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What attracts you to a music video project like this ?
Jeff Cronenweth : Whether it’s an advert or a music video, for me it’s the story behind it. Something you can identify yourself with in some way. Of course contexts can be very different from one to another, but basically, what makes me take on a particular show is the combination of the story, the music and the artist performing it. From that point of view, "Brighter Days Ahead" was really not something you come across every day. First of all, this kind of initiative, to make a kind of short film including several tracks from this album, is now quite unique. Especially since the glory days of music videos is undoubtedly over. It’s now quite rare to see artists embark on such a venture. And then I had recently met Christian Breslauer, with whom we had shot an advert for Fortnite videogame ("Fuel Fire Fury") featuring Metallica. I knew he was one of the young directors who was very much in vogue, but I had never worked with him before. In addition to his great creativity and real visual talent, shooting with him and the metal stars had been great fun. So by then I was really looking forward to work with him again. When this ambitious new project with Ariana Grande came up, I naturally jumped in !
What was the concept behind ‘Brighter Days Ahead’ ?
JC : It’s actually a journey through Ariana’s memories. A quite personal thing, like an almost cerebral project. In the opening, she appears as a woman over 80 years old who is given the opportunity to revisit the key moments of her life. The end of this journey corresponds to the end of her existence, which is quite metaphysical... Each song is chosen specifically to illustrate each era, a bit like how film music illustrates a fictional film. As you can see, each chapter is very different – whether it’s the first track, "Intro – End of the World", which delves into family archive footage, or the third, "Twilight Zone", in which she wakes up in the middle of a strange submerged house... This is also a film tfor people who are familiar with her work ... her previous albums, as they will be able to find the personal resonance that she herself wanted to fuels into the project.
Let’s talk a little more about that fourth track, "Supernatural"...
JC : This fourth chapter was perhaps the most ambitious, mainly because Christian and Ariana both wanted to give the illusion that it was one long one take shot. Although it wasn’t all shot at once, - three invisible cuts were used - it was still a very ambitious camera move, with a Chapman Hydrascope 70 telescopic crane. This end-of-the-world setting, with the burnt-out plane wreck, was shot at Universal Studios. It’s the same set where Steven Spielberg shot War of the Worlds , and which has been preserved, notably with the Boeing 747 wreckage. It’s one of the things you visit on the public tour of the studio, with Norman Bates’ house from Psycho in the background... I think that legendary house shows even in the video at a certain point in the movement, but you can’t see it because it’s not lit
This kind of set-up in Hollywood studios mustn’t leave much room for surprises... Are you still able to appreciate a certain loss of control on set sometimes ?
JC : I actually like controlled chaos. ... And in a sequence like this, each take is quite different from another, it’s like a ballet but very fluid. Of course we rehearse but if you consider the explosions, the fire ramps, and even the work on the console for the interactive lighting, none of it is completely computer controlled . Not to mention the crane, which is also controlled by a whole team. It’s still human, collaborative work, and all these little variations you see lead to this flow that determines the final result. It’s also sometimes when the magic happens, or suddenly the person you’re filming isn’t perfectly on cue, maybe disappears into the dark, or finds themselves in backlighting, just outlined by a thread of light...
And when you have a great performer like her in front of your camera, who can sometimes immerse themselves completely in the character... you enter a dimension where nothing can be completely predicted or controlled. And that’s exactly when happy accidents can happen.
How did you approach the intervention of a spaceship in this context ?
JC : The end of the movement, with the appearance of the Alien ship and the light falling from it, was another challenge. Here, you have to find the right balance between a purely theatrical, almost comical touch and a certain plausible reality. The supposed distance from the ship, its imagined size... you discuss the most detailed description possible with the Visual effects team, who will generate a large part of this shot. In terms of filming, I was able to take advantage of the pre-lighting night before the shoot to set everything up and block out the move with a stand-in and determine the programming of the light sources, particularly the variation in the intensity of the beam, which we had to gradually dim down as she floated closer to the ship. In fact, even if you’re tackling such a spectacular and improbable setup, as a cinematographer you always have to ask yourself the physical questions. Where does the light come from, what is the illuminated surface, how much space does it occupy... and it’s from these kinds of rules that you construct the improbable, the fiction.
A word about your technical choices ?
JC : I’m a big fan of RED cameras, and have been for several years, since the films I’ve made with David Fincher. On this project, as I knew there would be a lot of special effects, I opted to shoot with the highest possible definition. That’s why I chose the Panavision DXL, which is equipped with an 8K Red sensor inside a dedicated PV housing. This choice of camera also allowed me to use lenses from (Panavision’s extensive inventory) namely the T anamorphic series and the VA large format series, which covers the full frame. Indeed some parts of the film are in 2,4 format (such as "Supernatural"), while others chapters are in 16:9 or even 4:3.
Every day we see amazing new steps in short films or commercials using artificial intelligence generative content. Don’t you think that such a project will eventually no longer rely on such a large stage work ?
JC : Artificial intelligence is undoubtedly a fantastic tool. But I doubt it will replace the performance of artists. And I think every music video is still based on the artist. Everywhere in the world right now, concerts, stage performances and major sporting events are at the forefront. These are things that artificial intelligence will never be able to imitate or replace. I think audiences need that connection to the human being, to the performer, to the person. And from that point of view, I don’t think music videos are ready to go fully artificial yet. And it’s a bit the same with cinema. If you’re about to make the 17th chapter of a famous science fiction saga... I’d say why not use AI. But if you’re shooting a film like Schindler’s List... then you can see that it won’t be possible with these virtual tools. Without the connection to humanity and the human experience you can’t illicit the emotions to tell such a dramatic and important story. I can see two forms of entertainment but I can’t see artificial intelligence replacing artists ; it just doesn’t work.
(Interview by François Reumont for the AFC)
- Video clip "Supernatural"
