London-based Director Oscar Hudson recently released a mind-boggling music video for Bonobo’s “No Reason,” and it's incredible. The music video, which is an homage to Hikikomori, a growing problem in Japan of adolescents and adults who withdraw from society and become increasingly isolated, was filmed using one continuous shot and only in-camera effects and no CGI.
Hudson wanted to create a visual concept taking advantage of small cameras and their versatility and size. He told Source Creative earlier this year, “I had been thinking about small cameras and how to take advantage of their size with a visual idea and from that the idea of a series of shrinking rooms arose.”
The music video has a definite Michel Gondry feel to it who, if you’re not familiar, is an incredible French director whose visual genius was behind "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," and who also favors using in-camera effects over CGI when possible.
The effects in the video would have undoubtedly been easier to achieve using CGI but according to Hudson in a recent interview with It’s Nice That, the whole appeal for him was to be able to pull it off without using any CGI. “I’m convinced that in-camera effects add another layer of interest to a concept because you get people wondering how things are done,” he said.
The entire process of creating and executing the concept took about six weeks to complete, and the results definitely paid off. He is receiving critical acclaim, and Vimeo even chose “No Reason” as a Staff Pick.
Check it out for yourself and see why we should all be expecting big things from Hudson in the future.
WOW!!!
I wanna see some BTS for that one!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jtE1kZxSo4
I also want to know the definition of CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) that he uses. Does he mean he didn't use any 3D (to which I say, why would he? I didn't see anything that had to be 3D) or is he actually more broad about no computers for computer generated effects?
For me, as a video pro (I use the term lightly), I see a lot of compositing which is technically not CGI (with some beautiful practical effects like set design). Still beautiful but not exactly all in camera in one pass. Too often I see artist play with their words to make things look more grand when the original reality was impressive enough.
Also, was he one pass repeatable?
I could go on and on with questions about what I see as unlikely... I guess when you work in the field, you become jaded. :D