Video Picks: Rapman - Shiro's story
Film technician Ernesto introduces Rapman's three-part story presented in a music video format.
Video picks: Step inside a music video with director Oscar Hudson
- Written byKirsty Gentle
- Published date 23 March 2018
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With clever use of light, camera angles and other (post) production techniques you can encourage your audience to believe in characters and plot twists.
In today’s world of computer generated imagery and other digital advances, some directors are choosing to keep it lo-fi and experiment with more traditional techniques but still create mind-bending results.
Oscar Hudson is a great example of this. In music videos for Radiohead and musician Bonobo he’s refused green screen and instead chose to build detailed sets and props for his characters to interact with.
Behind the scenes
Video: Filmed and edited by Christian Cargill for Pulse films.
Want to see more?
Find out more about Oscar’s approach for the video on It’s Nice That
Explore more of Oscar’s work on his website
Bonobo’s song is about the sense of detachment he feels to places he visits during extensive touring. In this video Oscar talks about how he used Japanese culture and references to re-create this feeling of detachment in this visually entrancing video.
Oscar based the story on the Japanese phenomenon of the Hikikomori &ndash young people who become overwhelmed by life and hide themselves away in their rooms at var/www. Together with art director, Luke Moran-Morris and a team of production design/art department assistants, they built an 18-layer set with every item in the room – plus the room itself – created 18 times in decreasing size.
The clever use of a simple prop that fits with the Japanese theme – the face mask – meant he could employ 10 similar looking actors to take it in turns in appearing as the same character in the 18 different scenes (rooms).
With his director of photography (DOP) Oscar designed a grip for his camera that could make its way through the rooms to shoot the video in no more than two takes. This must have involved a lot of choreography and direction to get this right but he’s really honed this technique in other music videos.
These combined techniques – industry tricks ndash; are what promotes that unsettling feeling of claustrophobia felt by the main character who’s locked himself away from the world.
This video was produced by Pulse Films, a next generation studio that develops, creates and finances films irrespective of format or platform. The studio is a global var/www for directors, producers and writers shaping the future of storytelling and creating moments of culture.
Take a look at their website and you’ll definitely recognise some of those moments in the range of ground breaking content they’ve brought to our screens.
