Dark, suspenseful and heart-meltingly soppy, Charles De Meyer impressed at this year’s YDA with his music video for Amon Tobin’s ‘Esther’s’. The robotic romance blends Hitchcock-esque live action performance with slick CG work and earned De Meyer 2nd prize in the European Music video category. We caught up with De Meyer to pick his brains about the challenges behind this two night shoot and uncover his plans for the future.
What inspired the the creepy-but-oddly-romantic story for the video?
On one side, when I first heard the motorcycle starting in the intro of Amon Tobin’s track, I could clearly imagine it coming from a tiny futuristic motor. It certainly had to do with all the brilliant album artwork that Kevin Foakes (aka Openmind aka Striclty Kev aka DJ Food) has done over the years for Amon’s releases, which featured abstract compositions made of mostly robot model parts. They portray the music so well it had become something of a whole to me.
For the story itself, Amon’s music very often plays on duality – it’s always as organized as it is chaotic, and within the raw strength his music displays, there’s also a quite fragile side to it. That’s why I wanted to make this a strange declaration of love, on a track as heavy and somber as “Esther’s”. The idea of duality became the centerpiece of the video, as I tried to keep people guessing the suitor’s intentions until the very end. Ultimately, it became more of a reflection of how difficult it can be to sometimes communicate seemingly very simple things.
What was the biggest challenge behind this job?
There were a lot of big challenges on this video; one of them was to film 120+ shots in two nights in August. As with the CG, we constantly had to figure out ways to cut corners, to speed up things.
Your film combines amazing CG animation & character design with some really great live-action directing (love the performance from the main female character). Which side of things do you enjoy working on most?
Thank you! It’s a close call, because I love most of it, but nothing really beats being on set. It’s where the collective effort really is the most palpable, and where I really feel best.
What inspires you?
The little things that go unnoticed.
Aside from your YDA-winning film, what piece of work are you proudest of and why?
“En Garde”, the graduation film I had made with a couple of friends. Given the time we had (6 months), it was pretty crazy to think we could pull it off! I ended up hand-animating the whole short in little over a month.
What were your first thoughts when you found out your film had won?
I couldn’t believe it. It was the very first time I’d won an award.
What’s the best piece of advice anyone’s ever given you?
“If you want to make something good, be original, or be definitive.”
Having scooped a prize at the YDA, what are your plans for the coming year?
I’m preparing a short-film right now, which will hopefully see the light of day early next year. Apart from other personal projects, I’ll try directing more music videos and even commercials this year!
To find out more about Charles and his work, check out www.tallstories.tv
