The Artist Explains: Siv Jakobsen - 'Fear the Fear'
We speak to director Jørgen Nordby and Norwegian songwriter Siv Jakobsen about her intimate music video for cinematic folk single, ‘Fear the Fear’, which explores the themes of anxiety and disconnect.
Where was the video for ‘Fear the Fear' filmed?
J: We shot the video a two hour drive north of Oslo, Norway, in a far off rural place hardly even on the map.
How does the video connect with the song?
J: The video it self connects pretty much right to the title of the song.
I guess that the eerie feeling of someone or something following - or even chasing you - is familiar to many, especially from walking alone at night as a kid.
This fear is for the most part completely irrational, of course - but still very real.
S: For me the video is a visual representation of feeling anxious and frightened of having anxiety. Anyone prone to anxiety I think would be able to relate to that - that even when you’re not feeling anxious, you feel afraid that you will feel anxious soon, and thus you’re anxious about this potential future anxiety. It’s a strange and intense loop.
Do you have any behind the scenes stories you can share with us?
J: For every single video we’ve made we have figured it out mostly on the go, without too much of an exact plan in advance. For this shoot we actually booked a unique tree top cabin in this stunning location, planning to capture the most amazing footage from the beautiful surrounding scenery.
It turned out the snow was way too deep, making it impossible to follow Siv's movements with the handheld camera. In the midst of realising this the sun started to go down fast, turning the warm afternoon light into total darkness. Also, I had a heavy fever coming on slowly, and then hitting me hard. We didn’t really have much to go on anymore. In a final attempt to get something decent on camera, we decided to try a one-take shot of Siv just walking down the forest path leading back to the cabin.With a little dramatic touch to it we got the video.
S: I think Jørgen has said it perfectly here. I will add that it now in hindsight feels like it was very much meant to be that the video should end up like this, - a dark, one shot video of me walking down a very dark road in the cold, feeling quite anxious and a bit frightened as we did it. It was impossible not to feel it as it was pitch black, freezing and deserted. We were surrounded by very thick forest, and I went into the forest for every take, to come back out again for the opening shot of the video. It was a haunting experience very fitting to the song.
Could you tell us about the ideas/themes/imagery used?
J: I really enjoy music videos that have that dogma vibe. Handheld camera and an apparent absence of a directors hand. It’s a super fine line between actually pulling this off or not, but I always love trying. I think we pulled it off quite nicely on this one, considering the circumstances. The surroundings were perfectly set for the theme of the song. If you ask me, the art is almost always in the accidents.
S: I wanted the person watching the video to be able to feel my bubbling fear, under the surface but quite obviously present throughout the video.
Is there a message the video is trying to convey?
J: Siv has to answer this one, I think. For me, I’m just trying my best to let the song shine, not letting the images take up too much space - if that makes sense.
S: I think the video for me conveys the songs theme of being afraid of fear itself, rather than anything specific. You never see anyone following me in the video, yet I am quite obviously on the edge, aware of my surroundings and seemingly frightened.
Interview by Karla Harris
’Fear the Fear’ is taken from Siv Jakobsen’s forthcoming record ‘A Temporary Soothing’, which was recorded with producer Chris Bond (Nick Mulvey, Ben Howard) and mixed by Zach Hanson (Bon Iver) and is set for release on April 24th via Norweigan label ‘U OK?’.