The Director Explains: Elza - 'Swayed'

Director Elad Tzadok speaks to us about the creative process behind the passionate, choreographed visuals for ‘Swayed’ - the first single taken from Canadian singer-songwriter Elza's upcoming album ‘Nothing's Wrong’.
’Swayed’ is an energetic and intense cut featuring Elza’s mesmerising vocal on top of dark, pulsating production that keeps its listener engaged and swaying throughout.

Director Elad Tzadok Explains:
Where was the video for 'Swayed' filmed? 
Swayed was filmed in a warehouse in Langley, BC.

How does the video connect with the song? 
The concept for the video went through a few iterations before we landed on this idea. My original concept was catered to the demo that Elza sent me before they recorded the album which had a different feel and tone to it than the final master. Once the final song came in we realised that we have to change our approach as the song had a lot more energy to it that we needed to represent on screen. It was only once our choreographer Tony Giroux came on board that the concept of two dancing partners swaying in and out of trust materialised and the video as it is started to take form.

Any noteworthy behind the scenes stories? 
Elza has never danced before - and was both excited and nervous at the prospect - but fully committed to the process - and I think the results show on screen! Our Choreographer Tony alongside his incredibly talented assistant Sarah Formosa spent a month and a half teaching Elza the basics as well as developing the dance moves with her from scratch. Quite an achievement.

On a separate note, we were having a really hard time finding a warehouse that matched what we needed for the budget at hand. We were very lucky to connect with a couple of producer friends who were just wrapping up shooting their feature film in that space the previous day. They had a fully built set that the crew was busy tearing down while we were filming! So - even though the space looks empty and we can see all 360 degrees, we actually had quite a noisy environment and a bunch of people tearing down and loading out equipment throughout. We're very grateful to everyone who was involved and was patient enough with us throughout the process.

Could you tell us about the ideas/ themes/ imagery used? 
When Tony and I sat down to chat, several references came into place. We both really love a lot of the work Francis and the Lights did with director Jake Schreier (both 'May I Have This Dance' as well as 'Friends') another big influence for us was Thom York's ‘Atoms For Peace’ - Ingenue which Elza and I both really loved. Throw in a little bit of Flashdance, Radiohead's - Lotus Flower, and Sigur Ross' Inni (which was left over from one of the previous concepts for the video) and you'll find where we landed. We always wanted the video to feel a bit raw which is where the idea for the double exposure flashes came from, it took us some time to find exactly how best to fit it into the footage though.
 
It was only after the video was released that I saw someone reference Kate Bushe's 'Running Up That Hill' and I was like 'Oh!'

Is there a message the video is trying to convey?
The video and song explore a struggle with intimacy and connection that I think everyone can relate to. I hope people don't get too dizzy ;) (our cinematographer, Collin Morrison sure did) but if they do - I hope they enjoy the ride.

Interview feature by Karla Harris

Stream ‘Swayed’ on Spotify, here.