The Director Explains: Eden Warsaw - 'Ecstasy' and 'The Sunrise'
Director Sid Sawant talks us through the ideas behind Eden Warsaw’s visuals for, ‘Ecstasy’ and ‘The Sunrise’, which explore the themes of isolation and interrelation by capturing city life at night time, and again at sunrise.
Where was the video for ‘The Sunrise’ filmed?
The video was filmed right by Ontario place near Trillium park in Toronto.
How does the video connect to the song?
When I first listened to the track, in tandem to the other track we shot ‘Ecstasy’, we wanted to keep these 2 stories in the same universe. One song is about the late night and the other one the sunrise. When selecting the area to shoot we scouted for a location that has the sunrise coming up behind the city, almost back lighting and silhouetting the city scape. The same city scape we share and unites all of us.
Do you have any behind the scene stories you can share with us?
When we had the initial idea to shoot the sunrise one shot, we figured it would be isolated and no one would bother us, I was wrong. The morning jogger enthusiasts kept staring at a random guy, on a hover board, holding a gimbal, with another random brown guy behind him assisting, chasing a girl who is sprinting (at points). I’m assuming not something the see on their morning run. No one ended actually intervening but we did have to do a few takes because a couple of people had some ‘wtf looks’ on camera.
Could you tell us about the ideas/themes/imagery used?
To connect the two video we wanted to the play on the concept of transcendence and letting go. Symbolized by the ‘disappearance’ of the talent, left with a view of the city and a marker for where they stood, the two characters are joined together at the end in some merry bliss. We wanted to show levels of isolation and singularity hence the shooting at odd hours.
What do you hope people will take away from watching the video?
I hope that people will identify with one (or both) of the characters and the idea that in a big city it is easy to feel isolated and alone, but know that there are many of us in that situation, but as the song says the sun is going to rise again. Stand strong and transcend together.
Interview feature by Karla Harris
’Ecstasy’ and ‘The Sunrise’ both feature on Eden Warsaw’s new 13 track album ‘Calm The Coast’ which is out now.