Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
At first, the man appears stoic, unyielding.
Then, his face begins to contort, and he brushes back tears.
Suddenly, hes enveloped in the sort of hug that knocks you back a few steps.
Its maybe even a miracle that hes back at all.
Where does he go from here, in a place that seems both familiar to him and not?
Like, what were used to seeing on … MTV or that kind of stuff.
Thats not the idea.
Nor were they immediate creative partners.
To be honest, I wanted to do a short movie.
But my script wasnt taken, Jonathan laughs.
My professors didnt like it.
I wanted so badly to direct something so I said, Okay, lets do a music video.
He asked Guillaume, whod been recording dub-imbued music, to collaborate with him on the project.
Through it, they found that they were capable of crafting spell-binding short films and music together.
Part of why it works is that the process is fluid.
He can begin on a song or I can begin on a video or vice versa.
The ideas, its like ping-pong all the time between music and film, Guillaume says.
Theres really no rules, Jonathan adds.
Because when there are rules, its not really fun, you know?
It has to be a playground.
Nothing especially earth-shattering happens in Blaze music videos, either.
The thrill of it lies in the fact that this day is possible at all.
Its not that we wanted to do something different, Jonathan says.
Its that we needed to do something that we feel close to.
We wanted to talk about the closest thing that we had at that time.
The two often pull from ideas and friends in their orbit.
Theyre careful to imbue parts of their own stories throughout their work, as well.
Thats something my brother used to do to play with his children, Jonathan notes.
We asked two things in the casting … but we didnt tell them anything about the music video.
It was just, Okay, how do you do the gorilla?
And can you cry?
He came from theater, and he can really speak with his body.
The two often faceeach other onstage, electric as they dance before and with the audience.
