Flying High, Longlist - Music Video

Future Islands, Moonlight

Will Mayer

Better Half

‘Moonlight’ is a song about love in a depressive state. It’s about recognizing the holes in ourselves and recognizing the circular whole of others. ‘Moonlight’ is about acceptance because that’s what love allows us all. We shot it only 4 days prior so the whole process was a half week of sleepless nights and chaos, but we're really excited by how it came together. We had two incredible actors offer to come on for it, Callie Hernandez from LaLaLand & Alien, along with Matthew Gray Gubler from Life Aquatic and 500 Days of Summer. Sam from Future Islands expressed to me the song was about being stuck in a relationship but feeling unlovable in some way. Trapped in a sort of depression not wanting to bring the other person down with you. We ended up coming up with a concept that looped, where each time one of the characters sought an escape from the room they were thrust into a non-linear tangent of fragmented memories. Eventually, the room crumbling around them corresponding to that of their egos and personal walls as they move past themselves and come together.

Mayer began directing for Vans at 14 while still in high school, traveling the world with their professional snowboarders, skaters, and surfers. He left high school early, moved into a van, and drove from New York to California. Informed by his documentarian background, Mayer’s work aims to explore the human condition in an authentic and empathic manner. Attempts to define his work might result in phrases like “high-art doc-narrative hybrid,” but ultimately, each piece he makes aims for emotion and honesty, infused with a bit of the unknown.