The concept of Hagay Swisa and Kobie Flashman’s Fire promo for Tel Aviv Electro-Soul band Phototaxis, stemmed from that desire to escape the cloying reality of the daily grind which many of us feel:
In our lives we’re busy every day, enslaved to life and always thinking of escape to another place more pure. Yet when we actually run free a little, we feel lost and afraid of the unknown and then return to the starting point where those who control us and dictate how we to behave hold sway; compelling us to again fall prey to the industrialisation, consumerism and slavery of work.
After spending some time brainstorming, Kobie and Hagay settled on an otherworldly pursuit through the woods as the means to contrast the music yet still express the original themes of the track, albeit in an abstract manner. These concepts also infused the choices made for makeup and costume design:
There was a lot of preparation and thought that went into the design of the costumes and how they would support the idea of the song. For example, the dress is magical at first then slowly becomes a rag, while The Dark Side character’s clothing is made of rubber and tires. The tribal makeup is also used as metaphor.
Take a look at some of Adam Rubin’s BTS stills from the shoot.
