Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1481306
MUSIC VIDEOS www.postmagazine.com 25 POST SEPT/OCT 2022 M.I.A. - POPULAR Popular, the new music video from British rapper M.I.A., positions the artist face to face with her robotic clone. Directed by Arnaud Bresson and produced by Division, the video illustrates how life in the spotlight calls for a dichotomy between personal and public perception. Modern Post's (https://modernpost.com) lead creative editor/partner William Town cut the music video, which takes on the rudimentary format of a casting tape. There, M.I.A. teaches her clone to mimic the moves and atti- tudes that will make her "popular." Viewers may be led to interpret the video's narrative as questioning the influence of social media, and whether it's a source for creating armies of clones. Popular was cut by Town using Adobe Premiere. The Mill Paris provided post pro- duction services for the project, which was shot by DP Evan Prosofsky. Arthur Paux (www.arthur-paux.com) gave the video its color treatment. LOVE CRUSHED VELVET - SADDENED EYES New York City-based post- punk outfit Love Crushed Velvet recently released their third music video that's spe- cifically designed for viewing in virtual reality. Saddened Eyes was directed by Alissa Christine and comes from the band's "Souls and the Barren Heart" album, which was re- leased in late July. According to songwriter A.L.X. (pictured), the song explores the process of trying to find humanity, vulnerability and affirmation in love. "It addresses how we often try to be stoic in how we project ourselves, yet it's in vulnerable moments when you truly see deep emotions in someone's eyes that allow you to understand and read into their heart." The music video was created with the idea of capturing those sentiments in virtual reality, since they are best represented multidimensionally. Director Alissa Christine says her VR paintings are usually created with the intention of being experienced as a virtual world to be explored within. "This metaverse embodies the 'rollercoaster ride' of emotions within our hearts surrounding relationships," says the director. "The triangle pyramids are representative of dreams unfulfilled. Due to the functionality of TiltBrush software, the back-side of all still images are invisible. So if you go inside the pyramids (the dreams), you will see nothing there." Alissa Christine says she used TiltBrush for the entire production and anima- tion process, aside from editing. "It was VR-painted and recorded entirely in virtual reality. The limitations that were discovered: It wasn't possible to use video formats or animated gifs with transparency within the scenes. And, for 360 output, the virtual cam would only work if recorded on a horizontal axis."