An object lesson

Beginning with recordings of voices relaying the objects they've lost and what they mean to each person, this beguiling promo centres on a lost property office and the staff member who works there meticulously recording each item that comes across her desk.

The video was directed by Joao Retorta through Bullion and the melancholic, instrumental track is perfectly accompanied by occasional voicemail entreaties from people relaying how much a lost item means to them.

"We were interested in exploring the question of ‘what do the objects we leave behind tell us about ourselves?’," said Bullion's EP Joel Spencer. "This setting works as a vehicle for us to look at these items and question the story behind them and how they came to be lost. We wanted them to work as small windows for something bigger. Something that is down to the viewer to fabricate."

"I was primarily interested in exploring life in the city and the human experience in a very subtle way," adds Retorta. "But there are many other themes running through the film, all very subtle and unexplained; nostalgia, grief, loss, loneliness, melancholia, love, etc. But I’d like the viewer to take what they want from it. A Contax G2 camera might trigger something different to me than it does to you, or someone else. The dog leash will probably do the same. To me that’s the beauty of it."

The budget for the video was very small, as is very often the case with promos, which posed some challenges for the director but not as many as you might think, as he explains; "It restrained our creative and technical choices, even though I wouldn’t have shot it much differently if I had all the money in the world. I wanted to make something very rigid from the offset, I’d only have used the occasional dolly move, and would have shot it on film if we had the means to do so."

The slow-moving and contemplative nature of the track and the resulting video is also something that appealed to Retorta: "The first hook was Stephan’s music. It’s not everyday that I receive a brief for a track like this on my inbox. It came with the opportunity to make something different from what I’ve been doing recently, and that was the main attraction for me. Most of my work has been very fast-paced and energetic when, deep down, I know that I gravitate much more towards slow-burning and contemplative cinema. I’ve been wanting to explore and show that side of myself for a long while and Stephan’s music presented the perfect opportunity to do it.".