I have just about come to the end of making a promo film for the song “Telling Lies” for the US band The Fashion Focus.
The film is all stop motion, made from printed out paper models.
It took about 8 times longer than the budget, but was worth it to have a real paying project to work on using “The Machine”.
The nice thing to discover was how great it was to work on the machine for such an extended period. Only once did something not work and it turned out one drive belt had come loose. It will be interesting to find out if this is a typical issue, maybe I need to tighten all the belt before a shoot starts. Although Brian from the band my have his on meaning behind the song in his lyrics. I interpreted what I heard, and he was happy with the concept that he be seen as some kind of sinister, “Big Brother” type leader on the TV screens in living rooms. Of course I am referencing that everyone is sucked in by all the information coming from one source, that they have themselves invited into their own homes, The mobile phone. But we go back a few years and use the TV, the big precursor to the internet. On every screen, in many family rooms the same message is delivered, until, we peek outside and find the same screens have now multiplied to be on every building. A secondary theme is the quick cuts of the little paper truck who appears to be rushing through the empty street, the single lonely voice, who takes us to the nightmarish conclusion into a dream world, where hundreds of people are standing blankly staring at white walls. The bland and brainwashed. As part of the concept, the shots of the people were all created by using that lazy new technology of AI, itself another type of lies, that the world needs to be aware of from now on. Its incredible to think that.. thats it now, no going back, no-one can believe a thing they see or read. Maybe its a good thing, maybe the skepticism AI has created, had ended the rule of the big TV and media companies who purported to be telling the truth. Now we know they are not.
I think its a shame though.
