Watch: New Frame/Frame Video For Title Track Of 'Hard Boiled Wonderland'
21 January 2015
Delhi based electronic producer and musician Nikhil Kaul, better known as Frame/Frame has just released a music video for his single ‘Hard Boiled Wonderland', released in October last year along with its b-side ‘End of the World’ (here’s our review). The track was created in collaboration with Mumbai based Imaad Shah of Madboy/Mink.
The theme centres around a protagonist who seems to have fallen prey to the ennui of daily life as he blankly walks around the sun dappled (and strikingly filmed) streets of his city; backpack and notebook in tow. Unreceptive to the people around him, it’s clear that he’s trying to create something to help him run away from reality and find a way to escape.
With a perfectly bewildering ending that Murakami would be proud of, ‘Hard Boiled Wonderland’ does justice to Kaul’s excellent track as well as the ideas behind it - quite a feat considering filmmaker and musician were continents apart during the making of the video.
The music video has been shot, edited and directed by Haider Hussain Beig, who also played a large role in its conceptualisation with Kaul. The film stars Antanas Melaikaas playing the lead role along with Kim Davitt and Sushant Gupta.
“The video mainly revolves around the protagonist's desire to escape from his current circumstances, which in his mind, are completely bland and banal. He's working on a bit of a mysterious project on the side and it's the only thing that gives him any sense of wonder and purpose. This 'project' is his escape, both figuratively and literally. It's also my own little play on science fiction, especially toying with the Fermi Paradox.
I've been a big fan of Frame Jee's work for a while now and I really wanted to do some visual work set to his music. I got in touch with him at the Area 79 Music Festival in October 2014. We got talking, he saw some of my work and I guess he liked it. The collaboration has been very organic and he's let me be free with the content. It's been a pleasure and I'm looking forward to doing more work with him!” – Haider Beig
It’s always exciting to see collaborations like this between creative people in music, film and art - 2015 seems to have already gotten off to a strong start, first with Donn Bhat’s recent video and now with Frame/Frame’s. He’ll be playing a double video launch this Sunday at Hauz Khas Social along with The Circus who are also launching a new video for 'In This Laboratory There Are No Rules' (Facebook event).
Keep a lookout on Frame/Frame’s Facebook page for updates (and that might include a new release very soon, just a heads up) and his SoundCloud for more music. You can watch the entire video for ‘Hard Boiled Wonderland’ below:
Words: Diya Gupta