Playlist: Åsa Riton

Camp David /RSA director Åsa Riton, who has previously helmed promos for Ola, Viktor And The Blood as well as electro pioneers The Knife and Trentemøller, steps up for this week's Playlist.

What’s the best promo you’ve seen recently and why?

Jamie XX Gosh directed by Romain Gavras. Shot by Swedish DP Mattias Rudh. The scene with the camera inside the car and then seamlessly moving outside to the point when it drives off must be one of the best one takes I’ve seen recently.

What’s the first promo you remember being impressed by?

Aphex Twin Come To Daddy by Chris Cunningham. In general, I think it’s those videos from the mid-90-ies that formed my eye for the visual language.

And what’s your all-time favourite music video?

I don’t really have one... But Gus Gus Believe is one I love for sure. The unique look and feel, that they shot it on film and the low-fi Icelandic approach… the whole concept of a band including actors, filmmakers, musicians and artists is brilliant! The way they used this video on stage – the singer/actors/band interacting with the back projections - made an impression that stuck with me.

What other directors/artists do you look to for inspirational?

Vaughan Oliver was my mentor when I went to Central St Martins, and he gave me a box of Werner Herzog DVD’s. This was the first director that made a profound impression on me. The one who later got me seriously into filmmaking was Martin De Thurah, he also made me apply to The Danish Filmschool where I was accepted, and for that I’m forever grateful.

But I’m always watching out for female directors and artists that might be easier to relate to being a woman. Right now I’m very inspired by Emily Kai Bock for example, and of course Harley Weir.

What are you listening to at the moment?

The noisy fridge in the kitchen? And Trentemøller.

What’s your favourite bit of tech, whether for professional or personal use?

My iPhone. But I dropped it in the sea, which made me start thinking about life, death and unicorns instead.

What artist(s) would you most like to work with and why?

Right now I’m working with two of the artists I wanted to collaborate with for a long time. Me and Swedish visual artist Andreas Emenius are making the music videos, tour visuals, record covers and video installations in art galleries for the Danish electro musician Trentemøller. It’s an audio visual project visualizing women in power, stretching over the next year.

How do you feel the promo industry has changed since you started in it?

What is so obvious today is that a music video needs to be more than a static promo to still be relevant. In one way it still needs to be visual eye candy - but it needs an extra layer, something that draws you into the universe in a more uncanny sense and expresses something more genuine.

Music videos have had a resurgence of late; where do you see the industry being in five years’ time?

I think a lot of the borders of the artistic disciplines are collapsing constantly, soon it will all be a massive soup of ideas of everything that came prior. It's schizophrenic and messy. I love that. The promo needs to exist in more places than online, be more fluid and conceptual to have the same urgency.

For example, existing both online and in galleries, both as a short film, a car commercial and an underground projection. Steve McQueen shot Kanye West and only screened it a museum, sure a bit elitist, but he gets the point. I’m also spreading the word, look at a screen or a white cube next to you soon!

Tell us one thing about yourself that most people won’t know…

Like, that I’m a yogic flyer?