Music videos are a glorious playground for filmmakers and when Toronto based artist Debby Friday was writing her debut album, she wanted to create not just a music video but a narrative short which embodied both her music and her hybrid artistic talents the impressive result of which being titular film Good Luck. After a chance meeting with co-director Nathan De Paz Habib the duo’s creative outlooks paired seamlessly and Nathan’s desire to experiment and play with the music video form matched with the surreal and experimental world Debby had envisioned. Good Luck is a genre blending cacophonous dark melding of two fertile creative minds which immerses us into a world of torrid adolescence and tumultuous love playing out within a coming-of-age narrative wrapped within a fantastical surreal milieu. A multi-layered film which has lingered in our minds, DN sat down with the co-directors to discuss how they came together across borders to create the project, balancing Debby’s work both in front of and behind the camera and building their deliciously dark fantastical world where the violent swathes of adolescence reign.
[The following interview is also available to watch at the end of this article.]
Debby, I read that this was a semi-autobiographical project. How did the script come into being and how did it develop from there?
Debby Friday: I started writing the script at the same time as writing my debut album so the film is very much tied into my music. I wanted to make a short film that was experimental in technique, visual styles and in the way that it was presented. I wanted it to be both a visual album and also a narrative in and of itself. The album is very personal, it’s very much about my own life so the film reflects that. I took a lot of references from my own experiences such as the all girls school and the partying. However whilst there’s definitely a personal flavor it was important to me that the story was also universal and that a lot of people could relate to it. The trials of adolescence, saying goodbye to your youth and coming of age.
I wanted to make a short film that was experimental in technique, visual styles and in the way that it was presented.
How did you come to be working with Nathan to co-direct Good Luck?
DF: Nathan and I met completely at random in Paris at mutual friend Chino Amobi’s gallery show. Nathan had directed his short film Eroica which I loved and introduced us. We only spoke for a short amount of time but exchanged contacts and got in touch when I got back to Canada. Nathan had sent me his first short film, La Bicicletta, which I also really enjoyed. I had this script, I had funding and I’d been trying to get Good Luck off the ground for about 18 months but to no avail so I told Nathan, “I have the script. I like your work, what do you think? Do you wanna do this with me?” He was on board and we figured out the details from there.
And Nathan, what about the script drew you in and why did you want to get involved with the project?
Nathan De Paz Habib: After having met Debby in Paris, I spent the seven hour train journey back to Milan listening to all her work I could find and I really entered into her world. I soon realized not only is she a great musician but an artist and I could absolutely see us working together. After reading the script and listening to the album I had already isolated some scenes that I wanted to experiment with which fitted into my own work as a director. Those feelings of loneliness and retreating into another world fitted perfectly into my work at the time. The album was still in the demo stage but from the first time I heard it, I entered into a loop with the music and I wanted to translate it cinematographically.
After reading the script and listening to the album I had already isolated some scenes that I wanted to experiment with which fitted into my own work as a director.
When watching the film I simultaneously felt I was in a horror, a coming of age drama and a more traditional music video. What inspirations and influences were you both working to in the planning stages?
DF: Nathan and I had a lot of conversations before we brought in the rest of the creative crew which focussed on the ideas that were present in both the script and in the album. We wanted to ensure we were both on the same page and wanting to portray the same things. Then when we brought in the rest of the creative crew things started to shift and morph. There were things that we left out, things that we added, as is the way when you’re making any kind of visual work. The changes represented an evolution from just me writing the script to Nathan joining me on this journey which obviously influenced the final piece.
NDPH: The conversations Debby and I had were not only important for focusing on the film but also for getting to know each other and becoming friends. This enabled me to better understand Debby’s album and the personality behind her music which meant by the time I flew out to Canada to shoot, we were making a film between friends which is the ultimate collaboration. We also spent a considerable amount of time on the visual research with our cinematographer Andrea Pietro Munafò and the three of us became very close which benefited the project. This genre blending was very much a result of all the discussions we had and figuring out the best way to translate those feelings you have while listening to the music.
One of my favourite parts of the film is at the beginning when we meet the girls at the school and you’ve got these incredible close-ups on their faces.
DF: I’m a fan of the French director Olivier Assayas who employs this technique in a lot of his films. He gets really close to the characters and then moves the camera around between people which I always loved and found really striking. It almost feels like you’re in the scene with them. Everyone has gone to school, everyone’s had that experience in their life so I wanted that immersiveness which is then immediately contrasted as we pull out at the end of that scene and it’s this beautiful wide shot.
