Case Study: The Deep

Singer Phildel talks about the production of the official music video for her song “The Deep” which was created by the animator Youri Dekker, who currently works at Pixar Animation Studios and was the former crowds animator for “The Incredibles 2” and “Coco”.

“I’m deeply grateful for all of the hard work Youri put in. I think in his position – I would have just given up!”

A mythological creature and a mask

“I had been working on ideas for my next album “Wave Your Flags” for some time and finally found a geometric white ram mask by Steve Wintercroft, which I felt had an iconic look to it and captured a beautiful blend of science and nature. I then thought it would be interesting to have this character move through a number of “worlds” as he moved through various videos. So, in the music video for “The Deep” he would appear as an animation and then in subsequent videos, he would emerge in real life, leaving the animated world behind him. After discussing a basic outline, Youri Dekker worked hard on the concept, researching and developing the mythological creature “Puka” as well as relating it to the lyrics of the song to interpret it in a way that the main ram character “Ramsey” is dealing with a loss and then going on search for something.”

Creating the main character

“Youri worked on the initial music video script for around five months while he also illustrated countless drafts of the character’s proportions, costume and mannerisms. This process began around autumn 2015.”

About an easy-going collaboration and easter eggs

“Since only myself and Youri contributed to this project (and my contribution was pretty much limited to the music) – we did not really face any challenges regarding differences of opinion. I absolutely supported and was deeply impressed by Youri’s work in every aspect. I generally thought every idea he had for the script was a great idea. I think I made a few suggestions of opening scenes featuring things such as a candle, or gravestone, which were incorporated. I found the whole thing to be a very spellbinding, enjoyable and easy-going process. I gave Youri creative freedom regarding the script and was deeply pleased with his work. I suppose one thing to mention (which is funny and slightly embarrassing) was that Youri had mentioned he would place a number of “Easter eggs” throughout the animation and I interpreted this literally and told him I couldn’t see how Easter eggs were relevant to the storyline and were too seasonal, which he found hilarious, as did I when he explained what “Easter eggs” were in film (it really shows that I come from the music side of things).”

Funding the project

“Since the animation was being created by Youri alone, the financial elements was very straight-forward for us. I supplied the funding for Youri’s hard work and time, using funds from my previous music sales.”

A great amount of work

“I think the main challenge as I recall, was the sheer volume of work that Youri had to contend with. Everything from character development, illustration, script, animation, developing the colour palette and colour grading, were on his shoulders. We had to push back our completion time by quite a few months. I’m deeply grateful for all of the hard work Youri put in. I think in his position – I would have just given up!”

Creating a film for a musical piece

“The track we used for the animation “The Deep” was in draft form when Youri started working with it and actually, since I was still developing the song, it went through a number of changes. However, it didn’t undergo much of a drastic instrumental change so I don’t think this impacted things too much for Youri. Looking back on things, maybe these changes added some slight anxiety and probably kept Youri on the edge of his seat not knowing what drastic changes I might make…?”

Screened at Limburg New Talent Shorts

“We are very excited to have “The Deep” selected by Limburg New Talent Shorts – it is our first film festival for this production and we are thrilled.”