Music Video: Crash Karma “Fight”

Although the band Crash Karma is new to the scene, many may remember the members by their previous successes. Edwin (I Mother Earth), (Jeff Burrows)The Tea Party, (Mike Turner)Our Lady Peace, and Amir Epstein (Zygote).

The treatment for Fight, called for all the members having their heads photographed and mapped onto 3D geometry to look like paper craft. I decided that the lyrical themes in Fight would be accented by referencing the style and look of soviet constructivist propaganda posters. Art for the sake of purpose is what drove the soviet constructivist movement, and I thought that it was fitting for “Fight” (a strong call to action).

Working with the band was definitely an interesting experience. What you see and read in the media is a very different from what you see in person. Each one had their own unique vision for the video, and each one had varying opinions. As a director you sometimes have to find creative ways of addressing client concerns, but ultimately in the end you have to give them what they need (not always what they want.)

Once the grants came in, I had to find my crew. I ended up calling an old friend (Joel Tellier) from school who since then has gone on to work in various mediums and jobs in this business. He has always had a facination with music videos, and strong compositions. Joels strengths lied in motion graphics so we worked closely in tying the 2D sections and 3D sections together As we began discussing the logistics of the video, another coworker who overheard what we were working on (Trevor Dalmer), and volunteered to help out with “some” art design work. Without these two peices coming together at the same time, I don’t think the video would have ever found it’s look.

Originally, the treatment called for the band fighting an ominous villain and defeating it. This was a starting point, but in no way could this hold up for longer than 30 seconds. The villain eventually took form as a sort of Rock Monster / Golem who had the ability to control the environment around him. Buildings took on symbolic shapes, rather then detailed complex cities to stay true to the simplicity of the soviet constructivist style. We made sure that the 3D Elements of the video weren’t complex and detailed to make sure that the 2D sections integrated into the video seamlessly.

The first few days on the project were spent pulling references of Early 1930’s and 40’s Soviet Propaganda. That quickly spilled into Art Deco construction of buildings, and more contemporary Soviet Inspired films / shorts and commercials. What makes this video compelling to most viewers, is the transition from 3D to 2D poster art. The poster art frames helped us overcome the challenge of making the band members look cool while fighting a monster three times their size and weight. The creative process was simple. Once we identified which shots would become poster frames, I animated and rendered a frame that Trevor would use to recreate in the Poster Art style. Joel would then animate the poster building to match the tempo / mood of the song.. and tada… some pretty intense kickass fight scenes.

Sometimes I get asked how many people worked on this project, and I find it hard to answer, because various people came in to help out at different times. Fredric animated 50+ shots in the short time he was on, and Karim managed to comp together most of the video in an even shorter time. Thanks everyone that helped Here are the full list of offical credits below:

Credits:
Client: Crash Karma
Manager: The Management Trust
Production Company: Guru Studio
Director: Yurie Rocha + Joel Tellier
Creative Director: Frank Falcone
Producer: Christina Shepherd + Sharon Nelson
Art Director: Trevor Dalmer
Animator: Frederic Djoenaedi
Compositor: Karim Zouak
Design Artist: Keith Lee
Simulations: Bryan Huo

Check the Video and some Work in Progress Art below:

Joel and I after living in the studio for weeks.