Actors David Planche and Laura Roby getting into character.
Our latest video was released last week through Bombshellzine.com as the first video single for Brief Habits(ex Columbia Buffet) debut self titled album. This is what Dan - singer and writer for the band - had to say about the clip.
“I was reading a lot of existential philosophy at the time of making this record and it really had a significant effect on the lyrics. We wanted to make the Either/Or clip mirror this – mainly focusing on Nietzche’s concept of the self and Keirkegaards work on Freedom/Possibility and Necessity.
To strip it all down the basic idea is that of ‘the grass is greener’ type ideal – Moments of despair and unhappiness can be found in all situations in life and that it is only ever up to the individual to find meaning in their current path and in the choices they make. From there Kierkegaard feels “One can run astray in all possible ways, but essentially in two. The one form is the wishful, the hankering; the other is the melancholic- fantastic. (hope in the one case, fear or dread in the other).
Rick reviewing the final takes.
We have been great friends with Rick and Spilting Films for a while now – he interprets our music perfectly and understands our vision with very little explanation from us. He completely got this concept from the start and ran way with it – matching some really compelling ‘Hitchcockian’ visuals to some really interesting and contrasting life stories. We couldn’t be happier with the results and hope you enjoy the video!“
Rick directing actor David Planche through the open scene.
Director/ writer for the video Rick Clifford had this to say -
"I've always been a fan of Dan's writing, in that it almost goes under a guise when you listen to the melodies and instrumentation of the collective foursome, thus creating layers within the songs themselves. For Either/ Or I actively wanted to match the video to the lyrical context instead of the tone or vibe of the music itself. It was a struggle as I've always made my videos to the latter.
This one was shot with minimal crew in my house, in the space of 3 hours on a random Saturday night(between roommates cooking dinner), so it was a tad cumbersome to say the least. The execution was the easiest part of the shoot, with all the work being put into set design and rehearsal/ blocking.
The song based on its namesake, a book by Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, explores the ideas that there are only two end absolutions in life the selfish and the selfless. This is portrayed by the protagonist' pondering his potentialities forking off on varying tangents and peaking with the same resulting unhappiness.
The aim with having multiple frames within the video was to make it hard for the viewer to concentrate on any one outcome, much like the internal thoughts when thinking existentially. The videos final few seconds push the idea that once you step away from looking into oneself, you cease to reflect at all - in that the only real way to live is to be content with ones existence."
Actor David Planche and AC Tim Blackburn on break during filming.
Click here for more on Brief Habits latest self titled release and stream the album in full here.
Watch the video below.