Making an overly caffeinated lyric video
“Anything with screaming should feel like you drank way too much coffee and maybe feel like throwing things after a bad game of Call of Duty”. That’s probably the best request I’ve ever gotten when making a lyric video.
The guys at Days Gone By wanted intensity, punchiness. An in-your-face kind of video that encapsulated the essence and strength of the song.
I am by no means the biggest metalcore/post-hardcore fan, although I do enjoy bands like Bring Me The Horizon, Pierce the Veil and Our Last Night. So I actually liked the song I was working with. And as it’s the case with every video I make, the song got deeply stuck in my head as days went by (no pun intended).
To make the video, I was given the amazing album artwork (done by Vinicius Gut) which I then arranged its layers in a way that allowed me to have the lyrics sandwiched in between. That way we get a sense of depth and a feeling that the text is part of each scene, instead of just being placed over the images.
Stills from the Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute lyric video.
Now, back to the ‘throwing things after a bad game of Call of Duty’. First and foremost, I have to confess I’ve never played Call of Duty in my life. But I can imagine what a bad game feels like.
To achieve that intensity and overly caffeinated vibe I did a few things.
Wiggle has entered the chat.
The good old expression ‘wiggle’ that generates random movement was applied to the camera’s position, rotation and anchor point.
Two lights are flickering during the whole video and change colors in different sections, especially when the screaming vocals take place.
I finally applied some dust overlays and dirty textures on top of everything to give it a grungy and messy look and feel. That combination of effects and energetic animation (and great artwork) ended up in a powerful video that I’m glad I was a part of.
Now feel free to watch the video below while I try to get the song unstuck from my head.