Beau Fowler Talks Indie Inspirations

Last week, English Baroque-pop trio Haiku Salut unveiled their music video for Hearts not Parts - a twisted spot that challenges stereotypes and is darker than it initially seems.

Helmed by Beau Fowler, a writer/director known for his short films and success at international film festivals, the music video was professionally executed despite its small budget and on-set mishaps with equipment.

Fowler talks to shots about the process behind realising his vision, working with the band and defining his personal style.

What was the brief from Haiku Salut for the video?

There wasn’t really any brief to begin with. Originally, Haiku Salut were thinking of appearing in the video but their dates in London didn’t coincide and the ideas I was playing with were mainly narratives.

I was pretty much given total freedom to come up with anything.

What was the inspiration behind the video?

Having listened to the song several times, I felt there was an innocence to it as well as having haunting undertones. The budget was low which meant we had to concern ourselves with costs from the start - so, no car explosions or expensive locations!

The title of the song itself refers to taking someone for who they are, regardless of gender. This leant itself to playing on people’s expectations and I went from there really. I work visually and it wasn’t long before several ideas popped into my head.

Given the above, two of these involved a girl, the woods, and some kind of twist. I had a long chat with Louise from the band and the first idea I spoke was the favourite and I developed it further very quickly.

What was the most challenging part of the film-making process?

I think the obvious one was the restricted budget, and figuring how we could make it work in our favour. There were a few other challenges that arose - one that springs to mind was some grip equipment for the running scenes, but that failed on us, so we had to change the game plan with only 20 mins left on the clock!

Luckily, we had a very talented skeleton crew and two wonderful cast members, so fortunately we managed to make it work. Everyone did a great job, especially our DoP Simon Rowling, who went above and beyond to realise our vision.

And the most satisfying?

Seeing it all piece together in the end. There are also moments in production when we spend that little bit of extra time to get a specific shot and when you watch it back, you know it was worth it. The moment you see it and everyone else taking a peek behind you makes that ‘WOW’ sound, that's when you know things are going well!

As Haiku Salut is an all-girl band, how important was it to show a strong female protagonist?

For me, the protagonist's gender was important to the story's narrative rather than because Haiku Salut are an all girl band.

Why did you decide to use a cinematic approach with a clear storyline and strong characters to get the message across?

Honestly, this is simply my style. Film is my world - understanding a story with interesting and engaging characters and visualising this, is what film is all about for me.

If you have a message you need to tell or a story to show, this can be done in many ways, such as through paintings, sculptures, books, comics, film etc. This music video for a track without song lyrics meant it was perfectly suited for a narrative film.

How much did you have to compromise your style to suit the sound of the band?

Other than budget restrictions, I didn't need to compromise my style to suit the band. They loved our idea and left me to get on with it, so I had full creative freedom, which is great. Fortunately, I wrangled together an awesome cast and crew and with the full commitment and passion from everyone, Hearts Not Parts was made possible.