SXSW Festival: interview with Chamberlain Staub, director of Great Grandpa's 'Doom' videoclip

I really wanted to blur the lines between the waking & subconscious worlds. The main character is repeatedly haunted  in this dream world by his buried trauma. His memories are rooted in reality but he and his brother are the only ones who have aged, while the other party guests are frozen as past versions of themselves. 

The underwater void represents an even deeper layer of the subconscious world. Its here that the main character can further access and wrestle with his feelings of guilt, realization, forgiveness and ,ultimately, rebirth.

When creating the concept with Leo Kim (who stars in the video) we wanted to lean into the feelings of guilt and betrayal. Leo’s character can’t forgive himself for leaving, and ultimately sacrificing, his brother.  So in an attempt to escape his guilt, he avoids the truth that his brother is dead. I also wanted to explore how trauma is represented for different family members. The mother forces a smile to try and keep up a facade of domestic normalcy, although she too is trapped in a cycle of abuse. 

The parents and blindfolded party goers represent a frozen time in our main characters memory. The blindfolds represent the willful ignorance of people in his childhood who turned a blind eye to the violence.

The mothers pregnant belly is a symbol of realization & rebirth but also of generational, cyclical trauma. I really wanted to find a cathartic moment for the main character when he finally reaches the realization that his brother is gone. When they stop fighting underwater and come together peacefully in utero - I wanted it to feel like a forgiveness that serves as a rebirth for our main character. 

Great Grandpa created such an emotionally rich song. I’ve listened to it hundreds of times and I’m still moved by the composition and lyrics. They tasked us with creating a short film to their song but trusted us to figure out the narrative. Since their song has so many layers we decided to mirror that in the video so that we could dig even deeper into those emotions. 

I’m still pinching myself that we’re able to screen this music video at SxSW alongside so many incredible artists! Not only is the festival space important to find new audiences - it introduces you to new collaborators and inspiring projects. After working on Doom for so many months in a vacuum it’s so validating to see the work be appreciated on a festival stage! Its amazing to see that this piece is resonating with an audience outside of the people who made it. 

I’ve historically worked on a lot of super indie music videos for friends. Those budgets have ranged from $0-$1000. So I’ve learned to just lean into the narrative and how to tell the most entertaining story regardless of the budget.  This music video for Great Grandpa was still an indie budget but we had a little more money to play with, so we were able to elevate the production quality and play around with the narrative in a more abstract way that was really fun. 

I’ve realized that I’d rather make music videos that feel like short films and take you on a journey.