rivermaya

An all-new music video from Rivermaya has just hit the Asian airwaves. Megged by one of Indonesia's top film directors, Rizal Mantovani, it is a lush story-telling of the hit 'Bali Song' amid a forlorn, fairytale circus.

Rizal Mantovani shares his thoughts on the making of 'Bali Song' in this interview:

Q: Tell us your first impressions when you heard 'Bali Song'. What did you like about the song?

A: "Bali Song" is one of those rare songs that takes you to a different place every time you hear it. Although it has the word ‘Bali’ in the title, I realized it wasn't about a particular place.. the word "Bali" just set a kind of mood."
Therefore I didn’t want the video to fall into an obvious look by shooting it in Bali. It should not JUST be about Bali, so the song would not be burdened by the video instead of freeing it.

Q: The treatment of the music video is "a sad, demented circus". Is this your idea of love?

A: I think "love" cannot be defined in simple words. All (if not every) kind of emotion is attached to a person when one is in love, and that is why it’s such a unique and complex emotion. Happiness, hunger, jelousy, lust, sadness and much more. The idea of an empty circus is actually just a part of love that I think one goes through. You tend to feel a kind of empty sadness in a place when one should be happy.
The circus actually also represents a kind of fairy tale aspect of the song -- and what it says about love -- that I wanted to capture in the video, in conjunction with the lyrics which I think are key -- ‘‘Wake up fool, this fairy tale has to end.."

Q: What did you think of the experience of working with Rivermaya?

A: When I got the call that I was going to do (the) Rivermaya (music video), I was literally shouting from the rooftops.

To think about working with one of Philippines’s finest band is a dream come true.

The guys trusted me enough to do various ideas yet still engaged in discussions for an idea to work. An example is Blanco’s performance during his scene with Mariana. He suggested that it should be close but there should be a ‘distant’ feel to it. There’s this connection between Blanco and Mariana, but you know that something is holding them both back.

Q: How would you compare film directing with music video directing?

A: Film and Music Video are two very different animals. Music video is about the marriage of music and the visual, where the visual has to represent the lyrical and mood aspects of the song. Music Video is also about representing the image of the artist to the audience. You have to be in tune to all of the aspects when directing music videos.

Film tends to be about telling a story with a larger canvas. Directing film is a bit different as you have to keep in mind not just the scene you are directing, but also the scene before and after, whereas music videos does not necessarily have interlinked scenes.

Q. What drew you to cast Mariana as the female lead in the music video?

A: I think she fits the image of the ‘fairy tale’ facet of the song. Her eyes says so much by just a look.

Q: Is this the first music video you directed for an internationalartist? Could you compare with your experiences directing Indonesian artists?

A: I’ve directed several Asian artists before, including Maribeth, also from the Philipinnes back in 1995. I’ve also worked with European bands. Every artist has their own style and image, and it really makes my job easier when the artist knows what exactly that image is. Rivermaya is one of those who knows exactly what they want and how to convey it in their music videos.

posted by Admin at 12:55 PM