HUFFPO EXCLUSIVE
Music: diNMachine
Video: Azazel Jacobs
Camera: Tobias Datum
Performance: Debra Winger
According to its songwriter, Michael Schumacher…
“‘Brisé,’ written for choreographer Liz Gerring, features bits of glass, hanging like a mobile from strings, for part of the percussion track, the recording of waves—recorded on a trip to San Francisco—and a field recording of children in a playground in Berlin.”
And according to director Azazel Jacobs…
"Brisé" played in a loop from a small speaker while we made this video. We - cinematographer Tobias Datum, actress Debra Winger, and myself - had few preconceived ideas of what would occur during the shooting, but it felt far from being free form. The song itself, already loaded with story, has such a strong sense of place and particular grounding that it felt more like being led, than trying to find our way.
We started at the beginning. Syncing up the sound of water with an image of it literally forced us to be on the same track. We began raising questions while simultaneously shooting; Who is this woman? How long has she been here? Where is she going…? We trusted the music to reveal any needed answers, all we had to do was listen.
I’ve never had a chance to work this way - to tell a story from the score, rather than the usual opposite. I believe it's a testament to the song, to the work of diNMachine, that the tables could be turned so and that I am still walking away with the feeling of making something personal. The woman that Debra so beautifully brought to life, and Tobi was able to capture, is someone that I feel I now know. She will remain on my mind, wondering whether this is a story of her survival or her destruction. Perhaps, it's more similar to the definition of "Brisé": (something I have only thought of looking up now) a ballet movement in which the dancer jumps off one foot, beats the legs together, and lands on both feet.
Ah. So she makes it.
-Azazel Jacobs. 2/15/16














