Calgary-based artist, Laura Hickli intentionally took a less structured, less professional approach to releasing a visual for her song, ‘Float Away‘ from her highly-acclaimed, recently released LP, ‘Flowstate.’ This self-produced, avante-garde film is her third official music video to date, following her award-winning music video, ‘Midnight,’ (winner of ‘Best Music Video’ at The Edmonton Short Film Festival and AMPIA 2015) directed by Doug Cook, and 8mm film style video, ‘Play Your Magic’ filmed and edited by Richard Charter.
As a big, ‘Not today!’ to standard music video ‘shoulds’ and ‘should nots,’ Hickli’s first film-making attempt, ‘Float Away,’ explores the boundless opportunities for self-expression in experimental film, combining multiple exposure and layers of unique home videos, tied together with a little unpolished, unintentionally-taken footage.
THE MAKING OF THE ‘FLOAT AWAY’ MUSIC VIDEO
Hickli states; ‘In an attempt to avoid second-guessing my gut inclination as an artist, I decided to do something completely unorthodox and edit my own music video despite having no previous experience in the field. For this project, I wanted to completely stray from thinking what a music video ‘should’ look like, as I’ve never written my music thinking about what the music ‘should’ sound like. ’
The ‘Float Away‘ music video inspiration came as a visual surprise, which was welcomed with relief, when Hickli came across unintentional footage of her little sister, Sara, playing on a beach in Gull Lake, AB. Hickli describes the footage as, ‘…incredible… everything that Sara did seemed to line up with my song, ‘Float Away.‘ From the carefree moments of a child dancing, to her unapologetic display of inner-conflict and release, the footage naturally embodies the dream-like state and introspective stories invoked within Hickli’s song.
Hickli’s unpolished editing process came with a lot of heart. She laughs; ‘With Sara’s permission, I used the footage I accidentally took on my crappy 2009 camcorder, downloaded free music video editing software, and spent every single free hour I had on it for the next 3 weeks. In the end I had this weird visual creature that makes just as much sense as the song, ‘Float Away’ does to me.’
