In terms of conjuring up visual concepts, Sigismondi has learned that clever ideas are more likely to occur when she has an affinity for the song in question. When this connection is made, she listens to a given track numerous times. "The project might arrive at a time when I already have little images in mind, like pieces in a puzzle," she offers. "This is when I’m really in sync with a project. If I really love the music, it melds with these images, and I can take my ideas further because they really go with the song. It’s like experiencing synchronicity I call it being ’plugged in.’ When you’re plugged in, images appear."
A video Sigismondi shot for the Toronto-based heavy metal band Harem Scarem entitled "Blue" was a key project during her formative years. This stylized spot signaled her first attempt at costuming the musicians and lending the entire piece a unified "look." Sigismondi drew inspiration from Robert Wiene’s classic 1919 film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, in which a fairground showman uses a somnambulist to commit murder (a tale which, it turns out, may be the mere fantasy of an institutionalized lunatic).
In approximating the style of this German expressionist benchmark, Sigismondi teamed for the first time with director of photography Chris Soos. The cinematographer could have simulated the look of the silent-era picture in postproduction, but instead opted to create the ambiance in-camera. Soos suggested shooting on high-contrast soundtrack film stock rather than traditional production emulsions. "You can run sound stock through a camera, but it has no latitude whatsoever," the cameraman explains. "It’s orthochromatic, blue-sensitive, and has a low ASA you have to use very punchy, hard lighting. Basically, you’re simulating the circumstances that filmmakers had to deal with while shooting silent movies. [With sound stock] your latitude is maybe three-quarters of a stop over and under, and a slight deviation in exposure means that you’ll either get nothing on the negative, or something that’s totally washed out. I did gamble, but that choice enabled us to come up with a unique look that set us apart."
Sigismondi was so thrilled with the finished piece that she has chosen to collaborate with Soos on nearly every video and commercial she has directed since. This past March, Soos received a Canadian Society of Cinematographers Award for his photography on the Sigismondi-directed Tricky video "She Makes Me Want to Die." In 1997, the cameraman earned the same CSC honor for Marilyn Manson’s "The Beautiful People," another of the pair’s collaborations.
Many of the experimental techniques the duo used on their early projects have cropped up in more recent, bigger-budget work such as "Little Wonder," a music video in which veteran British rocker David Bowie struts about in an undercranked, Caligari-like manner. Crediting Soos for his creative and technical contributions to her projects, the director says, "We have a really great relationship. He’s always thinking of new ways of doing things and he’s always really excited. I love surrounding myself with people who are really excited about their work."
To maintain a cache of novel concepts, Sigismondi is adamant about seeking visual cues from art forms other than music videos. "When a certain medium influences itself, it just becomes a dragon chasing its tail it doesn’t generate anything new," she explains. "Whereas if you are influenced by fine art, photography or music something outside of what you’re actually doing you can bring in new things."
One of Sigismondi’s primary influences is the work of noted photographer Joel-Peter Witkin, whose stills feature freakish characters and an irreverence for religion and art history. She has also drawn inspiration from the paintings of Francis Bacon, whose canvasses are renowned for gore, biblical allusions and the recurring theme of psychological incarceration. Hints of Bacon’s style are apparent in her David Bowie video "Dead Man Walking," a piece notable for its angular sets, brightly tinted palette of green, blue, red and yellow, and the shrouding of the chameleon-like rocker in a face stocking.
It was Sigismondi’s collaboration with Marilyn Manson on "The Beautiful People" video that brought her international recognition. Though the shock-rocker’s music is definitely an acquired taste, the director found the singer to be a kindred spirit. "Manson and I connected from the very first time we met," she says. "We liked a lot of the same things. When I meet somebody that I really connect with on a creative level, all of the stored-up images come to the surface. Usually, that means I can be darker, moodier, and more dramatic with my concepts." In fact, Manson had enough faith in his synergy with Sigismondi to allow her virtually complete creative control. "His input was mostly in terms of mood; he would say things like ’I want it dark,’" she expounds.
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