March 18, 2024 / By: Josh Kitchen
Ambar Navarro is a San Antonio-born Los Angeles artist whose latest music video was for none other than horror icon John Carpenter’s new song, “My Name is Death.” Since moving to Los Angeles and getting her B.F.A. at CalArts in the Experimental Animation program, Ambar has gone on to make dozens of music videos for artists like Weyes Blood, The Lemon Twigs, and Automatic. Her 2023 short film, How to Lasso premiered last year at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF).
I was thrilled to sit down with Ambar for a wide-ranging conversation where we discussed her music videos for Weyes Blood’s “Twin Flame,” The Lemon Twigs’ “Any Time of Day,” Sparks, watching horror movies every day, and the power in saying no.
Tell me a little about yourself and how you got here.
I grew up in San Antonio, Texas, which is a very sort of touristy town that’s known for the Alamo and the San Antonio Riverwalk, and it’s a very colorful place. I’d say Texans are pretty nice. Growing up I’d go to a lot of shows, and a lot of times touring bands wouldn’t make it to San Antonio, but they’d get to Austin. I had a lot of friends in Austin and other cities in Texas, and so I was very involved in the Texas music scene. I was very interested in making films, especially experimental work. I was taking classes at the Austin Film School, but I wasn’t really interested in going to UT or UTSA, so I applied to Cal Arts and only Cal Arts because they offered an experimental animation program. It just made sense to come to L.A. I felt like I’d already known all the local Texan bands, so I felt in this weird way that I’d conquered Texas, and I was ready for a change.
How did you get into the music video and photography world when you got to L.A.?
The first music video I ever made was for one of my friends’ bands in San Antonio, called Hyperbubble. They knew I was doing stop-motion in California, and we came up with something like the Rankin/Bass Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer stop-motion special. We thought it’d be funny to do a music video that was stop-motion and with synthesizers. That was my first music video, and because I was at Cal Arts, I had access to a shooting space, animators, cameras and lights. It was like the connection of my hometown musician friends with the now Cal Arts experience. It all sort of made sense. I thought of course, I’d be doing music videos, why did I never do one before? I had so many musician friends in Texas, and I wanted to collaborate with them, but I could never quite figure it out. I would interview them for ‘zines, and take photos, but it wasn’t very satisfying. I felt very out of place. I played in a band in high school, but I didn’t like playing in a band, and I didn’t like interviewing bands. Once the music video thing clicked, it all made so much sense.
Your music videos are so fun and oftentimes have an experimental and arthouse feel. And its funny you mentioned the colorful and vibrant scene in San Antonio, because your newest music video is shot in black and white. Can you talk a little about directing the new John Carpenter video for his song, “My Name is Death?”
I was familiar with Sacred Bones Records because I'd shot Spellling, and I was talking to them about doing a Spellling music video. John Carpenter was going to direct the music video originally but decided not to. They spent a long time trying to find a director. Someone at Sacred Bones had seen a video I did for Molly Lewis. They liked that I shot on film and liked that it looked very classic looking. They brought me in because John had wanted a very film-noir, 1940’s style. John sent a book of film-noir film stills and photo references and said that he wanted it to feel like sort of a fashion film and he didn’t care about narrative. I had a very narrative heavy original pitch, so I kept a little of that in, but its more about the vibes.
The vibes are immaculate. In an interview with Synth History you mentioned Charles Laughton’s Night of the Hunter as one influence. Can you talk about the film-noir influences in the video?
When we were just starting to talk about the video, the Criterion Collection had just dropped the film-noir collection and I watched every film. But, I’m not usually at home watching noirs, I usually watch ‘70’s horror almost every day.
Was it weird to direct one of the great horror directors?
