Fast Cars

Post, May, 2005

NEW YORK -- Evaq Studio (www.evaq.com) recently produced a mixed media music video for Aesop Rock, a NYC-based indie hip-hop artist. The Fast Cars video is from the EP "Fast Cars, Danger, Fire & Knives" and unfolds like a pop-up storybook, with the artist interacting with the stylized backgrounds.

Designer/director Asif Mian was approached by Definitive Jux Records to art direct and design a lyric book included with the EP. After completing the artbook, Mian was called on to direct the music video. Mian created his own methods of stop-motion animation, art directed pop-up scenes, dynamic transitions and an overall conceptual feel.

Cinematographer Valentina Caniglia suggested that shooting the greenscreen and studio shots in HD would help stay on budget and achieve the desired look. She shot with a Sony F900 24p camera. Working with Mian, the director/DP team decided on a high contrast and warm colored approach. Once the live-action shoot was complete, the stop motion shoot with paper began. Each pop-up scene in the book was shot opening and closing using fishing wire. Aesop's footage was then composited into the high-rez digital photographs, while animated skies, characters and effects were added in Adobe After Effects.