The Brief
How can we create a music video for the launch of British Soul legend Alice Russell’s single ‘Gravity’?
The Solution
Transport Alice to another planet through the magic of virtual production.
Background
In the early 2000s, British soul legend Alice Russell launched onto the international stage, picking up the spotlight after Amy Winehouse – championed by DJs such as Giles Peterson and Lauren Laverne. Since then, she’s collaborated with the likes of Quantic, U-Roy, Jamie Cullum, and David Byrne, has played with The Roots, toured with Nile Rogers, and even appeared on US talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live.
This year saw the release of her fifth solo album ‘I Am’ on Brighton’s Tru Thoughts label, produced by her long-term collaborator TM Juke (aka Alex Cowan). Over the last year or so, Tilt have been helping out with the marketing collateral for the new album, and when offered the opportunity to create a music video for her incredible single ‘Gravity’, we simply couldn’t resist.
Our Approach
Gravity is about the uncontrollable free-fall of being in love in a new relationship – the old normals are smashed apart and we must let the moment take us, trusting that we’ll land on our feet.
In Alice’s words: “We wanted to play on the title ‘Gravity’… Something that was beautiful to watch in its own right…this idea of me floating/ falling in space. The movements as I fall, like we do with love.”
To capture this sensation through the visual narrative, Tilt film maker Tiara Westlake took the reins as director. She shaped a loose story around someone on a distant planet, allowing themselves to succumb to the power of the universe, as gravity shifts and their planet begins to break apart.
Music videos are a great opportunity for creative play; To experiment, push the boundaries; To learn, practice, and hone new skills. For the scenes where Alice is falling through abstract red space for example, we transformed a studio space into a cocoon of black drapes. By playing with haze over fluorescent tube lighting, in combination with subtle camera movements, we captured the sensation that Alice was falling through space.
Virtual Production
We have some previous experience of virtual production, and we couldn’t think of a better tool to realise Tiara’s vision. Over the last few years, we’ve developed a strong in-house skillset with Unreal Engine – once purely a games engine, but now the go-to 3d software for VP film makers around the world. By designing a Mars-like Unreal scene, and making use of the amazing Megascans high resolution library in Quixel Bridge within Unreal, we created a stunning and realistic visual aesthetic, as a backdrop to Alice’s main performance.
For the shoot location, we turned to our friends at Racquet Studios and their impressive state-of-the-art virtual production set-up (real-time 3d environments on huge LED walls) close to Eastbourne seafront. Their expert knowledge allowed us to quickly optimise everything for the VP stage, and adjust the real-time 3d scenes as required on the filming day.
To really sell the illusion of virtual production, it’s important to build a real world set that seamlessly blends with the digital backdrop. For Gravity, we covered the stage with a giant tarp, over which we spread vast quantities of colour-matched sand. Delivering huge boulders to the VP stage promised to be a logistical nightmare. Instead, we enlisted the help of a set-designer friend of ours to bring us fake boulders, populating the scene with realistic foreground objects of interest.
We filmed Alice in silhouette against a huge rising and setting sun over the planetary landscape. Like in real life, the magic happens at golden hour, with glowing light and long shadows. To keep things from looking too digital, we embraced the lens aberration, depth of field and lens flare that can be achieved both in-camera and within the Unreal scene.
Towards the end of the video, gravity shifts. In the background Unreal scene on the LED volumes, we rigged Niagara particle systems of rising boulders, triggered by a key press. The same went for the procedural sand storms that could be conjured at will, on cue. This kind of technique, along with a pre-animated sun path and movement of planets in the sky, allowed us to record one-takes of Alice’s performance, providing the opportunity for longer cuts, and reduced time requirements at the VP stage.
Finishing Touches
As with most film projects, it’s the attention to detail that helps to really sell the illusion of reality. In Unreal and After Effects, we added additional foreground objects digitally (such as the floating boulders). We used Optical Flares and depth of field effects to help achieve cinematic realism, and then there was the creation of additional cgi-only general views to better establish the landscape. At the end of the video, we see Alice falling through a nebulous universe, which required some roto work to achieve the size and grandeur of space.
The results speak for themselves: A breath-taking film that transports Alice through space and time, and brings the viewer along for the emotionally-charged ride.
“Working with Tilt from start to finish was a lovely process. From working through concepts, to the shoot itself, it was easy communication all the way. And you can see for yourself the rather tasty results! The ideas flowed and Tilt kept playfulness at the heart of it all – not scared to try out new ideas and technologies to achieve the vision! The Tilt team were a joy to work with.”
Alice Russell Musician
