'Butterflies' Skrillex

Ben Strebel directs ‘Butterflies’ for Skrillex, featuring Starrah & Four Tet.

Words from Ben below.

Can you share an insight into your collaboration with choreographer, Holly Blakey?

I knew Holly immediately understood my vision and we worked closely together to develop the style that would capture the emotion I wanted to convey. It was strange constructing a dance on the ground that would ultimately take place in the air and vertically. We both had to wrap our heads around this approach. There wasn’t an existing language to talk about this though, because we hadn’t done it before. I look forward to working diagonally next time.

“It was strange constructing a dance on the ground that would ultimately take place in the air and vertically.”

Talk us through the scene intermission.

The point of this is that it creates a sense of contrast in light of the euphoria proceeding following. It was an opportunity to create dramatic tension where necessary and convey the complicated feeling that we were all experiencing as we emerged from lockdown. People have changed during the past year. This scene was a great opportunity to explore some of the tensions that have arisen. Every one of us has gone through an individual emotional rollercoaster and it’s inevitable that such frictions might occur between even the best of friends.

Any advice for those embarking on a film that heavily involves VFX?

Choose your team carefully. It’s all about trust. Communication is everything with this. ETC has stood by me and supported me in my past endeavours and knew they were the right team for this. Their work is extraordinary as displayed in the final product.

Any particularly guiding creative references for this project besides the track?

Obviously our culture is awash in images of ghosts. We all grow up dressing up in a sheet. The challenge here was to reinterpret the story of ghosts is.

“It’s a metaphor for liberation and reigniting human proximity and self-expression.”

Unlike most peoples’ understanding of what a ghost signifies – death, haunting, loss, despair, I wanted to reimagine what a ghost could stand for. It’s about freedom from the restraints of reality and specifically our shared reality of the past year. It’s a metaphor for liberation and reigniting human proximity and self-expression. These ghosts face no constraints.

What are you reading at the moment?

Kevin Barry’s ‘Night Boat to Tangier’.