Sol
Coping with grief through extraterrestrial encounters
Directed by Meredith Hama-Brown for Loscil
Interview by Tatev Avetisyan
The latest music video directed by Meredith Hama-Brown for Loscil’s Sol canvasses a story of a woman, who following the loss of her partner, faces a mysterious alien encounter in her backyard. As the story drifts on the music’s pulse, Hama-Brown transcends the inner grief to the extraterrestrial life using lights and lasers, evocative VFX and the power of colour play. Featuring the artistry of Mari Yamamoto (the lead character) and sci-fi elements, produced by Kristian Lindén, morumotto.xyz, and Foreign Xchange, the narrative unveils the inexplicable emotion as it looks into spirituality and the mystery of sorrow.
Curation Hour reached out to Hama-Brown to get an insight into the creative process behind the film, the collaborative nature of the team, the making of the UFO effect, and her future plans.
Why did you decide to direct films? And was the transition from acting to taking the lead behind the camera a conscious decision or curiosity?
I started with directing as I went to school for film production, and when I graduated, I got into acting. During those initial years after graduating, I kept up with directing, though at a slower pace since, of course, it requires a lot of time and dedication to even focus on one career path. I am grateful to have both sets of knowledge as it helps me to better understand storytelling. And also, acting allowed me to understand the actors’ process more as a director.
How did the collaboration between you and Loscil take place? What was the brief like, and how did you decide to work with Mari Yamamoto as your leading actress?
I love Loscil’s music. It is so complex and brings to mind so many images and emotions for me when I listen to it. I was introduced to him by Norm Li (the cinematographer of this project) and asked if he would be open to me making a music video for him. Thankfully, he said ‘yes’! There was no traditional brief. I simply listened to his tracks, found one I wanted to make a video for and pitched the idea. Mari Yamamoto became involved in the project because I was familiar with her work, and I just reached out to her on Instagram. Once we started discussing the idea, I felt we were very attuned to one another creatively. It ended up being a very special collaboration and felt very natural.
Tell us about the creative process behind the music video. How did Loscil – Sol inspire you to narrate a story of a woman who grieved her partner’s loss and had a mysterious alien encounter in her backyard?
I started the creative process very simply, just listening to the track over and over again. I feel there is something hypnotic and solemn about it but also eerie and otherworldly. Perhaps, someone else would get a very different feel from the song, but this is where my mind went. I decided early on that I wanted to explore a science fiction genre in a very intimate and human way. Listening to the different sections of the song helped me to figure out what the story shape should be. From there, the story came together.
Looking through your previous works, especially, the music video for Alaskan Tapes – And, We Disappear, we witness a similar melancholic approach in introducing mystical encounters. The contrast in combining the down-to-earth events with supernatural/alien concepts hits differently. What message did you want to transmit with your work?
It is hard to summarise one specific message I was trying to transmit. I wanted to convey a message of acceptance and healing through pain and grief. Or perhaps, better put, the film is about the character’s longing for this type of healing. The contrast of down-to-earth events with supernatural concepts is metaphorical. When I think of outer space, like many people, I am overwhelmed by its dense mysteries. So, the sci-fi elements represent this sense of the unknown, which also parallels the unknowns of our own lives/inevitable deaths. Maybe metaphorical isn’t even the right word; it is more that there is a lot about life and existence that we do not understand. It is on a macro, universe level and also a micro, human level. I was interested in linking the two.
“I decided early on that I wanted to explore a science fiction genre in a very intimate and human way”
Kristian Lindén, morumotto.xyz and Foreign Xchange have created the visual effects and CGI for the film, not to mention the laser technician – Will Funk. What challenges did you face while filming the supernatural side of Loscil Sol as well as during the production process, in general?
The biggest challenge for the practical laser effects was visualising what the UFO would look like and then finding a way to do it. I knew I wanted to just see “the beam” of the UFO rather than the actual ship itself (also, to do any more than this didn’t seem achievable on our budget). I also wanted to create a beam that didn’t look like the ones I had seen before. I was so inspired by the growing pulse in the music and I wanted the beam to move in time with this pulse. I thought strands of light would be a different way to show the beam, which allows us to feel the movement of the pulse. I had never worked with a laser before. I wasn’t quite sure what was possible. Will Funk is incredible, though; once we started working together, he made it seem simple. I thought some of the details I saw with the laser would have to be sacrificed because they’d be too hard technically, but he was able to achieve everything so perfectly.
In regards to the CGI work, I think it was relatively straightforward. I sent creative references, timing notes, images etc., to Kristian (for the ‘Ball of Grief’) and Foreign Xchange (for the ‘Alien Hand’), and they sent an initial pass to me that we then refined over some back and forth correspondences. With CGI work, I think the biggest challenge for me was visualising what it should be since there are so many different directions that I could have taken it. Also, communicating specific ideas remotely is always somewhat challenging, yet we ended up with VFX that I think Kristian and Foreign Xchange did such a beautiful job of making.
What are you working on next? Do you consider experimenting with other genres?
I am not sure what is next! I just finished my first feature film a week ago, so I am taking a few days/weeks to rest, and then I will probably start the years-long writing process all over again. In between writing, I certainly hope to find more creative short-form projects to work on. I think a lot of my work leans towards various genres, so I hope to continue exploring whichever new genres come to interest me.
Artist: Loscil
Track title: Sol
Label: Kranky
Starring: Mari Yamamoto
Director: Meredith Hama-Brown
producer: Cheyenne Cage
Upm: Kara Calise
1st ad: Fernanda Curi
Dp: Norm Li, Csc
1st ac: Sarah Penson
2nd ac/loader: George Du
Gaffer: Josh Sheehan
eEectric: Sean Chow
Laser tech: Will Funk
Key grip: Harrison Rusk
Dolly grip: Roberto de Cecco
Swing: Anthony Wylie
Swing: Sean Shields
Swing: Clive Anthony Thompson
Production designer: Taja Feistner
Art director: Brandon Mercer
Wardrobe supervisor: charles ko
Hmu: tiffany Rodriguez
Driver: Xavier Barker
Cgi artist (grief sequence): Kristian Lindén, morumotto.xyz
Vfx/cgi (alien hand): Foreign Xchange
Colorist: Joseph Bicknell, co3
Stock: Kodak
Film processed: Kodak
Film scan: Filmhouse
Special thanks:
Peter Hagge
Constance Tsang
Kodak
Q films
Handheld rentals
Sunbelt rentals
Allie Shapiro/kieran Jarvis
Virginia and Glenn
Ray and Amy
Andrew and Lili