MUSIC VIDEO
ROLE: Senior Flame Artist / VFX Compositor
VENDOR: Ntropic
CLIENT: Ford
AGENCY: Team Detroit
PRODUCTION CO: Wild Plum
DIRECTOR: P.R. Brown & Ethan Lader
12 weeks. 12 music videos. Each custom-themed. Shoot on Sunday. Edit on Monday-Tuesday. Compositing and post on Tuesday-Wednesday. Finish and deliver on Wednesday night.
That’s the production schedule for “American Idol” and Ford’s fourth annual “Music Video Challenge.” To say it’s a short turnaround is a bit of an understatement.
I worked on 8 of the 12 weeks, with Lead Flame Artist MB Emigh, as well as additional Flame Aritsts Chris Moore, Chris DeCristo, and Rob Hubbard. Each week was different, depending on the theme: fairy tale, zodiac, ghosts, school, magic, giants, etc.
One week would necessitate heavy greenscreen compositing, making the Idols look like giants; the next week creating stylized treatments, transforming the Idols into astrological signs or magical fantasy figures. In short, a lot of hard work with no time, lots of creativity, and a reliance on pretty much every trick in the book.
