Music videos have always been a space where new concepts and techniques are used to evolve visual storytelling and music. When we saw that fellow Canadian and singer Brooklyn Doran used cinemagraphs in her new music video, we wanted to find out more about how cinemagraphs became a part of her story and her new album, These Paper Wings.

Tell us about your new song, “The Villain”.

The Villain” is the second single from my debut album These Paper Wings which dropped on September 9th. The song explores a darker sound, and tells the story of a relationship that has started to breakdown, and is ultimately about overcoming a trying time. What I wanted to do with the imagery was portray myself in a way that felt strong and beautiful.

How does the song fit in with the rest of your new album, These Paper Wings? What can you tell us about the new album?

“The Villain” is one of the less folky tunes on the album. We cut a few versions of it before we found the perfect arrangement. There are six other tracks on the album and I think each one explores a different sound as well as tells the story of where I was at over the past three years of my life, each one marking a different stage in my journey.

The lyric video for “The Villain” uses cinemagraphs. Had you ever seen cinemagraphs before filming this video? Why did you decide to use them for this video?

The lyric video was shot by the talented team at Public Space Productions. They filmed my previous two music videos for “There’s A Light On” and “Lansdowne” from my first EP. Public Space brought the idea of creating a lyric video using cinemagraphs to me and it seemed like such a cool idea! I had heard of Flixel before but had never made my own and I thought it would be a great tool to create this kind of content. The reason we went this route was both because it was eye-catching and unique- but also because the concept of having a still image against a moving backdrop also tied in thematically to the story of the song.

Where did you film the cinemagraphs for the video?

We filmed all of the cinemagraphs for the video at the Scarborough Bluffs in Toronto. I’d never visited Bluffers Park before and it is such a beautiful place.

What was it like filming cinemagraphs compared to a traditional video where you had to be really focused on what stayed still and what was moving?

Luckily I had some really great direction from Kyle Marchen, who was already familiar with cinemagraphs and our cinematographer Filip Funk was able to capture some absolutely stunning images. Mostly I tried to focus on not pulling a weird face, haha.

If you could recreate any one of your favourite artist’s music video using cinemagraphs, whose would it be?

ANYTHING from Beyoncé’s Lemonade!

Any chance of creating cinemagraphs during your upcoming tour?

I’m hitting the road with singer-songwriter Rory Taillon for a month-long tour of Canada following the release of my album. We are going to some incredibly scenic locations so that would be a great idea!

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Want to create your own cinemagraph movie or music video? Check out Swedish singer-songwriter Hanna Turi’s cinemagraph music video for more inspiration.