Peter, Bjorn and John – Breakin’ Point

Peter, Bjorn and John’s music video for “Breakin’ Point” is a modern take on Greek mythology and River Styx.

Last December I introduced you to the fabulous work of Danish-Norwegian directing duo, HochR for New York City based shooting star Elliot Moss and his song ‘Pattern Repeating’. This time the creative duo has directed the new music video for the song ‘Breakin’ Point’ by Swedish indie pop-rock band Peter, Bjorn and John. The directors duo Howlid and Rosenbak told me when they first heard the lyrics they immediately wanted to do a modern take on Greek mythology and River Styx.

Peter, Bjorn and John - Breakin’ Point.
Peter, Bjorn and John – Breakin’ Point.

The story follow’s a man’s search for something unarticulated. With this growing question deep inside: “Was this all there was to life?”, the person tries to move on – guided by external forces to end up in the world of Hades. The directors of HochR avoided to show this place as the typical dark, burning underworld. Instead they filmed in a seemingly fairytale forest and this otherworldly place of Hades appears much friendlier due to sunny sand dunes. Even though it’s still a prison-like place that gives the impression of a dull routine life, which again is pretty much a mirror of our own existence.

Our “hero’s” journey seems to be a metaphor for his personal existential struggles on the way to find and accept his inner fable animal. Below you can find a few more stills taken from the video as well as the music video itself. Furthermore you can find some ‘behind the scenes’ information at the end of the article.

The music video by HochR draws inspiration from Greek mythology and River Styx.
The music video by HochR draws inspiration from Greek mythology and River Styx.
A man on a search for something unarticulated to him.
A man on a search for something unarticulated to him.
Find your inner fable animal or let it find you.
Find your inner fable animal or even let it find you.
Was this all there was to life?
Was this all there was to life?
The sleeping man pulled by his inner fable animal.
The sleeping man pulled by his inner fable animal.

Behind the scenes.

The video was shot in some amazing locations in Poland. The team made a 3 day trip, they packed their stuff in buses and had an amazing time on the road. The Christ statue is located near Swiezbodin, it’s the tallest Christ statue in the world, but strangely placed next to a highway. All desert scenes were shot in Wolinski Park in North East Poland and the river scene where the guy meets the Ferryman is a few miles outside the city of Warsaw. At 5:00 am in the morning, this particular small river gave the perfect, intimate and eerie feeling.

Filming at a small river a few miles outside the city of Warsaw.
Filming at a small river a few miles outside the city of Warsaw.
Behind the scenes of the video shoot for Peter, Bjorn and John's song 'Breakin’ Point'.
Behind the scenes of the video shoot for Peter, Bjorn and John’s song ‘Breakin’ Point’.
Behind the scenes.
Behind the scenes.
Music video shoot in the dunes of Poland.
Music video shoot in the dunes of Poland.