The Artist Explains: Mountain Bird - '5 Years'
Mountain Bird speaks to us about his artistic music video for’ 5 Years’, which plays with light and lens to explore the feeling of loneliness and wanting to be alone at the same time.
Where was the video for '5 Years' filmed?
It was filmed in my hometown Stockholm! Together with my new friend Erik which is a really talented cinematographer! He's just equally curious and creative as me and loves creating ideas and sets. I wouldn't be able to do anything of this quality contenct on the minimal budget we have without him and his knowledge of the craft.
How does the video connect with the song?
I actually was travelling to Berlin before I lived there. That was when I wrote the song, at my hotel room, so it basically refers to that night of physical distance and loneliness.
Do you have any behind the scenes stories you can share with us?
I do! We built fake walls, and the bed is actually made of cardboard and pallets so it was really hard to lay down on it, wouldn't recommend it haha! Then when I throw stuff I hit my leg so hard at the bed when I fell, It was a mistake we chose to keep haha.
Could you tell us about the ideas/ themes/ imagery used?
Hope Erik approves my answer on this one!
As mentioned we wanted to portray the mood I was feeling when I wrote it during a really lonely time in a hotel room in Berlin. From morning to night. I know Erik and I are really drawn to the same kind of light and imagery. Personally I love that we created a "fake moon" and a "fake sun" ,used a lot of backlight. We also rented an old soviet anamorphic lens that creates that morphed widescreen soft "Cinema feel" that we wanted.
Is there a message the video is trying to convey?
Yes, as I wrote before we wanted to create the vibe of loneliness and stage it in a manner where we had complete control of the light and lens in terms of the budget to make it look the best as possible. I wrote the song in a hotel room in Berlin so we wanted to describe the feeling I had that night. That feeling that you really want to be alone but also not; a weird kind of limbo between two extreme states.
What do you hope people take away from watching the video?
I hope it helps them to vibe even more to the song and let them get another level of insight in my head! Also just understand that everyone working on the project love film and we will portray more of this stuff in the future with even bigger projects. Film is something that really inspires me, grading, lights, moods, everything when it comes to cinema really, that's why I'm so happy i've finally found a friend that's like me but with cameras instead of music.
Interview by Karla Harris