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Bastille 'Thelma & Louise' by Balázs Simon

Promonews - 7th Sept 2021

Balázs Simon directs a sprawling 3D animated digital landscape for Bastille’s music video for their new single Thelma & Louise from their upcoming fourth studio album. The video serves as the sequel to the video for Distorted Light Beam, building on the world established by Jak Payne - who joined this project as creative director.

In this high concept work, we join frontman Dan exactly where we left him in the previous video: having entered the Futurescape with The Engineer, played by Remmie Milner.

As the world continues to crumble outside, we see our heroes floating in a virtual fantasyland made entirely of pixel-like cubes. In the digital space, their avatars have moments of intimacy and play which intercut with their live-action counterparts.

To build this 3D universe, Balázs and his team had to develop custom code, animating up to 90 million individual elements, each with its own defined mass and physics. The scale of this project meant that optimisation and rendering on the fly were integral. This process ensured there was enough computer memory and processing power for the video to be completed. Balázs later discovered that Pixar had to overcome similar hurdles in making the film Soul.

The finished product is an immersive and impactful world that elevates Bastille’s new music into an audiovisual experience and impressive addition to Balázs Simon’s growing portfolio.

BALAZS SIMON:

There was no good way to visualize what we were about to do...

"Was it my worst decision to ditch the summer and do this video? I certainly wondered about that while being lost with stubborn pieces of code and the general uncertainty that comes with an experimental film.

"Building these systems had their thrill: there was no good way to visualize what we were about to do, especially because I wasn't sure about that either! It was one of those jobs you just can't do without the right team and client.

"I'm super thankful for all the crazy talented - and patient! - people believing in the project and going out of their way to make it happen. You truly felt like a family. It would be amazing to do it again"

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Promonews - 7th Sept 2021

Tags

  • Animation
  • CGI
  • Director's notes
  • Narrative
  • Special projects
  • VFX
  • Pop
  • Motion capture

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Credits

Production/Creative

Director
Balázs Simon
Producer
Máté Barbalics
Producer
Rosie Brear
Production Company
Service Company
Tuna + Icon
Service Company
Feature Films For Families
Production Company
Blink
Executive Producer
Josef Byrne
Executive Producer
Laura Northover

Camera

Director of Photography
Anna Smoronova

Casting

Lead actor
Remmie Milner

Animation

Animation Director
Balázs Simon

Grading

Colourist
Szilard Totszegi

VFX

Post production company
Umbrella Budapest

Misc

Creative Director
Jak Payne

Other credits

Storyboard

Tamás Pálmai

Character Modeling

Bernadett Dian

Character Rigger

Róbert Tóth

Character Animation

Bea Ujj, Zsolt Szabó, György Fábos

Layout Artists

Dávid Dell'edera, Dávid Szalai

3D Modeling

Battore Haraszti

Choreography

Adrienn Hód

Dancers

Dorottya Podmaniczky, Dávid Mikó

Mocap Studio

KGB Studio

FX TD

Gábor Abbas

Lighting Artist

Márk Pálla

Compositing Lead

András Pflum

Compositors

Shahab Hosseini, Csaba Bálint, János Nyujtó

Matte Painter

Márton Gyula Kiss

Concept Art

András Gunda

Motion Design

Dániel Kajcsa

Post Producer (Umbrella)

Miklós Kázmér

IT Support

Csaba Bálint, Andor Gerebenics

Special Thanks

Zoltán Hidvégi, Marcell Marton, Gábor Marinov, Igor Bóka, Ádám Sipos, Andor Záhonyi, Fox Renderfarm, Family

Producer of Feature Films for Families

Péter Barbalics

Live Action Team -

Director

Jak Payne

Executive Producers

Laura Northover, Josef Byrne

Producer

Rosie Brear

Director of Photography

Anna Smoronova

Production Assistant

Harry Hardwick

Casting Director UK

Anna Kennedy

Editor

Samuel Marr

VFX

Angus Wilson

VFX Producer

Amy Smith

VFX EP

Victoria Lovejoy

Animation

Balázs Simon

Sound Designer

Kaspar Boyd

Sound Producer

Laura-Leigh Smith

Service Company

Tuna + Icon

Executive Producer

Ivana Antic

Line Producer

Jelena Radojević, Diana Bojović

PM

Marlo Stepić

1st AD

Ivan Grbin

1st AC

Marko Jokić

Stunt Coordinator

Ivan (SKA team)

Stedicam Operator

Miloš Kodemo

Drone Operator

Filip Petronijević

Gaffer

Nedeljko Maletić

Key Grip

Nenad Maksimović

DIT

Ivan Tenaskovic

Production Designer

Damjan Paranosić

Costume Stylist

Suna Kažić

Makeup Artist

Marija Stošić & Zlata Blagojević

Hair Stylist

Zvezdana Svetozarević

Choreographer

Staša Stojanović

BTS

Vojin Staničkov

Promonews - 7th Sept 2021

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