This genre blending was very much a result of all the discussions we had and figuring out the best way to translate those feelings you have while listening to the music.
NDPH: I wanted to experiment with this zoom lens and staying far away from the actors. They didn’t know exactly what we were shooting so they were completely free to be themselves. This is the first time we see Debby in school with her friends which for me, was one of the most confusing places to be when I was growing up as it is friendship created by circumstance which only adds to the feelings of confusion. This scene was a bit tricky in the edit but our editor, Jacopo Ramella Pajrin, managed to create the fluidity in the shot. There were three takes with a pan and a zoom but he made it feel like one continuous shot.
I’d like to dig into how you blur the line between what is real and what is her imagination.
DF: I don’t know if it is necessarily something I can explain consciously because it’s part of the whole surrealist aspect of the film. This idea of a real and so called typical life playing out but then you’re immersed into this fantasy. The boyfriend and all his friends are in masks and military gear, is that who they actually are? It’s representative of something which fed into the whole idea of the film and the surrealism of it is part of it. I think back to my own experiences of high school when it’s hard to discern what’s yourself, what’s another person, what’s real, what’s not and I think that blurring lends itself well to the film.
NDPH: This is something Debby’s character in the film has to come to accept, this strange guy with the mask. I was so drawn to Debby describing her art as hybrid so I really pushed towards that direction. We ordered all of the masks from Italy and didn’t realize that no one could see anything whilst wearing them which lent an interesting angle to the direction!
Let’s talk about the party scene. I felt like I was right there, how did you film the scene to be so immersive yet still with the experimental edge we experience throughout?
DF: We dedicated over half a day to this scene which was a big chunk of our filming. I didn’t want it to simply feel like a party scene that you could find in any film, there were certain stylistic choices. For example, the song playing was I Got It which has its own motion and rhythm which I wanted to mimic on screen so we timed our whip pans to the music. We encouraged everyone to act as if they were at a party, to add to the realism so everyone immersed themselves into the scene which you can in turn feel when watching.
NDPH: It was such a challenging scene because it was a tiny room with 30-40 people and it was my first time filming such a scene. I remember saying something wrong in English and Debby had to translate but once we pressed play on the track everyone just started to dance which was amazing to watch. Andrea was operating a handheld camera and we planned the whip pans but apart from that it was just a beautiful moment which we let play out because you have to dance when you listen to that song.
The song playing was I Got It which has its own motion and rhythm which I wanted to mimic on screen so we timed our whip pans to the music.
Debby it’s your music, it’s your film, but Nathan, you were directing. How was that relationship with Debby as the writer and co-director, but also a performer?
NDPH: Becoming friends really helped the process. It was my first time co-directing which made total sense with this project. This is Debby’s art, it’s her universe and during the pre-production I was really focused on understanding and embracing her vision. We shot the short film over three days and agreed beforehand that Debby would focus on her acting and I took the role of director checking images and deciding if we were ready to move on. She also trusted me to direct her and we managed to create something we both loved.
The colour palette of the film is mesmerising, it’s dark but with a certain levity to it. How did you get Good Luck looking how you envisaged it?
DF: For post-production I ended up going to Italy and was there with Nathan for just over two weeks and we worked on the final edit and the coloring process. We had many talks beforehand and we knew what we wanted going in. It was so beneficial being together and hashing those things out in person. It went so much faster and smoother and also gave me an opportunity to come into Nathan’s world. He had flown to Canada and spent a month with me so it felt good to be immersed in his world. I also think that that once again is translated into the film, this blending of the two of us.
NDPH: Debby, Andrea our colourist and I talked a lot about this graduation of the color palette. From the darkness to that last very sunny scene. It’s representative of Debby accepting her personality, her impulses and relationship. We also wanted to flip the past and present around. Everything is shot digitally apart from the Super 8 scene by the river but we wanted the present to look more grainy and the past more digital.
DF: There were so many coincidences that happened that I think were almost really meant to be. Such as when we were shooting those intro scenes it was actually raining. It rained on the first day and we’re like, “Oh my God, what are we gonna do?” cause it wasn’t planned that it was gonna be a rainy day, but it ended up working out. conditions out of our control such as rain on our first day of shooting but sometimes these things just work out.
