The music video is intriguing, what is the concept behind it and how did it evolve?
The band wanted the story and look to be creepy and dark, so I focused on conveying a mood and a feeling rather than telling a “proper” story. The lyrics speak of painful memories, and what stood out for me was that notion of incessant pain that slowly builds up.
So we did something very visceral, but without resorting to gore. I honestly never was much of a horror-film fan.
Like your impressive piece for Amon Tobin, (see Related Content) which won at YDA last year, this video is also a weave of hitchcock-esque live action and slick cgi. Are you happiest working with this mix? And which part of the process do you enjoy most?
Coming from animation, it’s pretty natural for me to add special effects or animation to whatever I do. But I’m moving more and more towards live-action. There’s still nothing that beats being on a set! But I doubt that animation would completely disappear from my work, it might become less apparent, but it’s definitely part of my toolkit.
In my opinion, the story will mostly dictate what techniques can be used, not the other way around.
If the effect works with Baxters filled with cream instead of cg fluid simulations, I’ll always try and go for the real thing. Within reason of course.
What were the main challenges of the production?
The main challenge before production was to think of narrative small scenes that were not overly clichéd.
When you treat how the external world perceives other people’s pain and grief, it can really easily slip into something blatant and condescending.
During production, the bigger issue was; what are all those effects going to look like? I had some ideas beforehand, but a lot was done on the fly. So, due to time constraints, we had our R&D phase during production. There was definitely the will to make this our very own computer graphics chemistry-set, and try stuff out until it looked like something we hadn’t seen before. The whole video was also a homage to animation in general with the human walk cycle at its center.
What are your plans for the following year?
I’m looking forward to directing more music videos, which are my first love, but also to delve into the world of commercials.
Some of my representation will change soon; Remember was produced by monodot in Brussels.
They will be launching a new label very soon that will also represent me.
