Blind’s Heart of Stone
“Heart of Stone” marks the second collaboration between Blind Director/Owner Chris Do and Danish rock duo The Raveonettes. To refresh your memory, their first music video with the indie rockers came in the form of “Black / White” just over two years ago. Watch that one here.
With the latest, Blind visualized a tragic tale in which one man’s sadness has transformed to apathy. His heart becomes stone.
The visually stunning video takes place in 2 separate worlds. One being the world of our hero, a world that is grim and desolate. The second is the world within his mind where we see his inner character struggling to keep his body functioning. All is set in a mix of Steampunk and Surrealism.
Don’t forget to check out the storyboards and concept art on Blind’s site to see how it all evolved.
Motionographer caught up with Chris Do to ask him a bit more about the project.
Continue to read and watch the video
Although i really like the direction blind took with this. I felt the execution was a little stale, had very little subtlety and was quite clunky. I just struggled to feel a connection between what i was seeing and what i was hearing.
Hi Oddfew,
Thanks for you honest feedback. I guess based on your feedback, we failed because the whole point of a music video is for the images to complement the music. In the future, how can we make it less clunky and more subtle?
I experienced a similar disconnection, but it was really well designed. The part that lost me a little is a lot of the exteriors were locked off shots which held a beat longer at times than you would expect given the rhythm of the music which sort of had me waiting a few times to get from one point of the story to the next. beautiful look tho
good point pj. at the end, we had to make some compromises given the sheer volume of work we had to complete. admittedly, this might have been too ambitious on our part, given the timeline, budget and the fact that it was my first stab at character driven narrative.
more camera moves would have been great.
that makes sense, you guys took on a very amibitous project for what im sure was very little $ a true testament to the passion and connection you made with the music as your interview suggests.. I think more than crazy camera moves, subtle drifts or pans in some of those earlier exteriors i was referencing would help lighten some of the holds, the character stuff is def really hard, the thought of it makes my head spin esp if you dont specialize in character stuff.
I’m wondering how much this vid was influenced by Jasper Morello.
@toby,
A lot. Please also add City of Ember, Steamboy, Jules Verne, every Magritte painting & Surrealism in general, Tim Burton, Henry Selick, The Brothers Quay, Wild Wild West and the City of Lost Children.
I liked the piece, I liked the wicked honesty in the comments even more. Very cool.
It kinda felt like a “computer animation” video from the 90s at parts.
I expect better… no…. THE BEST from Bl:nd
ouch! mastabingus, thanks for your honesty. we’ll do better.
Hey… I said “parts” :)
Sometimes I dont watch all of the featured work posted, but I was really drawn to the thumbnail of this project. Really nice design and look, I like it.
I however am not a fan of music videos. I think sometimes the videos are done by talented artists who outdo the talent of the music, and unfortunately the piece is judged by a subconscious dislike of the song. Also, music videos can get “boring” (Im so used to 30, 60 or 15sec masterpieces) I usually find myself scrubbing forward to get to the “good bits” or the twist in the story. Thats just my dislike for music videos though.
Personally, I really wish you guys had saved this design and story for a short film instead. I think design, camera work, environment and character animation all work together as a style. Perhaps this might still be possible?
Good stuff!