Directed by Liz Charky, the music video for Henry Hall’s ‘Tiny Door’ is a playful and profound exploration of the song’s intriguing perspective on love. Silly moments and serious heartbreak are skillfully weaved together in a series of cheeky, dreamy, profound, and sometimes psychedelic scenes.
“I am a huge fan of love songs that have an unusual, hyper-specific perspective on love,” says Hall. “That’s what I wanted to do with ‘Tiny Door.’ It’s about loving someone unconditionally while recognizing that love is something that isn’t always straightforward — I think that’s something we all attempt to come to terms with in our lives. I thought it was a unique yet universal detail about love and therefore an intriguing subject matter for a song. Even though the song is a ballad at its core, it still has a lighthearted sense of humor to it — that’s really portrayed well by Liz, and Ellin Aldana, our cinematographer.”
Charky explains, “When I first listened to the song, I felt it was a love song full of longing with a kind of wishful melancholy. As I spoke with Henry about his intention behind the lyrics and sound, I was assured that I’d need to explore heartbreak in a nuanced way – with a degree of levity and playfulness. For me, falling in and out of love runs the full course of human expression. Love and heartbreak can be so emotionally intense and sometimes lonely, other times quite goofy or liberating. In developing the concept, I focused on both the literal and figurative ways that falling in and out of love might look like. So, you see Henry and co-star Franny Arnautou falling, flying, dancing, raging, winking, smiling, and freezing – some of the many ways that I think love can impact us.”
The trip through ’Tiny Door’ takes a minimalist approach to the set design and art direction to charming effect. This approach, plus an extra-technicolor color palette developed by Charky and Aldana, brings richness and coolness to the dreamy film. “Ellin has wonderful instincts for color and texture, and our set designer Brian Spadafora’s creative capabilities are limitless!” continues Liz. “They helped the video gain its wonderful specificity. They even tracked down our jet ski and painted it the perfect mint green. The costume styling by Eliza Karpel, and hair and makeup by Sophia Erickson, could not have been better too. Eliza had the idea to bring in the knight and princess costumes to further add to the cheekiness!”
The dreamy video ends in the clouds. “I do think that falling in or out of love can be overwhelming. Love can really hurt; it can make you feel like you’ve reached the point of insanity, but it can also be so goofy, cheeky, and full of joy or pleasure. I wanted the video to hold a tone that was true to all these expressions of love. I love the balance we found,” ends Charky.
Henry Hall’s brand new album “Stop Doing Funny Stuff” is out now, listen here.
Get tickets to Hall’s album release show at Zebulon, Los Angeles on November 19 here.
