Music: a plasticine character referred to as Tronald Dump wreaks havoc on a as soon as-happy model town in director Chris Ullens’ video to accompany a track by Destroy the Noise.
London-based Belgian director Chris Ullens produced the stop-movement animation for the track Destroy it four the Youngsters by Kill the Noise, a stage persona of New York producer Jake Stanczak.
“The label desired some sarcastic look on society and have been satisfied for me to go wild and to use cease-movement animation, so I went for it,” Ullens told Dezeen.
At the beginning of the video, fridge-magnet letters tell the viewer that “Destroy the Noise has a tiny story to inform you about the globe!”
It cuts to scenes of Happyville: a quaint urban setting created from cardboard and inhabited by 36 grey plasticine men and women.
Residents joyfully go about lifestyle till an ominous black automobile rolls into town, with a license plate that reads “Tronald Dump”.
Out gets a blonde toupéed figure with dollar signs in his eyes, who proceeds to construct a giant skyscraper in the centre of town.
From his lofty position on top of the tower, Dump makes use of a cannon to shoot giant billboards into the streets under.
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“I briefed the art path group about the sort of buildings and town I needed for my scenarios and they went on from there to study and came up with this superb town,” said Ullens.
“We have all that about us in London – the fast foods, the dirty supermarkets and all the rest – so they went on a handful of walks close to London to take pictures and get inspired,” he explained.
“And they looked up what’s out there in America and at the way the grimness would translate the best.”
The messages on the billboards incorporate “your existence sucks”, “cash is god” and “get wealthy or die”, even though some banners attribute lyrics from the track.
“I did quick my art course group – Sets Appeal – about what I needed these billboards and slogans to say but, with the fact that I am French-speaking to start with, I consider my slogans had been very weak and not quite funny,” said Ullens.
“They had the thought to go back to a movie like They Dwell and to search at all the worst of the advertising planet today, which turned out to be an countless source of inspiration,” he said.
Brainwashed by the indicators, the citizens of Happyville go on a investing spree as quaint boutiques are transformed into low-cost corporate chain retailers.
A little cafe is demolished to make room for quick-meals restaurant McFatty, provided by a pen complete of cows that are funnelled onto a conveyor belt and squished into burgers by a giant masher. A single of the residents also ends up getting minced.
Soon after consuming a giant McFatty’s cheeseburger, the remaining greedy Happyvillers explode into piles of orange plasticine.
“I wished the video to be visually entertaining since which is the stage of a music video,” said Ullens.
“I hope people will laugh and if at the finish I managed to make men and women think a tiny about the way items are going on our planet these days, then great,” he additional. “I haven’t been really subtle with it!”
Ullens and his crew had just a month to produce the cease-movement video, doing work with director of photography Jamie Durand, animator Tine Kluth and editor Rebecca Luff.
“I loved being provided the chance of criticising presently society,” explained Ullens. “I had to minimize out loads of ideas I had to make it all fit in the track, and because I only had so a lot time to function on it.”
“The label (OWSLA) was wonderful at currently being open to me and the artist speaking together and brainstorming, which brought the finishing touch to the venture: have Tronald Dump as the character that was going to start the chain reaction.”
Kill it 4 the Children functions on Kill the Noise’s album Occult Classic, launched by record label OWSLA on 9 October 2015.