I do this weird thing where I just like, completely disassociate while I'm on set. But, I mean, that’s also sort of a bad thing, because I feel like I never enjoy myself on set because I’m so in the zone. But I Zoomed with John before and he was so nice. Even in the calls, he was like, whatever you want!
left-right: Cody Carpenter, John Carpenter, Daniel Davies. Photo Credit: @cloudyytots
One of the cameos in the video is Natalie Mering, a.k.a. Weyes Blood. You directed the video for “Twin Flame” off her album, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow, and you do a lot of work with her from video to photography. Can you talk a little about how that relationship?
I mean, I really like her. What I like about Natalie is, I'm like let's have a Zoom or, let's have a meeting, she'll say, just come over. I like that about her work because, I’d love to do that with all the musicians I work with, but I don't get the opportunity. And I like that she’s so personal about it and she really cares. She knows that this video will last a lifetime. She appreciates things that are old and understands how things might look in the future. I feel the same way – I always want to make sure that things hold up. I like going over to her house. She makes you tea, she has her dog, and it's so unusual now that someone invites you over like that. It’s special to have someone that can namedrop movies or references, things that should be common sense but aren’t.
I want to talk about the “Twin Flame” video and how it came together. You mentioned being influenced by ‘70’s horror, but I’m reminded of things like Scooby-Doo, classic Disney films like The Black Cauldron or The Sword in the Stone, and even the Ralph Bakshi animated Lord of the Rings. Can you talk more about it?
When the album came out, “Twin Flame” was my favorite song. I had reached out to Sub Pop about doing a video for it, and they told me we're not doing a video for that one. I knew her manager at the time, and I was sort of really pressing that I have a vision for this. She’s in a castle – we have to put her in a castle. I couldn’t believe this hadn’t done before, I thought we’re missing this medieval side, and I just wouldn’t let this idea go. Finally, they were like let’s do it. I just liked the track. I wanted to play with the idea of the damsel being helpless, and at the end being really powerful. I love her music so much, and it’s just fun to play with. It's taken years to sort of find the musicians that you like get along with. I was like, I want a musician who just loves movies, and she wrote a song called “Movies!” I generally like it when people send me movie references.
For the uninitiated, it’s become a tradition at Weyes Blood concerts for fans to bring DVD’s when she plays “Movies.”
She really appreciates those DVD’s, and she watches them! She goes through them and has her stacks of DVD’s and has them organized into stacks of what she’s watched and what she’s going to watch.
Do you have a Letterboxd account?
I made one, and I was like, ok this is going to be cool. I think I added maybe one movie.
My opinion changes every day. I'll really like something and then a month later, I'm like, wait, that was kind of bad. What did I like about it?
You mentioned you watch horror movies every day.
Pretty much. Yeah, I watched Inferno last night. I try to watch a movie every day. I’m actually watching one right now, but I paused it!
What are you watching?
I was watching Ishtar. It's with Dustin Hoffman, and it's funny because I'm a big fan of Sparks and this is one of their all-time favorites. They curated a screening at the Alamo Drafthouse of their favorite movies. Some I’d watched, and with Ishtar, I’d watched it and I didn’t like it, and I’m like, oh no, its my favorite bands favorite movie. I watched it again, and it’s so funny. So, I’m not responsible enough to write about movies.
I think it makes a lot of sense you’re obsessed with Sparks. They’re sort of masters of using the visual medium to enhance their already very cinematic sounding music, down to the album art and their fashion. That brings me to your work with The Lemon Twigs, for whom you’ve done several videos. Talk to me a little about working with them.
The Lemon twigs. They're like, the best band ever. I met them through the band Tchotchke (who I just love), I did a video with them, and their boyfriends said you have to do a Lemon Twigs video. So, they sent me the track “Any Time of Day”, and I thought it was such a weird song and I pictured them on a TV set. When I asked about the song, they said they actually wrote it for a TV show, and the show got canceled. The vision I saw in my head was this very artificial world, and it kind of reminded me of Sparks. We were just pushing ourselves to go this surreal abstract direction, so then we went for it. They were just so good on set. They were professional and so impressive, and they blew me away. They also arrived to the shoot before I did which has never happened to me before! I know a lot of musicians that switch off instruments, but they are just really mind blowing. Then we continued working together. I think a lot of it is because we love The Monkees, like it’s the glue to our relationship. (Besides Tchotchke.)
