The Director Explains: Garrett Kato - 'Breathe It In' (feat. Julia Stone)
Director Emily Dynes speaks to us about Garrett Kato’s captivating music video for profound single, ‘Breathe It In’, ft. Julia Stone which visually explores the themes of addiction, substance abuse, passion and toxic love, from the perspective of two female lovers.
Where was the video for 'Breathe It In' filmed?
Breathe It In' was filmed at a house on the outskirts of Melbourne, and in the picturesque town of Warburton in country Victoria.
How does the video connect with the song?
The video is a series of surreal tableaux, that hopefully offers a strange and poetic interpretation of the track. Ultimately the video is traversing the space that Garrett and Julia carved out in the song - a narrative of a messy and dangerous love, one that is messily wrapped up in passion and addiction.
Do you have any behind the scenes stories you could share with us?
Luckily for us, the house in which we filmed our interiors was scheduled for demolition, which allowed us to create our own world from scratch. The empty rooms and overgrown backyard meant that we could completely design the look and feel of 'Breathe It In' from a black canvas.
Can you tell us about the ideas/themes/imagery used?
The video's imagery is inspired by René Magritte's famous painting 'The Lovers,' which illustrates a couple kissing through a veil with their faces obscured. I felt that this motif of the fabric tying two lovers' together while keeping them apart would enable us to explore the themes of substance abuse and toxic relationships that were so beautifully captured in the lyrics of 'Breathe It In.' I used 'The Lovers' as a jumping-off point to create a series of surreal domestic vignettes, each featuring the couples' relationship with each other and with the fabric in a unique way. Each scene explores a different element of the relationship and it's disintegration.
Is there a message the video is trying to convey?
The emotional simplicity of the song inspired us to take a raw but surreal look at the intense intersection of young love and addiction. We want to create a dark but intimate love story by using contemporary movement and lyrical, moody imagery. The subtle choreography hopefully allowed us to illustrate the push and pull of a toxic codependency; focusing on the chaos, charm and seduction of substance abuse as the two women drag each other down a virulent spiral.
Interview by Karla Harris