TRIP – Multicolor Desert
Music Video
All starts with the song and the lyrics, paying attention to the theme, tempo and interesting audio moments.
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The Lyrics:
I’m living on a boat,
I always did,
I always will,
All my friends are already dead.
I’m living in the desert…
Multicolor Desert !
All shapes and sizes form together
the big wide Multicolor Desert
Reflecting all the moonlight
Melting at the sunlight !
Full of colors,
Multicolor,
Uni odor,
One bad smell !
The desert covers all that lives,
all animals and families,
when you sit down in the heat,
you can hear a distant beat.
One day the desert change his shape
to a giant with a plastic cape
Robbed the daylight from our planet
and play the giant plastic trumpet !
Full of colors,
Multicolor,
Day of judgement,
God is calling !
Oh how sad it was to see,
The lord himself did not save me…
Cause there is no absolution
for the reason of POLLUTION !
God is gone !
We’re alone !
That’s no dream !
Hear the screams !
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Then comes the band itself.
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The song is part of the conceptual album WHWNH.
The main story was already there and the band explained some background info.
My task was to add some more elements, combine it all, put my spin on it and visualise everything.
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Bring it on!
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Research:
All post-apocalypse fiction.
I really dig this subgenre, so I knew from the beginning the overall feel and look.
I knew that it should be trippy and colourful; yellowish and brownish, cos fumes and dirt.
Main inspiration came (obviously) from:
As the sun heats up the ocean of plastic, it gives out fumes that destroy the atmosphere and therefore turns the sky red.
Visually like in Night of the Comet (1984)
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Based on the internal script, the storyboards are developed and everything is presented to the band for approval. It’s easier to correct the story at this stage than during the production.
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The band gives a green light.
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The production begins.
Gathering of the assets: photos and references.
Proof of concept is created.
Drawings are made.
Collages are collaged.
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The intro has no music, so I put the nightmare sequence.
A homage to classic black and white horror films. The main idea was to create a contrast between b&w and the acid colours that would come later.
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The main character has big eyes for two reasons:
1. We must see his expressions on a small smartphone screen.
2. To show that the pollution fumes make everyone high as a kite and therefore everything looks hyper colourful.
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Rubbing the nose is his trademark.
Some photos on the wall have easter eggs.
He’s wearing a plastic bag
(die Hemdchentüte literally translates as “a shirt bag”).
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The design of the boat was based on real boats made out of plastic bottles.
fun fact: while making “Waterworld” film the crew had a problem stabilising the camera on the water to reduce the motion sickness.
When you see close-ups in the TRIP video the camera doesn’t move (notice the horizon), because if you stick to realism and let it do so, you immediately get motion sickness.
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The Madagascar hissing cockroach. Yum!
The style of the close-up was a homage to The Ren & Stimpy Show, one of my favourite cartoons.
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“The ships of the rich” were designed as huge ocean liners made out of plastic bottles, with cargo containers on top and surrounded by barb-wire.
The style was based on vintage travel posters.
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The girl is wearing a shirt with the TRIP logo.
Her boat is a standard porta–potty.
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The 3-headed monkey is a homage to the Monkey Island game series that I love.
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The design of the monster was based on Nosferatu.
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The orange sunglasses is the homage to Hunter S. Thompson.
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This scene was the most important for me personally.
It is the homage to Miles Davis.
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Never thought that I would be doing this.
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Everything is gathered and animated in After Effects.
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In the very end after all the rendering we have the final music video.
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Check out other projects at “The Process”