Some of the best music videos are the ones which understand the power of a simple and contained idea. As Director Austin Hutchings mentions below, Radiohead’s Karma Police or Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Maps, for example, are simplistic in plot but iconic through the power of their imagery. The same can be said for Hutching’s video for Kat Duma’s So Long, which sees the singer pose as a runaway bride whose past catches up on her. It’s a video driven by distinctive imagery, one that is quite happy holding a shot to give the audience time to immerse in its world. DN is excited to present the premiere for So Long alongside a chat with Hutchings where he speaks to the importance of both shooting in practical environments and giving yourself time on set to play and be creative.
What were the first conversations you had with Kat about making a music video together?
When Kat and I first decided to make a music video together, we weren’t sure what song it would be for. I instantly fell in love with the melancholy that lingered throughout So Long, though. There was this bittersweetness to it, this complexity of emotion that inspired something in me. At first, it appeared abstract and muddled, but as I listened to the song it became clearer and clearer, eventually forming into an image of a woman in a dress, sitting across from a disheveled man on a train. I didn’t know what it was about the image, but something struck me about it. There was this deep missing context that I became obsessed with: Who were they? Why were they there? Where were they going?
How were you initially thinking of tackling those questions?
At first, I tried to answer all those questions and tried to make the music video be a kind of explanation. I soon became much more interested in the idea of refraining from explanation. If this image could inspire all this in me, what else could it inspire in the audience? With music videos, you have such a short time to say so much. I think we often try to fill every second of them to get something across, or to occupy the subconscious of the viewer. But when I think about the music videos that stick with me; Radiohead’s Karma Police, Fiona Apple’s Across the Universe video, Natalie Imbruglia’s Torn, Maps by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Drop by The Pharcyde, they’re all rather simple and contained ideas. They’re often one or two shots, or one location, or whatever it might be, but they carry an intense emotional weight.
I soon became much more interested in the idea of refraining from explanation. If this image could inspire all this in me, what else could it inspire in the audience?
It’s a thing of trying to capture in a moving image whatever the song is giving you sonically. Really I just want my video to complement whatever the song is already emanating, not to try and steal from it. It’s the same symbiosis as a needle drop in a movie. They’re there to compliment each other. If a needle drop takes you out of a movie, it’s doing the wrong thing. If a music video distracts you from the song, I think you’ve made a big mistake. In a perfect world, the symbiosis is so strong that the video helps immerse you in the song.
You mentioned there about how important a distinct shot can be in creating the aesthetic of a music video. Could you talk about how you collaborated with your DP to achieve said shots in So Long?
Jon Glendon, the DP, and I work very closely together on all our projects. When I first got the call to do So Long, Jon and I played the song over and over again while I paced in his living room, spitting out every idea I had until we arrived at this. For some reason, we got it in our heads that it was going to be easy. I think our confidence tricked almost everyone until we were deep into pre-production and had funding secured, at which point it dawned on us that we somehow had to pull off a train heist on a next-to-nothing budget. I honestly didn’t think it was that ambitious an idea until this point!
And how did you end up pulling it off, on a practical level?
Our first idea was to build it on a dolly track, but we quickly realized we’d need to lay more than the most amount of track ever laid in Canada, and we’d never be able to get the speed we’d need to sell it. At one point an actual train was optioned, but I think it pretty much cost about our entire budget an hour, so that was out of the question although, Nick Burton, our producer, really tried to make that one work. The next idea was to build it on a trailer, but there were too many safety concerns. The D-Plan, if all else failed, was to shoot it on a green screen, but I felt this posed more problems than solutions. For one, we’d still have to shoot the plate of the truck driving on the grass; for another, there were zooms and shots that went through both the interior space and exterior that I just couldn’t wrap my head around doing digitally. Something about that world terrifies me. It’s not that I’m against it for any puritanical reasons, it’s simply because I don’t know what magic I might miss not doing it in the real world.
There was a time when we contemplated shifting the entire concept to fit the RV, but there was something so romantic about a train. I knew it was a darling I wasn’t willing to let die.
Finally, we settled on building the interior in an RV and cheating it as a train. There was a time when we contemplated shifting the entire concept to fit the RV, but there was something so romantic about a train. I knew it was a darling I wasn’t willing to let die. So much of filmmaking is about compromise, especially with low budgets. This was a really good exercise for me as a director in recognizing exactly what was necessary for expressing this feeling I had inside of me, but also what I was willing to let go of.
Did you face any other challenges during the shoot?
Another constraint of the project was that we only had one day to shoot. Our 1st AD Brynn Rhode and I talked tirelessly about scheduling to ensure everything went as smoothly as possible. We knew we were cramming in a lot, but we just couldn’t afford another day. We managed to nail nearly every shot we had planned, save for one, I mourned that for days, but it all ended up working out strangely well. In the edit, I realized I had pretty much exactly what I needed. Luckily we were able to extend the day a little bit with a minimal on-site crew to really play with Kat’s performance. I think having time to play and explore is so crucial in taking a work to the next level, and often it’s the one thing a production can’t afford. This is why it’s important to play as much before shooting, even if it’s alone in your head.
And how was it collaborating with your other cast members?
We were blessed with such an amazing cast. Ivan, the Angry Man, doubled as our stunt coordinator which gave us so much freedom to play with the movements of the actors. Zach and the Joes are all friends of ours and were really willing to give it their all, and having Ivan in the mix made it so smooth. I could have watched them chase each other around and drive that car all day long, could’ve watched Ivan screaming out of that car all day, too! Honestly, the day after shooting I started working on a script about all of them. Who knows if it’ll ever see the light of day, but a man can dream, I kept the suits just in case…
I think having time to play and explore is so crucial in taking a work to the next level, and often the one thing a production can’t afford.
Was Kat involved creatively throughout the making of the video or did you establish a level of trust that gave you free rein?
I seriously could not have asked for a better collaborator on this. She gave me immense freedom and trusted my vision the whole way. A lot of artists would’ve demanded more time in the limelight given that so much of the shoot featured the other characters but Kat loved the entire story and world we were building and was just excited to watch and share her ideas. That made my job so much easier. It’s clear by watching her that she doesn’t need much time at all to completely take over the screen!
What lies ahead for you, filmmaking-wise?
As for what lies ahead, I have a couple of music videos coming up over the next few months that are keeping me busy. On top of that, I have a feature film written about therapy and ancestral guilt that I’m currently trying to source funding for.
