It’s one of the most beautiful songs I’ve heard in a while and all I wanted was to try and keep it company. - Alma Har’el
It’s been a bit since we’ve had a visit from our dear old friend Alma Har’el, and ever the sweetheart, she’s gone and brought us a fresh slice of her newest Beirut pie for an oldie but goody, “Postcards from Italy”. Its a timeless companion piece to add to her previous work for “Elephant Gun“. Blending the past and the present and running it through her distinct vintage filter, Mrs. Har’el shows us not only how far we’ve come, but also how very much the same we are. Once again we had a nice little chat with her about the video, the beauty of our memories, and as always she gave us her advice on the certain outfit that drives the ladies wild. So strap in for a timeless ride forward into the past and don’t worry, where we’re going we won’t need roads.
SRO: What did you set out to achieve with this video?
Alma: I’ve been collecting home movies on Super 8 and used some of them in a music video I did for Taylor Hawkins but I felt they deserved more attention, I wanted to preserve those memories so they’re not lost. Zach’s song was a perfect match. I sent him a little clip I edited from some of the footage and he loved it more than I expected. “Postcards” is such a nostalgic song and it has that bittersweet feeling we have when we experience beauty and intimacy and know it will pass like everything else does. It’s one of the most beautiful songs I’ve heard in a while and all I wanted was to try and keep it company.
After Zach saw the test I did with the footage he wanted to keep it simple. He didn’t want to add any gimmicky transitions between the real footage and the new footage we were shooting with him and Kristianna. I think he was right to want that.
SRO: So it seems you pretty much ransacked the different home videos from your collection and spliced them together with recent footage of Zach. Is this true?
Alma: Almost true. The footage was all bought from different families on e-bay. I think they were getting rid of it because it was taking a lot of space so they transferred it to tapes and sold the film. Some people passed away and left boxes of Super 8 reels in their homes and nobody wanted to start watching it. I was collecting these movies for
a while and I contacted the sellers and asked them if they would agree to let me use a few seconds from them for a music video. After they gave me their written permission I set out to watch hours of silent movies. It was beautiful and some times very disturbing. It’s so intimate.
SRO: Were those movies from other parts of the world? How old are some of them?
Alma: They are mostly from American families between the 40’s and the 70’s. They are from all over the country.
SRO: What did you do to make Zach’s portions look antique? Was it the camera or was it post effects?
Alma: We shot it on a Super 8 camera. I tried to shoot mostly wide shots. I noticed most people were shooting their families that way since it was a new format and people were treating it like a still camera. Ghost Town Media did the post for it. They added a layer of real film scratches and made the colors more saturated and contrast. They’re great and they have a new studio with couches you can fall asleep on while the computer is rendering.
SRO: Nice, that should totally be one of their selling points. One of my favorite parts is when the music plays to the black-faced people dancing. That seemed a little risky to use, although to me it played gorgeously. Was this tough to use or was it a perfect fit from the get go?
Alma: It was a hard decision to make but I thought it was an important part of the whole and it should stay. I was showing people’s memories and moments that they thought were beautiful, you can’t argue with that, it’s the painful side of memory. A moment you thought is beautiful gets a whole new ugly meaning after time took it’s toll on it.
The video has other moments like that, the little girl whose mother grabs her face so she will look at the camera, the dad teaching his little daughter to hold a gun, and the soldiers marching.
It’s interesting because even if the person who filmed the black-faced people was racist or ignorant, he was still a person with a camera who looked at the world. We’ll never know who he was and why he filmed it - the beauty of that is shocking because it’s so sad.
SRO: Okay, what’s the story with Zach and the skateboard. Did he really hurt himself? If so, do you know what he was trying to do when it happened? Did that happen during filming as well?
Alma: Oh yes, he hurt himself pretty bad and I can’t tell you what he was trying to do because it’s a stunt that was never done before. I don’t want other people to get hurt while trying to do it!
SRO: Forever a mystery. When last you left us, we were planning an elephant nose trend. Now this time you’ve left us with playing the piano/instrument in a white undershirt, tucked in to tighty whitey underwear and capped off with white socks. Is this what the ladies dig these days? Will Zach adopt this trend for his stage show?
Alma: I recommend combining the underwear with the elephant nose for real results with the ladies.
SRO: In Paris Hilton’s own words “That’s Hot.” So young lady what have you got in store for us in the future?
Alma: A few weeks ago I finished a music video for “Bajofondo - Tango Club”. It’s a band lead by the composer Gustavo Santaolalla. He won the Oscars for his scores on the movies Babel and Brokeback Mountain and now he has a record coming out. It’s an electronic Tango and has a lot of guest artists and cool collaborations. You can see some photos from the set on my Myspace page, but it will only come out next year.
Right now I’m directing the second unit on a feature film called “Death in Love”. My husband wrote it and he’s directing it so we are working together and I get to learn a lot. He’s a great boss.
Beirut - Postcards From Italy
Directed by Alma Har’el
Quicktime 7 (iPod compatible: 44.6 MB)
Via Alma Har’el
a few years back,i was given a slide projector that had a small yellow box filled with slides,there is a whole christmas parade and the best of all one slide of a birth day party,its brillant all of the kids are wearing those knitted vest suits with ties,i wouldnt mind finding out who these people are. PS where could i find Zack’s email address Thanks