Multi-hyphenate artist Emma Louise and Grammy-winning producer/songwriter Flume partnered to create a new 10-track album titled “Dumb” (https://ffm.to/dumb-pre). Monsoon is the latest video from the Australian duo, who are based in New South Wales, and was directed by Jonathan Zawada and Michael Hili. The release follows “Easy Goodbye” and “Shine, Glow, Glisten.”
The album was created under the mantra to "make it dumb," meaning not to limit possibilities by overthinking. In the Monsoon video, Emma Louise is shown laying in a shallow pond of water, her face slightly submerged while she performs the lyrics, which often ask: "Do you think about me?” As the camera slowly zooms out, the framing reveals that the shoot is taking place inside a studio, and not out in nature. Later, the giant hand of a monster slowly enters through an opening in the roof. While initially appearing as a threat, it instead slowly leaves, as if affected by Emma’s emotional performance.
According to Michael Hili, who served as co-director, with a focus on the live-action component, Emma's delivery comes off almost like a confessional, juxtaposed to the aggression and scale of the music.
"Visually, our choices mirror some of that tension," says Hili. "We shot on traditional 35mm celluloid, embracing in-camera effects and a grounded dolly move. Imperfections — ramps and film burns — are inherent to the image rather than corrected. Jonathan (Zawada) and I are never interested in smoothing over the friction between live action and 3D, but instead lean into their collision. The choices in the beautiful grade by Matic Prusnik embody this, preserving the texture and contrast between the elements."
Co-director Zawada adds that going into the shoot, the team had a clear vision of the project appearing very much like a single shot, and had roughed out the concept using Blender.
"Once the developed film came back though, it felt like there was something missing, and that’s when I started exploring integrating some additional elements - the shadow puppets and the giant hand," Zawada reveals. "This was all done in the space of a week and completed in Blender with an outside compositor doing the comps. I really enjoy responding to what is in front of me and adapting or finding opportunities to do something.”
He points to the big, soft fill light over Emma’s head, and the illuminated scrim behind her as two such elements.
“I’m 100 percent certain that had we gone into the shoot with those elements in mind, we wouldn’t have ended up with the kind of delicate balance that exists in the final piece," Zawada concludes.