“The Sun Line — Fire in the Pines” by Peter English
Beyond the Short Official Premiere
A kidnapping quickly turns bizarre in this ode to toxic masculinity, 90s crime dramas, and the idiocy of late night cable TV. Watch out for car stunts, mobsters, and a weird dose of kink.
Fire in the Pines is the debut music video from The Sun Line, a music and film project out of Philadelphia, PA. Created by Peter English, who is the artistic force behind both the music and the video, Fire in the Pines is a strange, farcical crime drama about a kidnapping that heads further and further off the rails.
Rich with craft, vivid characters, and surprising twists, it watches like a surreal late night B-movie boiled down under explosive heat and packed into a blistering four and a half minutes.
Behind the Scenes
This music video nearly imploded, and I almost got my ass kicked for it.
We were filming the car donut scenes at a compound of autobody shops outside of Philadelphia. Our original feature car was a 1978 Honda Civic—a veritable clown car—but it was un drive-able. By a stroke of luck, the kind that only happens on a movie set, one of our henchman had driven his 1986 Pontiac Firebird to set. Cherry red. One headlight out. It was perfect.
The issue is that donuts in a Firebird are a whole different ballgame from donuts in a '78 civic, which we didn't think through. We were in a gravel lot, and with each take the car kicked up more and more debris. I was totally in love with the footage and made a terrible call—I asked for one more take. A few moments later a huge chunk of rock got spit out by the tires and smashed the windshield of a tow truck. The Firebird's steering belt snapped a few seconds later, the take stopped, and the whole shoot felt instantly doomed.
The entire lot was out and watching these idiot filmmakers tooling around at 6:45am and smashing their property. Have you met tow truck drivers from Philly? It was not a good situation. Our location contact was very nice about it, but I got yelled at, had to pay nearly $1K in damages, and scramble to salvage the day. After a major charm offensive and a lot of apologizing, we got the Firebird fixed enough to put a car rig on it, cleaned off the dust on the other tow trucks, and squeaked out of there with our shots.
Directors! Don't fall in love with your shots if it means putting people or property in danger. $1K in damages sucks for a self-financed video, but that rock could have hit a camera or my crew and then I would have been truly in trouble. I feel lucky that it only got as bad as it did.
Directors Statement:
“I love music videos, I think it's a truly wondrous form. But I don't always love what the industry expects from the medium. It is often an empty vehicle for celebrity culture, and not seen as a blank canvas for cinematic exploration.
This video is for my own project, The Sun Line, where I write and play the majority of the instruments (all except drums). I came to video accidentally, through music—by luck, I spent 5 years profiling documenting artists like Sharon Van Etten, Sufjan Stevens, and The War on Drugs, learning the craft on both the music and film sides.
Making a video for your own song is incredibly fun. I have always thought about songs in terms of rhythm, pacing, and imagery, and so I wanted to take the core theme of this song and graft a story onto it like it's a short film. Fire in the Pines has so much explosive energy, I knew I wanted something tense and exciting. It was my chance to play around with genre like 90s crime, and action. I was thinking a lot about directors like Edgar Wright and Michael Mann when I made it.
We shot it over 2.5 days in late 2021 with an incredible cast and crew.”
—Peter English"
Credits
Written and Directed by:
Peter English @penglish
Cast:
Roman Doolittle
Anthony Lawton
Ryan Shaner @shanercobbedy
Jefrey Wilkerson
Andrew Jeffrey Wright @andrewjeffreywright
Executive Producer: James Doolittle @wookified
Produced by:
Andrew Heppard @andrew.heppard
Peter English
Laris Kreslins
Production Company: All Ages Productions @allagesproductions
Story: Peter English & Richard Cambier
Director of Photography: Phil Bradshaw @philbradshaw
Drone Op: Gabriel Spitale @air_land_n_sea_dp
1st AC: Adam Valentine
Shaquan Battle @shaquanbattle
Production Designer: Kimberly Redman
Wardrobe: Kimberly Redman @redmankim
Additional Wardrobe provided by: Perry Shall @perryshall
HMU: Jenny Lifland
Art assist: Andrea Parmelee @andrea.artdept
Marina Oney
Marin Galia @marin__g__
Armorist: Jenny Lifland @rotton_to_the_gore
Gaffer: Shane Moore @smooregram
Key Grip: Conor O'Mara @comara12
Grip: Marina Oney @tough_cookie_soft_baked_
Editor: Peter English
VFX: Harvey Benschoter
Colorist: John Carrington @jcarrington3
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