“THE WARMTH” BY PARIS PALOMA
Yoni Ben-Haim & Simon Van Parijs shared their experience of shooting for Nettwerk signed artist Paris Paloma, in an engaging interview with Hawk London creatives.
Director Yoni talks about the themes of the music video, set design and choreography while DOP Simon goes on to explain the process of shooting portrait anamorphic and its challenges as well as his use of Hawk V-lite Vintage ‘74 lenses.
How It Started
Both Yoni and Simon, have a history of working with Paris on various projects. This time, joined by operator/co-director Beau Prichard-James, Simon and Yoni were about to work on a new single of her debut album “Cacophony”. Both directors and the DP were challenged to preserve the essential style and the tribal sense of Paris’s music, while bringing the production to a whole different level.
After exploring a few different iterations, the creatives have landed on a rather simple concept: light, choreographed dance and one large prop…
The Look
Paris Paloma’s work is known for her “folk fantasy” look, that reflects in her imagery and branding. “Some of her videos have a mediaeval Renaissance feel to them” – mentions Yoni – “we took all of this, and modernised it in a way.” While some previous videos of Paris have been set in forests and fields, this project brought the artist’s ethereal aesthetics into a modern 20,000 square foot studio.
A giant moon, that previously appeared on the artist’s UK tour, came in handy on set, acting as the main natural element. It worked as a great contrast next to the clean artificial lights that gave off stunning anamorphic flares during the performance thanks to the characteristics of the Vintage ‘74 lenses.
Portrait Mode Anamorphic
Once the production look had been decided on, it was time to choose the right tools. Simon Van Parijs had a thorough look at a few different sets of lenses at Hawk London premises, and ultimately chose Hawk V-Lites Vintage 74’s.
“These lenses provided the imperfections and character we needed while avoiding a too-clean, commercial look.” – Simon shared.
Director Yoni Ben-Haim was then faced with a challenge with the aspect ratio. As traditional anamorphic widescreen formats would not fit the video’s aesthetic, “portrait anamorphic” was a great solution.
Simon explained – “We rotated the lens to use anamorphic without having to crop massively, achieving our final aspect ratio of three by two.” This method required meticulous testing, especially since the camera would be placed on an AR rig and moving constantly. “Those tests gave us confidence. The lenses rendered the space beautifully, and the flares and edge fall off added a lot to the image,” Yoni commented.
Time to Make Art
Since the album contained melancholic songs with themes of struggle with depression, the song “Warmth” was meant to be a culmination, an ending. An acceptance of the past and the ability to move on. When art imitates life and vice versa, creating becomes so much deeper than just filming a sequence of scenes. In a way, the Director, the DP, and everyone working on that project, had a chance to deliver a closing of a chapter in Paris’s discography and with that, quite possibly, a chapter in the artist’s life.
The video draws some of its inspiration from Joseph Tomanek’s painting “Nymphs Dancing To Pan’s Flute,” featuring women dancing around a fire. Same colours as well as symbolism is mirrored in “The Warmth”.
“It is probably the most cinematic, energetic and uplifting song in the album and so for that, she wanted a video that had all of that encapsulated” – States director Yoni.
The dancers represent the dark, the pitfalls of the artist’s life. At first she’s not sure how to handle them and how to be herself with them around. As the dance progresses the performers interact more and more with the artist until they merge into one. Each dancer has their own flair and a solo opportunity, choreographed by the talented Elettra Giunta.
Talking Flares
Simon discussed the careful handling of light and flares. “We knew we would have depth, so figuring out where light should be in terms of getting the right look and flares was crucial. We had to be careful not to overdo it as anamorphic flares can sometimes be too much.” Thankfully, the Hawk lenses managed the flares beautifully.
The music video starts off with rather cold tones, as the artist is struggling and trying to find her way out of the dark, just to then switch to a dramatic red colour.
“I ate up all the light and it shone through my teeth ” – Paris sings as she recreates the gesture of devouring the light she just caught while dancing.Music escalates, the story comes to a resolution as fire breaks out and the nymphs perform their synchronised, final part.
Paris Paloma’s new music video is a testament to creative collaboration and technical innovation. By blending evocative themes, striking set design, and the unique capabilities of Hawk V-Lite Vintage ‘74 lenses, the team created a visually and emotionally captivating experience.
