creative showcase 2 0 music videos
dom&nic’s fishy tail reels ‘em in
Dom&Nic have done it again with their promo for The Chemical Brothers’ new track, The Salmon Dance, which enlisted the help of Framestore’s VFX team to deliver an animated fillet of pure piscine pleasure. The track features the vocal talents of ex-Pharcyde rapper Fatlip, who is cast as a musical Piranha, while backing comes from a beatboxing puffer fish and a host of
aquatic acquaintances. To pull off the huge task of creating 360º˚ fish and a 400-strong shoal, Dom&Nic hooked up with Ben Cronin at Framestore, who they’d previously worked with on The Chemical Brothers’ Believe. “The team worked seven days a week for 10 weeks,” Cronin reveals. The 3D team initially had problems finding high-resolution fish textures
sounds & visions Stephen Whelan gets behind the scenes of some great new promos, inspired by fishmongers, Sid and Nancy and running naked through storms
for the correct fish. But the London Aquarium helped out with some exclusive access, as did a local fish monger.” No motion capturing, then? “Our animators were confident that they could handle the fish. Besides, I couldn’t find any yellow ping-pongballs small enough!” Striking results have been achieved through integrating live action shots with the animated elements. Cronin
says: “I had previs’d some of the main sequences with them before we did the shoot, so they could get a feeling for the type of camera angles and be more specific about certain sequences when filming. Later on, they were here to approve the animation, texturing, modelling, lighting and compositing on a shot by shot basis. It’s the biggest team effort on any project I’ve been involved in.”
Call us old fashioned, but we’re rather fond of a good story here, and that’s precisely what Human Traffic director Justin Kerrigan has delivered in this promo for The Twang’s latest track, 2 Lovers. Shot over two days on location around London, Kerrigan drew heavily on the improvisational talents of Danny Dyer and Jamie Winston (daughter of Ray) to deliver a blinding take on a latter day Sid and Nancy-esque couple. Kerrigan first met Dyer on Human Traffic in 1999, and knew as soon as he heard the track that Dyer would fit the male lead perfectly. “I wanted to see the Danny Dyer I know and love. He’s got so much warmth, vulnerability and natural charisma. It was a scream to work with him again and I’ve been dying to work with Jamie.” Not to be outdone by Dyer and Winston, The Twang reverted to a spot of method acting for their scene in a bar, hitting the bottle at two in the afternoon to get into character. “Watching Danny improvise with the band, and talking the most obscene shit you have ever heard to make them laugh, was hilarious. Everybody was cracking up as we filmed it.”
Twang promo echoes Sid and nancy drama
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music videos 2 1 creative showcase
surreal gender bender kicks up a storm Patrick Daughters’ latest promo for The
every other aspect was handled in post. I
Liars is a truly trippy tour de force shot
worked closely with Method who did a lot
over one night in the desert outside LA.
of work to get the video to where it is.”
Featuring a pimped-up muscle car, a
Most of the cast worked on the video for
schizophrenic escaped convict and plenty
free, including the four people who had
of flesh, your guess is as good as ours
to run naked down the road at 3am in the
when it comes to figuring out what the
cold desert night. “There was a bit of a
jinxy this one’s all about. Let’s ask the
wind-storm while we were shooting,
director shall we? “The narrative is
which made things difficult,” says
totally open to interpretation,” is all that
Daughters. “Some of the machines got
Daughters is willing to share.
very dusty inside and stopped working.
The idea came from a Bright Eyes video
But when you’re chasing down a good
that Daughters shot earlier this year in
idea it hardly seems like work.”
New York: it involved projecting certain band members onto others. “We lined up a woman’s face on top of a man’s and it produced a really creepy multi-gender composite. All of the projections onto people were done in camera. Just about
kris crazy in love with face-ache The ever-inventive Kris Moyes delivers
sake, she endured various forms of skin
and understanding.”
laughs. “One of the most amazing and
another hit of visual crack with this
torture and distortion.
Working with Sia (whose website is a
energetic people I know. Over the last
tape-and-tights promo for the
Moyes says: “I’ve always found that the
mess of brightly coloured childlike
four years she has become one of my
spectacularly crazy Sia’s new track,
pieces I’m most fond of have been
scribblings that sticks a finger up at
closest friends. I love her.”
Buttons. The concept for the video was
where the idea was a solid crystal. It
Flash technology) was an inspiration,
Off the back of the Buttons video,
originally intended for indie band The
also helped that Mike was so gracious
says Moyes. “She’s a total nut job,” he
Moyes has been commissioned to make
Gossip but it was kidnapped by Sia
the promo for Sia’s next release, Day
when she saw Moyes working on the
Too Soon. “We have a strong bond, so
idea. “One afternoon I was writing a
she has been happy to trust that I will
treatment, and Sia liked the idea so
do a good job,” says Moyes.
much she bought it,” Moyes explains.
“Stylistically, it’s different from
The shoot took place at the home of
Buttons. It’s an epic fairytale about her
Director’s Bureau stablemate Mike
personal evolution, from her last album
Maguire, and it involved a series of
to the next one... it’s more of a film
painful-looking portraits of Sia. For art’s
than a music video.... so stay tuned!”
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