Films2021

Let Your Hair Down

Director: Dey Project & Dariush Azar
Year: 2021
Role: DOP | Art Director
Services: Music video — cinematography
Link: Watch

A music video for “Let Your Hair Down” by Dey Project and Dariush Azar, composed with Amin Aarabi. Released on Zang Records, August 2021.

Two musicians with classical backgrounds, and an industry default — glamour, rapid cuts, noise — that would have contradicted the sound. So the strategy was visual silence: strip the colour, slow the edit, remove the cultural noise that fills the format.

The camera works as a moving photographer. Long takes, calculated framing, no chaotic movement. What is left for the viewer to look at is the performance, which is the point. The result reads as a moving portrait rather than a promotional video.

Role: Director of Photography, Art Director

Case study

Visual silence as amplification.

Music video for Dariush Azar and Amin Araabi.

The challenge

In an era of hyper-edited, fast-paced music videos, the objective was to visualize a track by two musicians with classical backgrounds. The standard industry approach — glamour, rapid cuts, noise — would have contradicted the authenticity of their sound.

The strategy

I imposed a strategy of visual silence. Stripping away colour and slowing the rhythmic editing removed the cultural noise that plagues modern music videos.

Execution & impact

I treated the camera as a moving photographer, working in long takes and calculated framing rather than chaotic movement. This forced the viewer to focus entirely on the performance and the emotion, producing something closer to a moving portrait than a promotional video — and raising the perceived artistic integrity of the musicians.