Directed and animated by U.K.-based Karl Poyzer, The Mirror is a fully-CG music video for Ital Tek’s “The Mirror” from his album Time Proof. It was released by Amsterdam-based House of Panic (collaboration label of The Panics), working with music label Planet Mu. Poyzer had previously worked with House of Panic on projects, including the sci-fi comedy short series Floaters.
What began as a modest animation test by Poyzer developed into an extensive, architecturally focused sci-fi world inspired by a range of references such as French neoclassical architect Étienne-Louis Boullée and Japanese manga artist Tsutomu Nihei. As the project grew, he felt that it had evolved into what would work as the basis of a music video.
With the support of The Panics, who offered to release the project under their collaborative label, PaPoyzer contacted U.K.-based electronic musician Tek who sent over his track “The Mirror.” Poyzer said when he heard it, “he knew he had found the perfect fit for his design-led visuals.”
To fit the project to Tek’s track, Poyzer started by rendering new scenes and re-rendering existing shots to match the music’s timing. The entire project was rendered in Blender using the Cycles engine and edited in DaVinci Resolve.
“It was an interesting thing putting this one together,” shared Poyzer. “At first, it was just a single shot, but I thought it might be nice to explore the world and design language a little further. Over the space of maybe six months, I just kept coming back to it when I had time, and ultimately started making something that felt like it could be a music video.”
Poyzer described the tonal vibe he strove for to make the viewer feel like they were discovering something abandoned and unfinished, or, as he describes, “structures built for a society who would never experience them.”
“Each scene had its own personality, and it was my job to find the best way to photograph it virtually,” he added. “One of the great things about working in 3D is the freedom with which you can move a camera, lights, and iterate.”
Scenes were rendered in a single pass using Blender and then edited in DaVinci Resolve, with limited compositing needed.
He explained that using the free software “made a massive impact on my professional life.” Adding, “Blender, in particular, has such a rich community of people producing free tutorials and plugins that really makes learning new stuff about as easy as it can be.”
Check out Ital Tek’s “The Mirror” music video:
Source: The Panics
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
