Beca – Fall Into Light Music Video (Interview w/ BECA & Directors Dawid Krepski, Jason Chiu)

How did the collaboration between the video artist and musicians first form, and how closely did you work together on creating the piece? Who conceptualized it?

The collaboration was born on Vimeo. Mia Margetic, one of This Is Music’s artist managers and creative curators, made a blind cast into the Vimeo ether. She was perusing the video groups and found Dawid’s spec-music video for Yellow Ostrich’s “Hahahaohhoho”. She contacted him and asked if he’d be interested in pitching a treatment for Beca’s “Fall Into Light”. “Yes, of course I am!” And that’s how it began. But when the process actually started we were essentially left on our own. The label had hired us to make something for Beca, which, at that point, was only this mysterious voice. Things were early in her development; there were no pictures, no website, no publicity. We believed it was partly TIM’s intention to leave us without such context. We were excited to be working for TIM for this reason — the label had a history of cultivating free-forming relationships with video artists. “Do as you please” was the only direction we got. It was a great opportunity. We had this sultry, misty voice to project our thoughts onto. – Dawid Krêpski & Jason Chiu

I didn’t have anything to do with the video which was a real exercise in letting go since I am usually very hands-on with the creative process in my projects. I was extremely surprised and pleased at the outcome since their interpretation is completely different than what I would have come up with as a visual representation for the song. – Beca

There is a haze this video that really contrasts with the pop sensibilities of this track. Why was that decision made, and how was it accomplished?

We’re really into emerging old-school visual content. This includes ’80s and ’90s video and film formats and various other image-generating technologies of those decades. For example, we’re obsessed with the screen flicker seen on old 60hz cathode ray tube televisions. That haze and the general look of “Fall into Light” is partly the result of this fascination. The other part comes from how we undertstood the song: something along the lines of dark pop. The lyrics suggest an illicit, mysterious love; this sort of love is often very poetic and beautiful. We thought of love on the fringes, something that’s obscured from popular view. To achieve this atmosphere, we chose to couple a visual style reminscent of ’60s press commercials and photography — very glamourous, simple colors, simple shades, almost like a painting – with a very restrictive aspect ratio. We hoped to evoke a desire within the viewer to widen the image, to take away the slim aspect ratio and see more of this love story.

During production, we used the Canon 7D set to the MarvelCine picture profile. It supposedly flattens the colors and exposure information in the image. But at a certain threshold, it begins to mash these elements. What results is information smudging (we don’t know any other way to put it). It over-simplified the visual information and generated the type of visual basis we were going for. In post-production, Dawid chose to use professional post-[production] software from the early 2000s. While the capabilities of the program might have been limited, it provided “dated” options that aren’t present in today’s post- software. – Dawid Krêpski & Jason Chiu

I didn’t have anything to do with that decision, but I would say that there is a distinct hazy quality to the track, particularly in comparison to my other work. I think Dawid and Jason picked up on that and represented it brilliantly. – Beca

How closely does the song’s sentiments of “falling into the light” play into the video’s thematic narrative, and what would you say those words mean to you?

We think the video’s thematic narrative plays very closely to the song’s sentiments. When you think of someone falling, it’s usually into the depths of darkness. “Fall from grace” is a negative term we commonly apply. But these sentiments are all relative and always applied from the outside observer. When someone thinks you’ve “fallen,” you might be having the time of your life. Forget what others think; do what feels right to you. If people think you’ve “fallen” in some way, they’re too blind to see the light on the other side. Maybe think of a planet with a hole going straight through it. Say you fall through that hole — gravity will suck you in. It might get a little dark, but that same gravity will slingshot you to the bright surface on the other side. You’ll end up on the same level as everyone else, just at a different point. – Dawid Krêpski & Jason Chiu

The title “Fall Into Light” is a bit of a paradox since I associate light with upward movement, and the concept of falling makes me think of darkness. So it’s this juxtaposition of light and dark which can be taken literally or figuratively, and I like that it’s left open for interpretation. Maybe it means opening opening up yourself enough to see your true self. Like being vulnerable enough to fall into a clear space where you realize that you’re a woman in a man’s skin. – Beca

How long did this process take from start to end, and how much time was spent on shooting versus post-production?

We spent a solid 24-hour day shooting plus an extra half-day. Everyone’s schedule was tight. Actors were busy. Dawid was leaving for Poland. I was going to New Mexico. We were exhausted. We started with night shooting, alert and ready with Kelsey. At sunrise we switched to Fred; by that time Dawid and I were so exhausted that we ended up destroying part of my apartment – an incident with a deer head that didn’t even make the cut. When we came to post-production, we were less time-constrained. Dawid was able to take his time crafting an amazing edit and post- visuals. – Jason Chiu

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