On Our Radar: Belle Game gives us something to think about with new video for "Spirit"

For all the thousands upon thousands of music videos made each year, it’s rare how few of them actually make you sit down and think.

It’s that reality which sets the Belle Game’s new clip for “Spirit” apart.

The first single off the Vancouver ethereal-pop unit’s upcoming full-length Fear/Nothing (out September 8), falls under the umbrella of deliciously dreamy. Vocalist Andrea Lo is at her most exotic and breathless, with her bandmates—guitarist Adam Nanji, drummer Alex Andrew, and keyboardist Katrina Jones—creating a backdrop that falls somewhere between postrave synthpop and shimmering California chillwave.

Storywise “Spirit” is nothing short of fascinating. If you’ve ever spent time in India, you might have been exposed to something called the Well of Death. Think motorcycle riders and car drivers ripping around temporarily erected cylindrical structures at speeds that aren’t condoned by authorities at the local motor vehicle branch.

While not exactly safe for either the performers or the audience, that doesn’t stop the Well of Death from drawing massive crowds at travelling carnivals and fairs.

The twist on things in “Spirit” is that one of the riders is female, which bring all sorts of sociological factors into play. And then there's the reality of what people in desperate situations end up having to do for money.

Watch the video, and then check out director Kheaven Lewandowski’s breakdown of the shoot below.

Notes from the director, Kheaven Lewandowski.

The concept for Spirit was inspired by a short documentary about a female Well of Death rider in India. I had seen documentaries about male Well of Death riders, but I found the female rider to be especially compelling. Gender equality is still largely a foreign concept for most people in India and I was fascinated by how this woman was breaking the mold, rebelling against gender norms. She was so habituated to this line of work; her casual manner contrasted starkly with the fact that she was risking her life on a daily basis. She did not seem to consciously seek a role as a gender equality trailblazer. Rather, she was simply doing what she could in order to survive.

When we agreed to make a video for Spirit, I was determined to pursue this concept. I wanted to understand more about the factors that might drive someone to risk their life so boldly in this line of work and offer others a glimpse into this world. I brought in my producing partner, Kyle Hollett, and we began to work on bringing this idea to fruition.
Our first step was to reach out to the girl who was in the documentary. However, we soon found out that she recently quit this line of work and was not available. We spun our wheels for a few months, chasing numerous leads that ultimately did not pan out. Finally, without any solid leads, we took a leap of faith and flew to India. Our naiveté was a necessary force in propelling our work on this project; if we had known what we were up against, we may have not pursued it at all.

We landed in New Delhi and hit the ground running. The team consisted of myself, Kyle Hollett (executive producer), Kita Nahanni (producer), Evan West (camera assistant) and Peter Hadfield (cinematographer). We eventually found some line producers in Jodhpur that were willing to come on board, so we drove out west to Rajasthan.

A brutal case of food poisoning knocked some of us out of commission during preproduction, but the team pressed forward. We planned to find an existing Well of Death and negotiate to film there, but quickly found out that these Wells are mostly a thing of the past. In a country of 1.3 billion people, there were maybe only two female Well of Death riders left. This rude awakening placed our entire concept in jeopardy. Our only glimmer of hope was the producing team in Jodhpur, whom we had no choice but to trust.

After many endless chai meetings and negotiations, our line producers finally tracked down a carnival owner with a Well. However, the Well wasn’t built and they didn’t have any female riders. The carnival owner assured us that he could find someone by our shoot date. There were no guarantees, no specifics, no photos of the Well or the female rider, and we had to pay upfront… but we held our breath and went along with it.

The Well of Death was being constructed in Fetahpur, a 15-hour ride away. Upon arrival we were relieved when we saw that the Well actually existed. Simply put, it was glorious. As our shoot day approached, our line producers continually reassured us that we would have a girl to star in the video but we had no idea who she was or what she looked like. Miraculously, they found our heroine, Esther, who arrived a day before we began shooting. Luckily she turned out to be a natural in front of the camera. Esther’s own life story also closely resembled the character I had in mind, so we were able to seamlessly inject real elements from her life into the story we were telling.
As we would learn later, this initial part of the process was actually the easy part. The filming turned out to honestly be the most difficult project any of us had ever taken on. The language barrier was a huge hurdle, as we only had one translator. The real challenge, however, was simply herding everyone into completing their work in a timely manner. Additionally, there were also countless re-negotiations for payment, time at the carnival, the amount of hours we could shoot, difficulties securely mounting the camera to the car in the Well, and so on. I am in awe of how my producers handled these difficult situations with the Indian carnies.

The most difficult scene to film was the fight between Esther and the Well manager. There were many cultural dynamics at play that thwarted our efforts and triggered lengthy discussions. For example, the actor who played the Well manager was forbidden to touch Esther – as per the request of her husband. Instead, we compromised by using Esther’s husband as a body double during the strangling shots. Another issue arose when the manager’s wife did not want him and Esther to walk too closely together during the opening scene. These cultural gender dynamics were unexpected and foreign to us, but taught us a lot about their culture and values.

Filming Spirit in India was an incredibly rewarding and enriching experience. We are humbled by the connections we made and the opportunity to explore this Well of Death culture through the eyes of an inspiring young woman.