Korean landscapes, Japanese anime, robots and plastified corpses – all influences behind Jono Candlish-Wilson’s juggernaut of a music video, Judgement Day. The intricate animation began life in Seoul where Candlish-Wilson was working. We caught up with him to find out more – and to gaze in awe at the spectacular concept art that inspired the piece.
How did you first come up with the idea of the robot DJs?
I got the idea from a sketch that I did about 8 years ago.It was of a robot trying to clamber out of a hole in the ground and he was writhing in frustration because he couldn’t get out. That’s sort of why the robot in the video is only visible from the torso up.
Visually the video is stunning – did you have any particular aesthetic influences?
I was living in Seoul in S.Korea for the first 6 months of the project. It’s a really mountainous city and I think the oriental landscape came from my surroundings. I loved Korea and Japan and the puppet is influenced by kabuki theatre. I think I wanted the the mountains to look like the Hokkasai painting of mount fuji and some of the robots’ movements are influenced by ‘fist of the northstar’.
Concept sketch
The various robotic characters – from the DJ to the dragon etc – are all so intricate. How did you go about designing them?
Apart from some very basic sketches the majority of the design work happened on the computer. I was experimenting in 3D. The whole appeal of making a film like this was that I could make it spontaneously as the scenes don’t have to hang together as a narrative so I could include any idea or character I liked and this resulted in lots of very different characters and themes appearing in the film. I did this because it was more enjoyable for me and it was a relief to be able to start on a new section/character whenever I chose to. For example, the puppet came about when I came across kabuki theatre masks and I liked the look of them.The robot was based on anatomical drawings and I wanted to make something that looked sinewy after going to see the von Haargen ‘bodyworks’ exhibition of plastified cadavers. Iincluded the birds because my girlfriend, Sian, loves pictures of birds and she thought they’d be a nice addition. The mechanical elements were inspired by the artwork in Akira.
What was the trickiest or most challenging thing about making this video?
I’d say that for me the most challenging thing is finding the time to finish a project that’s quite big for someone who works full-time. Its hard to resist the temptation to start something new!
concept art
How long have you been doing CGI etc? Am I right in thinking this is your first video?
I’ve been working with 3D for about 7 years. Before that I was an illustrator/designer. This is my second film but my first film wasn’t properly released as there were some unresolved issues with the soundtrack and I wasn’t 100% happy with all of the animation.
Have you any new projects on the go?
I’ve teamed up with another animator and i’m working on a short film called ‘the woodcutter’s dog’. Unlike ‘judgement day’, it’s a narrative driven piece and it’s really pushing our animation and storytelling skills. I wanted to make this story because I love dogs and i thought I’d enjoy making a film about the relationship between people and dogs.As it stands the production schedule is about 2 to 2 and a half years so it’s going to be an epic project!
