Exploring Euterpe's Lament

Euterpe's Lament showcases a segment of an experimental music video shot by myself, Fritz Heede and Jeremy Kidd for the classical musical composition by Danaë Xanthe Vlasse. The song is on her Mythologies album which received a Grammy for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album featuring sopranos, Sangeeta Kaur & Hila Plitmann. The visual concept was to explore a fusion of classical and modern motifs including movement inspired by Isadora Duncan (who was influenced by greek and renaissance art) and Martha Graham.

Euterpe was the ancient Greek muse of music. She and her sisters were daughters of the great god Zeus; each muse was responsible for supporting major cultural elements, including history and the arts.

The music and imagery symbolically reflect the dance of these celestial muses and the suffering that they endured during the worldwide lockdowns that included concert halls, museums, and cultural venues. While their dance had been interrupted, their spirits lived on like eternal flames of the heart.

There were two photoshoots one by Fritz and one by me. Fritz also included violinist, Lili Haydn, cellist, Eru Matsumoto, and violist, Virginie d'Avezac de Castera in his video. I combined parts of both footage in Final Cut. We used a variety of cameras as well as iPhones and iPads. It was a fun and informative experiment. Below are some behind the scene pics of my shoot.

Costumes and makeup.

Lighting on the fly. We used a black screen for blocking most scenes and masked the outside areas later in post production.

The iPhone's resolution worked well for some shots. When connected to a gimble it allowed for smooth pans.

I was looking for a classical yet modern movement and referenced Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham for specific scenes. To keep an improvisational spirit I encouraged Danaë, Sangeeta and Hila to explore dance movements and theatrical posing. It appeared at times that Sangeeta was channeling a Butoh dancer!

The iPad camera worked better than expected. It was nice to see the action through such a large viewfinder that could be moved around.

Ladders and chairs were used for top down shots. No cranes were used in this living room!

Patiently waiting for me to get it together... so much of shooting film is hurry up and wait!

Duet.

I want to thank Danaë, Sangeeta, Hila, Fritz and Jeremy for adding their artistic expertise to this video exploration. Onward.

Go here to experience and learn more about Danaë and her classical compositions.

Go here to learn more about the art I created for the Mythologies album.