U2’s Volcano
Video, Paper, Other
2014—09
Brooklyn, NY
Brooklyn, NY
When I was approached by U2 to make a video for their track, Volcano, from their album, Songs of Innocence, I was told that the album was inspired by ‘70s era punk. This got me thinking about gig posters. Y’see, before the advent of the music video, our only visual representation for a song, band, or album was pretty much whatever existed in print, primarily gig posters and record sleeves. I figured it might be interesting to bring that back into the music video world, by creating a stop-motion film using nothing but posters. Especially given that the 70′s was very much a time when the gig poster was pretty much the visual representation of punk and rock'n'roll.
Another aspect I wanted to play around with was the alteration of meaning. In some instances where I use words to corresponding to the lyrics, I consciously alter the lyrics, using different words that are phonetically similar to the original in an attempt to sort of pit the power of visual against the power of sound… and see which wins in the viewer’s mind.
862 posters, 3 weeks to design and print, 1 day to film, and 1 day to edit with the help of Reid Arnstein. Good fun.
“An impressive technical feat.“
—PITCHFORK
Another aspect I wanted to play around with was the alteration of meaning. In some instances where I use words to corresponding to the lyrics, I consciously alter the lyrics, using different words that are phonetically similar to the original in an attempt to sort of pit the power of visual against the power of sound… and see which wins in the viewer’s mind.
862 posters, 3 weeks to design and print, 1 day to film, and 1 day to edit with the help of Reid Arnstein. Good fun.
“An impressive technical feat.“
—PITCHFORK