LA-based artist Zoe Ko recently released her sophomore EP “Not Ur Girlfriend,” as well as a new music video for the track “Furr.” Directed by Breanna Lynn, the project is part of a larger visualizer package made up of eight similarly-themed videos.
Lynn (@breannalynn.gif) has been working with Zoe for more than a year. She directed and edited Ko’s Kiss My (Ah) music video last year and was reunited with the artist once again for this latest project.
“One thing I really appreciate about Zoe is, she knows what she wants and is such a clear communicator, which is really rare,” notes Lynn. “It creates such a deep feeling of safety in making art with her because I trust that she’ll tell me what she wants. I also trust that we’ll be able, together, to find that answer for something that doesn’t exist yet, because it’s difficult to express what you want something to look like when it’s not real.”
For Furr, Zoe appears in a vast white space, where she sings about her love of fur, fashion and empowerment.
“It perfectly encapsulates me and my relationship with clothing,” shares the artist. “Even though it’s silly and extra, it means a lot and came from a deep place...No matter how sad, how self-hating I felt, if I threw on a fur coat and some sunglasses, I felt invincible. ‘Furr’ to me is about the mindset, the confidence and self-love you can get from having a fire outfit on.”
Currently based in New York City, Lynn has LA roots and traveled to the West Coast for the shoot, along with producer Serena Hughes. The video was shot in a studio on a cyclorama, and the effect of it being so vast is a credit to the lighting crew.
“The lighting team crushed it in creating depth to that degree,” says Lynn of the setting. An Arri Alexa Mini LF was used for the shoot, working with a jib and remote head to capture the artist’s movement as she rolls about on a luxurious rug. Toby Romero served as director of photography, with Bennett Lees and Cris Mascarella acting as 1st and 2nd assistant camera operators respectively. Kip Rodriguez operated the jib. Lynn edited the video herself, and says she’ll often work nonstop, for hours at a time, to craft the initial cut.
“I think I’m very much a sprinter,” she says of her editorial style. “I need to sit down and...just be in it, but such a major chunk of it will be done. I would love to one day grow to be the kind of person that can sit down for four hours at a time and have a more healthy relationship working through things, but there’s something really lovely about just being so in the flow of it.”
The challenge of the bigger project was making sure the color grade was consistent across all the visualizers, which are designed to seamlessly flow from one to the next, with Zoe walking out of one track and into another. Ultimately, Lynn says she spent approximately three months crafting all the deliverables, though their rollouts varied.
WhenPost caught up with Lynn, she had just completed a major shoot for BMW and was looking to further her work in the commercial space. Still, she finds value in her music video background and the scrappiness that she’s used to build her portfolio, often likening her vision to having just “two dollars and a dream” to achieve the envisioned end results.
“There’s always a practical lesson,” she says of her music video work. “From how I can show up better as a team leader, how I could show up as a director, how I communicate a creative vision...I have the coolest job in the world. I literally get to hang out with my friends all day and make cool stuff.”