grandbrothers

THE PROJECT

Grandbrothers is the nickname behind which two young German musicians — Erol SARP and Lukas VOGEL — operate. The strange title Ezra Was Right requires attention. This melodious piano composition, with its progressive tempo, plays on feelings. At first listen, these feelings are very ambiguous.

Current music videos rely mainly on figuration. Sit back, breath deep, and drift away.

Art direction & animation: Thomas CHARIER.
Audio: Grandbrothers - taken from debut album 'Dilation'.

Ezra was Right get a Vimeo Staff Picks!
Featured on Stash Magazine & Motionographer.

~ 2018

building an ABSTRACT MUSIC VIDEO

If the current musical context undermines any non-figurative intention in music videos; the minimalist aesthetic, and its conceptual attractions, raise the interest of personal interpretation in a music video.

My approach is to put an artistic and conceptual touch in this musical world become a lucrative business and also to focus on the minimalist vocabulary and its implementation as part of a music video.

The complexity of classic and modern blend does not categorize or even accurately describe Grandbrothers' work. Nevertheless their works are close to classical compositions and rhythmic jazz. The sound universe is in between and leaves a lot of freedom in their musical performance.

The symbiosis between sound and image is an effect desired by most creative people. This research has long attracted the interest of many researchers and theoreticians like Gioseffo ZARLINO. He proposes in The harmonized istitutioni that the reaction of the ears to a sound combination is related to the reaction of the eye to a combination of colors.

Synesthesia is a graphic solution remarkable for its ease of approach and the wonderful results it provokes. The purpose is to accentuate the tempo, to put forward a chorus, but also to make more present certain notes, not discernible during a fast listening.

This effect can help to reduce a graphic style to its purest and simplest form, while keeping the viewer's attention. Forcing him to interpret negative spaces, break them with several graphical ruptures and keep a natural feeling for the viewer.

The void is usually illustrated by a solid black color. Black may seem unfriendly in its coldness and inanimate appearance. However this color has the advantage of returning a feeling of calm and inertia. Spatial ambiguity is characterized by its imperturbable appearance and allows to propagate sensations without altering them.

Also this simplification of the decor is important in the setting up of the graphic composition. The contrast of forms and colors, between the abstract elements and the emptiness, facilitates the hierarchisation of the actions that operate in the space.

My strategy seeks to introduce into the music industry, the emotion that provokes visual interpretation in the viewer. Like a field of stars or clouds in the sky; what captivates and amazes is the infinite number of forms that the viewer can imagine.

Spatial ambiguity turns out to be a graphic strategy impacting by the emotions it sends back. The use of a plain black background maintains the symbolism of the dream and hypnotizes by its purity. Spatial ambiguity, combined with monochrome animations, produces a poetic melancholy that few musical clips can enjoy.

The abstract forms refer us to a mixture of concrete images which is specific to each one, it is a personal interpretation. These forms evoke past experiences that are both emotional and graphic. Invisible and imperceptible distances create a feeling of lightness. The infinite fall, in this illusion of grandeur, generates a perpetual interrogation of the viewer on its current position in space and thus its place in the work.

The minimalist video disturbs the viewer's senses through the use of optical illusions and spatiotemporal transformation techniques. The absence of vanishing points and lines of perspective is one example, it reinforces the overall uncertainty of the work.

The radical simplification of an animated structure against a black background allows an infinite number of interpretations and stimulates the viewer's imagination.

Oskar FISCHINGER, Hans RICHTER, Walter RUTTMANN, Viking EGGELING, and Norman MCLAREN are visuals artists who inspired me in my design process. Their non figurative approach in rupture with conventional filmmakers and their intention of lyrical abstraction enthused me.

Oskar FISCHINGER reveals that the music-film relationship conveys more intense and more sympathetic feelings for the viewer. Already of his time, he testified that the use of musical theories in a visual work, such as rhythmic and synchronization, had become decisive.

script

A note is spreading on the surface of the water.

The name of the duo and the title appear diegetically with the spread of notes on the piano.

The rain begins to fall gradually revealing the maritime scenery and its different aspects.
The rain is waking up the ocean.
A bell falls into the abyss until it hits the ground.
The impact produces a shock wave on the surface and enchants the waves.

Water holes are formed and gradually bring back various debris from a shipwreck.
A boat wreck, made of wood, is rebuilt by a succession of notes on the piano.
The various elements of the boat, floats, anchor, rope, steering wheel, and wooden planks, come alive with a magical process.

The boat is rebuilt.

storyboard

The film cutout presented itself as the crucial stage of the project. This storyboard consists of a hundred shots, it is here in simplified version. The plan value variations make it possible to bring an interest even when emptying. These changes also contribute to the establishment of spatial ambiguity.

technical breakdown

This project mixes traditional animation with 3D imaging techniques. The use of 3D scenes allows to play and superimpose 2D animations in space. High details like reflections, foam, and bubbles are done after 3D rendering.

The combination of traditional 2D animations and a 3D environment is not a first. However, this mix allows for a multi-level creative approach and non-linear workflow.

The storyboard was clearly established but you always want to move a bit the camera and the focal for artistic purpose. Even a the very end of the process. The main technical challenge was to create dynamic 2D foam retaining the flexibility of a 3D scene like rotating the camera.

The combination of 2D animations with a 3D space allows me more flexibility in my design process. This technique is simple but efficient. It consists of projecting 2D animations on a 3D mesh.

My workflow solution consist to create 3D scenes, then place custom 2D ripple animations on water with camera projections. When all of them are timed with the song and composed in space I render each ripple from their respective camera. I rework them by hand to create collisions with the environment and themself.

Finally I replace the new hand animated waves in the 3D space and make a final render from my scene camera.

conclusion

The spatial ambiguity surprises, makes you think and invites the observer to imagine beyond what the clip suggests to him. The minimalist video emphasizes the poetic and adventurous aspect of abstract narrative.

Uncertainty affects the sensitivity of each viewer. Emptiness allows one to disconnect from the real, by proposing a subjective universe free from any representation. Each viewer has his own experience and his own graphic visions. The loss of spatial reference maintains the unheard, lyrical character of abstract art.

As a one person project it was a tough and challenging experience. A self creative direction can be hard to focus when production spans several years. During the production I secretly attended several Grandbrothers concerts allowing me to motivate myself and find inspiration.

Their show is just as stunning as their musical universe.