Nothing we can write can come close to conveying the brilliance of today’s director. Now, that might be a symptom of our inadequate writing skills, but we reckon that it’s more likely that its simply that his Papa Vs Pretty music video, Wrecking Ball, defies description. Stop motion, data-moshing, Pink Floyd, class war, insanity… there’s a lot going on. Just watch it. But beneath the eyeball-melting hallucinogenics, the promo displays an impressive level of craftmanship. Director Guy Verge Wallace is the 19-year-old visionary in question.
(to see Guy’s photo diary of making the video, check out his blog. *well* worth it)
What first drew you to filmmaking and animation?
My dad had a video camera and works in the film industry so it was always a part of my family life as a kid. When I was ten I was given Lego-Studios which introduced me to the world of stop-motion animation in which literally, anything is possible. I’ve always been a non-stop dreamer, especially as a kid!
How did you develop the idea of the decaying yet inventively grotesque family meal for the Wrecking Ball video?
My very first thoughts were that the husband and wife were like rich rulers, living chauvinistic lives, consuming everything, including the peasants, the land, the crops, and the universe. This idea was inspired by an image from a short scene in Pink Floyd’s film ‘The Wall’, in which a conservative husband and wife eat dinner in a moodily lit room. I brought in the kid to reflect myself absorbed by the digital world and to relate it to a broader demographic. The inspiration for the style came, in many ways from Jan Svankmajer. It’s a style which I thought has yet to be transformed in the modern world of music videos, though that might not be true. The film is really about this family’s conservatism and their repressed emotion (which take material form in the ghost character who sings the lyrics). This repression leads to the eventual breakdown of the family unit.
Love the rather jarring juxtaposition between the hand made stop motion characters and the digitised shards of ‘glitch art’ that permeate the video. Why did you decide on this aesthetic?
Like most 19-year-olds I am obsessed with the digital world! But I love natural art forms. Personally I feel natural art forms are far more human and emotive than computer based animation. I also just discovered this glitch art-form (data-moshing) and immediately fell in love with it. It’s amazing to find a spontaneous, almost naturalistic art-form in the digital world! It just seemed like a really visually powerful juxtaposition to reflect the break-down of these characters. I really wanted to bring this old fashion Svankmajer-esque aesthetic into the modern/digital world.
What was the biggest challenge you faced making the video?
Working in someone else’s house for 5 weeks animating was very hard because I had to be so, so careful not to harm any of the furniture. I am used to a really practical, relaxed approach to film making (just in my room or with some friends) so it was a challenge!
I’ve been on your blog and seen all the photos that you’ve put up of creating the video – from building the puppets to the shoot. It’s a massively ambitious video and the hard work is clear. How did you motivate yourself to keep going? What parts of the process were most enjoyable to work on?
Motivating myself can be hard but usually after a good sleep you’re full of energy again to keep going. That said because there were no deadlines early on in the project and the band we’re really nice about my relaxed work habits, I spent a lot of time dreaming. But when a deadline was put in place for the use of the location in which I was animating, I became really motivated to get as much material as possible. It’s amazing what you can get done when you have a deadline!
I honestly can’t think of a most enjoyable part for this project, although I love and am devoted to the working process, every moment is still work…. except perhaps when it was done and you get people asking you for interviews… that part is cool!
Maybe it’s just me, but I detect a streak of (admittedly fairly dark) humour threading through the music video. Was that something you were hoping to convey?
For sure. It’s totally tragic and completely insane to me. Insanity can be read from multiple perspectives, and I think in many ways insanity comes with my approach to film-making. While making the video I have never felt so insane, I spent days and days alone in a blacked out room while terrifying characters stared at me!! So it’s no wonder the film turned out crazy. I really started to understand and fall in love with Terry Gilliam’s approach to filmmaking, and especially his film Brazil. The insanity of Gilliam’s world in Brazil does inspire quite a bit of humour (as it does in his other films). I suppose maybe mine does for similar reasons.
Hmm not much! I am contributing a piece of video art for the next Bare Bones exhibition in London. Also I’m going into second year university…
To find out more about Guy, check out his website www.vdubfilms.com