I want to talk a little bit about your short film How To Lasso. When I watched that, I felt like, oh, I think I understand what she’s all about, and the kinds of things you want to show on film.
Yeah. I think it’s about feeling out of place in California, and just always being Texan. I don't think I'll ever fully fit in in L.A. like, I don't know, I feel like I'm here to like, accomplish things. But I also don't even feel that connected to Texas anymore. So, it's like being in this weird out of place middle ground. Growing up, I went through so many phases, and I can see it in my work. I’ve done videos for Reckling, who is a punk band from Texas, and then I’ve done things like The Lemon Twigs who are kind of 60’s rock, and then John Carpenter who’s doing almost 80’s core.
Your sort of making your own place.
That's better way to say it. I don't feel like I'm lost. I just feel like I’ve morphed a lot.
That’s what I think makes your work really interesting. It’d be boring if you just did the same thing twenty times.
I mean, I get it. I respect people who kind of stick with one thing. I think when I first started out, I was more adventurous. I still really want to do a country video, but no ones coming to me with country songs.
What inspires you?
Definitely film. ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, horror, musicals. I like contemporary art, I go to a lot of art galleries, and then just going out. Going to a show or seeing a band. Unfortunately, stuff where you have to leave your house to get to make things. There are times where I really don’t want to go out, but then you force yourself to go out, and something always happens. The connections are out there. Then there’s David Lynch, Sparks, and DEVO.
You shot Mark Mothersbaugh at his production company, Mutato Muzika. That must have been pretty cool.
It’s so weird being a fan in these really important moments. I saw DEVO when I was fourteen, by myself. I have the DVD set of their music videos that I got when I was in the sixth grade. I just love them so much. My friend was his personal assistant, and she was just like, I’m going to make this happen for you, and she did. I went to one of their shows, and she grabbed me, and took me out to his trailer to take pictures. And she was just my hero. Danz at Synth History is another one of those heroes. I’ll say I want to shoot this person, and she makes it happen. Those kinds of gestures just mean everything to me. Mark gave us a lot of his time. I kept thinking we’d only get about ten minutes with him or something. But he was really trying to help and actually cared. I actually commissioned a friend to make a miniature 3D printed model of the Mutato Muzika for him to hold, and I handed it to Mark, and he was so happy. Then he said, “I’ll trade you something for it.” I was so nervous and said, “No, that’s okay.” Just the photoshoot is enough.
You have an upcoming short film called Bautismo, which was crowdfunded. Is there anything else you’re working on?
Right now, we're just editing it, and then I need the right music for it. But after that I have a few music videos lined up. I’m just being really picky right now about what I can take on. I’ve been saying no to a lot of people, which I’m not used to. I’m trying to curate things and it's also what I can and can’t take on physically.
I think it's good to say no sometimes, and it’s pretty cool you’ve gotten to a place where you can say no.
It took a while. I remember first getting into this, and film in general, I had this friend who’s an accomplished director. I remember she was the first person I’d talked with about everything she was saying no to. I just said what do you mean? You can say no to projects? And she had so many projects and I just couldn’t understand what that meant.
But it’s just typical music video stuff coming up. There’s this animation school in Prague called FAMU and it’s known for stop-motion. A lot of famous stop-motion animators went there and taught there. Every now and then I daydream about going to Prague and going back to stop-motion, and I always have this lingering feeling that I want to get back to stop-motion.
I didn’t want to pitch anything, but wouldn’t The Lemon Twigs look good with Gumby?
Watch all of Ambar's films and music videos here: https://www.ambarnavarro.com/
Interesting interview! Good job both sides!