during a pandemic.

On working on set: Very smooth and easy, Gian’s team was very professional and experienced, they honestly took the lead with the project.

I just wanna thank everyone for supporting us honestly, thanks for being patient with us with creating new content, we got more on the way this year.