“How We’ve Faded” is about turmoil and the human urge to endure, even when it isn’t serving you. It is a song that questions how long Sisyphus can hold that heavy boulder, pushing it up the hill. As a director, I felt for the metaphor to feel effective that stakes for our main character needed to get raised each time something happens to him. As if the goal post is constantly moving, and the garbage he must deal with is never ending. I wanted there to be a physicality to having garbage thrown on the body, to the point of suffocation, what can start as a small nuance can build over time. We see goal post slide, when his glasses get completely covered by food and he can’t see.

In co-directing with Manny Nomikos, I bring the darker story and colorful depictions. Manny brings a sense of eternal optimism, firmly believing Sisyphus will get the boulder to the top of the mountain, but it will be trying and take the wind out of him. With our combined forces, we decided to play to each others visual strengths. By doing that we reversed the telling of the story, the film begins at the end of the metaphor, the top of the mountain, where our protagonist is head to toe covered in garbage.

The film is a single shot music video, meaning its a single take with no cuts. We wanted the piece to have an other worldly feel, so it is shot in slow motion and our protagonist is walking backwards. The film starts with our protagonist covered in garbage, creating a feeling of, “How on earth, did he get here?” Only the protagonist is walking backwards, all the extras are moving forwards. This creates a feeling of tension, as we follow him on his journey.

Production wise this was a huge under taking, we had a micro-budget of $1200. We had a tons of props, and 13 extras. My background in dance, anchored me to direct this delicate choreography between camera, extras, backwards walking and garbage- all while holding the camera. The timing was key, and we only had one take to mess up the suit. We did 12 rehearsals before rolling, and that preparedness made for smooth sailing.

How We’ve Faded was nominated in the Nitehawk Film Festival in the Music Driven category April 2025