Réalisation
Andrew Thomas Huang

Albums

Utopia

The Gate

Captures

Concept et tournage

Making of

Björk à propos de la vidéo

“The wound was going through that whole album, especially in the video for ‘Family’, to come through that with Andy in the visual world – we’d almost gone into short speech describing that he’d be the one directing this video, where it (the wound) heals. You get healthy currents and energies back and learn how to love in a healthy way again.”

Nowness

Andrew Thomas Huang à propos de la vidéo

The prism design was inspired in part by seraphim wings, photonic crystals, origami and glass sculptures, and conversations with creative director James Merry and Bjork about toroids, 4D spheres, and kundalini diagrams. The prism itself was created by VFX lead @aswaab at Wolf and Crow who developed the look and motion in Houdini. It was important to me that the prism felt like a pure light harnessed into a churning configuration of complex robotic machinery : tangible like solid refractive glass yet also liquid shape-shifting and dynamic.
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This scene was by far the most complex to create, shot with a techno crane and recorded using optical motion capture. Bjork refracts into an array of avatars performed by @leomorimune and choreographed by @ninamcneely . Using mocap, we took Leo’s movement and applied to the CG avatar created by CG Character Lead @mattberenty at @wolf.and.crow who developed a dynamic rig system to simulate the undulating movement of the shimmering wings of the Gucci dress designed by Alessandro Michele . After tons of thorough previsualization and layering, the end result is a sci fi ballet. (Personally I was also inspired by my fav movie scene of all time - the black dancing dress from Ridley Scott’s 1985 "LEGEND" - shout to those who know what I’m talking about)
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Cinematographer @oli_millar and production designer @purple_onecreated a lighting setup with a water tank to cast rays of refractive ripples across bjork’s portrait here. The oil slick iridescence on her skin is actually a CG photogrammetric scan of bjork’s face that is hand-tracked over the live action plate to create the effect of a shimmering visor overlay to complement the brilliant makeup by @andrewgallimakeup
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The big finale - an interdimensional crystal kamasutra guide. Intertwining motion capture actions performed by @leomorimune and @_dannyaxley with choreographer @ninamcneely . Our compositor Matt Lavoy really pulled everything together with Wolf and Crow ’s @aswaab for the orb-crystal pulses made in Houdini.

intasgram

Bjork "The Gate" intro inspired by Zelda - Ocarina of Time. Created this intro using Zbrush, Maya paint effects for the grass and After Effects for compositing.

Twitter - Mai 2020

A propos de la vidéo

For the first release from her forthcoming new album, co-produced by Arca, Björk has teamed up with a super-troupe of contributors to create a hallucinogenic new video. Artist Andrew Thomas Huang lends his tech-savvy hand to envision a kaleidoscopic world inhabited by the singer-songwriter, who is clad in an iridescent otherworldly garment designed by Gucci’s Alessandro Michele. Here, Huang talks about the project :
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“The Gate picks up where 2015’s Vulnicura left off. It is the first glimpse into Björk’s utopia. The doorway lies within the wound from Vulnicura, which now appears transformed into a prismatic portal channeled between the chests of two lovers. Not lovers in the quotidian romantic sense, but in a broader cosmological way. As a throughway into Bjork’s new album, The Gate is a declaration of hope sung by a woman refracted and re-formed into a luminous whole.
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“I am especially proud of this film as I feel it is a culmination of my five-year collaboration with Björk and James Merry. It’s been such a nourishing three-way relationship and this film is the perfect synthesis of our brains and our hearts. Having Alessandro Michele’s design as the centerpiece in this film is a dream.
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“I want to give a special shout-out to my visual effects partners Wolf & Crow, who have pulled off an exceptional feat for this visually packed video. Building a world like this takes a village and I feel blessed to be in this company of artists.”

Nowness

James Merry à propos des pièces en silicone

Can you tell us about the pieces in the video for the Björk single The Gate ?
Some of the visual ideas Björk had were concerning kundalini – the twin snakes of energy winding up the body and opening the chakras as they go. The white headpiece was an attempt to mimic that sort of winding intertwined energy crowning the head, but crossed with a white lotus-type lightness, like some sort of alien orchid.

Crack Magazine - Novembre 2017

Crédits

Director : Andrew Thomas Huang
Creative Directors : Björk, James Merry, Andrew Thomas Huang and Alessandro Michele
Executive Producers : Tom Berendsen, Sara Greco, Kevin Shapiro and Tai Thittichai
Producers : Sara Nassim & Jeremy Hartman
Executive Producer and Managing Director : Kevin Shapiro
Cinematographer : Oliver Millar
Production Designer : Grace Alie
Gown by Alessandro Michele
Headpiece by James Merry
Choreographer : Nina McNeelyAvatar
Dancer : Leo Morimune
Makeup by Andrew Gallimore
Hair by Johnny Stuntz
Visual Effects by Wolf & Crow
VFX Lead : Adam Swaab
CG Lead : Matt Berenty
Compositing Lead : Matt Lavoy
Character Animation Lead : Mitch Gonzalez
2D Animator : Kevin Stein
Colorist : Mark Wilenkin