Directors:
Patrick Daughters, Marcel Dzama
Production Company:
The Director's Bureau
An idea of skating ghosts led versatile director Patrick Daughters to ask artist Marcel Dzama to work with him on the video. The idea developed into something of an analogy about the futility of war: as clashing regiments of doll-like figures annihilate one another they become ghostly spirits finally united in dance.
The set for the three-day studio shoot was a 30 ft sq area of sand and a 40 x 20 ft blue screen. The Mill's shoot supervisor and co-lead Flame artist Cole Schreiber elaborates: "With just five dancers, the real challenge was to produce the scale required to create an epic battle. Of the 84 shots used, 82 were on blue screen."
A variety of techniques were used to achieve the video's unique look. Co-director Marcel painted textural backgrounds using watercolour and acrylic on plexi-glass and canvas. Cole photographed them, and used Flame to paint over the images and combine various paintings. Marcel, Patrick and The Mill all worked closely to help create the vast desert landscape.
For one of the most interesting shots, Westley Sarokin and Cole at The Mill built a fully 3D environment in Flame. Westley projected textures onto geometries that let the camera move vertically from the ground plane all the way into the sky. A particle system was used to scatter bodies throughout the scenes, and 'locked-off' ghosts created in Maya were tracked in. In the early shots stop-frame animation was used for the birds, and the night-time shots were built using still photographs. The Mill also added muzzle flashes, explosions, dust, debris, and blood throughout the video.
Production Company: The Director's Bureau
Record Company: 4AD
Directors: Patrick Daughters, Marcel Dzama
Producers: Kim Lana, Melody Roscher
Director of Photography: Shawn Kim
Editing Company: Final Cut
Editor: Michael Wadsworth
VFX & Design: The Mill
VFX Producer: Dan Roberts
2D Lead Artists: Cole Schreiber, Westley Sarokin
2D Artists: Naomi Anderlini, Melissa Graff, Randy McEntee, Anu Nagaraj, Gigi Ng, Dave Parker, Iwan Zwarts, Jeff Robins, Tristian Wake
3D Artist: Mike Dunkley
Assist: Albert Cook, Suzanne Dyer, Elizabeth Koenig, Keith Sullivan