Cover photo: Dave in LET IT GO
Writer, musical artist, and rapper, David Shvarzman is a jack of all trades, releasing a short film as well as two music videos to Youtube under the moniker SaveWorld HQ. Both Shvarzman’s music videos and his short film are self-directed, self-written, and self-produced. The first release, FAKE NEWS, is a music video that parodies news programs and focuses its high-energy 90s boyband, pop, and hiphop-inspired sound around disenfranchisement of the common person by popular media outlets. Shvarzman’s releases THE ENEMY and LET IT GO feature pop-inspired vocal processing and rapping, but the subject matter is more focused around romance and internal struggle, respectively.
All three videos were created with the intent of being self-contained expansions into the same constantly-evolving universe. The same characters make appearances in each video and have connections and interactions that branch between videos. The character most prominently featured in the videos is Save and his alter ego, Zave. Zave can be recognized by his red mask, while Save is often clad in a blue mask of similar style, with a blue hat, bandana, and hoodie to match (pictured below).
SaveWorld HQ’s third and most ambitious release, LET IT GO, turns to horror as its main aesthetic inspiration. This release features the previous videos’ characters, but depicts them haunting and eventually killing protagonist Dean Davis – the husband character who first appeared in THE ENEMY. This dichotomy paints an entirely different picture of the characters than the past videos did, before adding even more to the characters’ relationship. “Dean Davis is Dead” can be seen written in chalk as the screen flashes to red, and the most recent SaveWorld HQ character makes their first appearance.
After the death of Dean Davis a character donning a white mask appears, with the masks of Zave and Save in his hands. Sharvzman alluded that this character, regarded as Dave in the credits of the video, is some form of vengeful spirit pepared to enact the will of the murdered Dean Davis. In the next frame, the spirit vanishes and a seemingly alive Dean Davis is spotted walking down a hall before vanishing too. After this, the notebook that Dave was writing in has the classic Watchmen quote uttered by Rorshach – a DC comics character who—like many of the SaveWorld characters, wears a mask –
“I’m not trapped in here with you, you’re trapped in here with me.”
The next scene erupts into the climactic ending of both the video and song, with the new Dave character as well as Zave and Save seemingly shifting and menacing spirits haunting the camera. This manner of movement is a clear nod to the specters of horror films like The Conjuring and Paranormal Activity, whose spiritual antagonists always find a way to get behind the people they haunt, without needing to walk.
Below: Zave in THE ENEMY
written by Brady George.
