When award-winning cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto began working with Taylor Swift on the “Willow” video in November, he was unaware that it was part of his new surprise album. Evermore.
“I thought it might be a video for an earlier album,” he says Rolling Stone. “I didn’t even know what the song was at our first meeting.”
Prieto is not the only one in the dark about the new record; Swift dropped Evermore Last week was very similar to his previous LP Folklore, Complete with self-directed music video released at midnight with the album: “Willow.” The video continues to narrate the story in the “Cardigan” music video – which was also worked by Prieto – with a ton of visual references to the tracks. Folklore.
“Willow” begins in the same room where the “Cardigan” video stopped, and Swift is invited back into his magical, time and space travel piano. She follows a golden string (mentions Folklore The song “Invisible String”) and arrives at a deciduous forest under a willow tree, where she finds a reflection of a man (played by her touring dancer Theog Lee) and a woman in a moonlight pool. The string then leads to a scene from his childhood, a festival tent party he performs inside a glass box, and a winter scene in the middle of the woods. Eventually, the string takes her back to the cabin, where she rejoins Leigh.
As with the “Cardigan” video, Swift, Prieto and the production team not only kept the film hidden, but also found innovative ways to film the project under Covid-19 security protocols without endangering the crew’s life. Prieto spoke Rolling Stone This time it was about production, and how the band revived Swift’s witch’s vision for “Willow”.
How is the shooting of “Willow” different from “Cardigan”? Looks like you were able to have other actors this time around, but how did it change the safety measures you need to follow?
It was still very, very strict. A big part of it is the whole test protocol, which we did last time. But when we make this video, we know more [about the virus], And the safety guidelines are very specific. We followed what DGA did, my union did Local 600, SAG – they all followed these protocols and we were very careful about that.
For example, in the dance and cleaning scene around the tree, with a kind of dance around these magical balls, you know, there was a limit to how many actors and dancers there could be. It was created by visual effects, in fact – they were added to more dancers. I think we are the real number 10 dancers in the shoot, they all have masks. We can’t see their faces, partly because they have masks on them.
There is really only a moment in the cabin where she is in close contact [another actor], With the man that she had not seen in these strange moments. But, of course, both were tested, and they only take off their masks the moment we actually shoot. Others always wear masks. Like last time, anyone close to the scene should have a red watch – it was all color-coded, based on who could be closest to the scene and the actors. Of course, when we are in close contact with Taylor or any other actors or dancers it is very important to have not only a mask but also a face mask.
I still used a remote camera on a crane, so not even a camera operator was close to anyone. We still followed all the guidelines very closely, but now, it felt so relaxed in the sense that we had more information. We can follow all of these protocols. We know we will be safe because it is so strict.
You mentioned last in the “Cardigan” package that communication can sometimes be difficult because everyone has to shout at each other or point things out because they can’t get close. While you were filming the music video for “The Man”, could Taylor get more involved in his movement this time around?
It was still the same – especially when you have a mask and face mask, you have to be a little louder to hear when you’re six feet away. So we maintained that protocol. But she was still very involved. I will stay at my monitor at DIT [digital imaging technician] Station, because this is the best picture, but everyone will watch it from a distance of six feet.
But for a moment unforgettable. He actually mentioned it, and when it started filming on November 7th, we got the news of the election results. We were both looking at the monitor at the DIT station when she got a text alert or something like that. Apparently, at the time, we were all working on video, but in the back of our minds we all wanted to, Well, what happens? She was only able to look at her phone because in reality, everyone had to drop their phones at the beginning so that no one would take a photo of anything, except for a few like me, who can sometimes use our phone to take notes as a photo. I only use it very, very sparingly.
So Taylor was the ambassador for the election results.
Exactly. So, she’s next to me – six feet away, but she’s next to me. She got this text and she showed it to me. So, I came to know the result from her at that moment and I told her, “I will never forget this moment” because it is a moment of historical significance and you know that she is the one who showed me this information. It is very special. Yes. I felt like celebrating and doing a little dance, but I didn’t – we’re professionals, we work, and I want to respect anyone who voted differently. But it was an incredible moment, and the start of the three-day shoot turned out to be an adventure.
This video makes many references to songs Folklore And old songs by Taylor’s Discography, both explicit and obscure. How did she express her vision to you?
The first meeting was talking about the story and ideas. I don’t know the song yet, but the first thing is a sequel to an earlier song we did together. At that point, she was still developing some sort of ideas, trying to figure out what was going to happen – for example, the result was not yet clear. She knew she wanted to finish in the cabin again [the man] Will be there, OK. But during that meeting, they both decided to leave the room. It was an idea that came to us when we were talking as a group.
Then we went back and forth – at first she thought it should be night outside, because it was always night, and then she changed her mind and said it should be daylight, so we were like, Well, how will it be there? Is it just limbo? Then our product designer Ethan Topman said it must be this kind of autumn forest. She appreciated it so much and really listened to everyone’s ideas.
There was also a debate at the time as to whether or not there should be a fireball. First, with production, we would have to shoot it outside, which would have been more complicated. But even with the special effects, she realized that showing all the wildfires going on in California was not good. So he came up with the idea of some kind of orb, something more magical, for which Ethan Topman came up with different reference photos. This is how we created these ideas – even with the willow tree, Ethan sent us some pictures and ideas, one of which was to put these magenta leaves on the ground, which was weird and magical. Taylor and I loved it. In the pre-production phase, before listening to music, it was back and forth.
It’s amazing how you were able to pull this off in such a complex situation – communicating back and forth to zoom in, and then through real video shooting.
Getting such a complex and technically challenging land off the ground is very tricky, but we all planned ahead. Ethan Topman worked with his art director Simon Morgan on designing the set on Zoom. So, this is all overhead projects, and then you have to go to the set and map it out. For that vivid scene, for example, Simon Morgan and I, my Koffer Manny Tobias and Donald Reynolds in my main grip, we first went to the soundstage and knocked on the spot where the magic balls were. Then we measured the distance to the background with the blue screen, tapped where all the trees were, and then figured out where all the lights were and the festival set – everything had to be very, very accurate, and the distance had to work for everyone. It really helped when we were actually shooting because it went so smoothly. So, that’s how we did it.