Preface
In December 2021 we were mandated to do the VFX and post-production work for Denzel Curry’s next music video. It was going to be the fourth in a series of music videos for the album ‘Melt My Eyez See Your Future’. Just as ‘Walkin’ had some sort of Tatooine concept, X-WING was going to be a Star Wars tribute.
In December 2021 we were mandated to do the VFX and post-production work for Denzel Curry’s next music video. It was going to be the fourth in a series of music videos for the album ‘Melt My Eyez See Your Future’. Just as ‘Walkin’ had some sort of Tatooine concept, X-WING was going to be a Star Wars tribute.
Denzel Curry: X-Wing
2m47s
Turntable of our spaceship.
The spaceship
We went above and beyond to find the look and design of the craft, in pair with both the director (Adrian Villagomez) and Denzel Curry. We had to find the right balance between having a unique and cool looking model while keeping true to the classic silhouette of the beloved spaceship from the movies.
Some of our spaceship versions published internally on Shotgun.
Breakdown VFX of shot #1130.
The premise
The inspiration for the city is a mixture of Japanese crime movies and a classic Sci-Fi dystopic aesthetic (Blade Runner) . It meant a gloomy and neon light driven scene where our spacecraft would clear the path with its foglight.
References from brief.
Stills from the released music video.
Breakdown VFX of shot #1270.
The process
We worked with a very small team for this project although with some help from some of our specialized artists mostly concerning the modeling and shading of the spacecraft. Renders were made in Arnold.
The RND and animatic were fully taken charge by a standalone 3D generalist working on Maya (Philippe Morel). When the animatic was approved, we started "decorating" the city (a low res 3D scan of Tokyo) and lighting it with various neon lights, spotlights, holograms, to have a starting basis to light each shot.
We also made some low res renders of key shots before shooting to see how the lighting would hit Denzel's face which we then matched live. This was both a time saving measure for post-production and an assurance we could match the lighting between the live and CGI elements.
We worked with a very small team for this project although with some help from some of our specialized artists mostly concerning the modeling and shading of the spacecraft. Renders were made in Arnold.
Compositing was done both in Nuke and Flame for the final comps. Our colorist then (Charles-Étienne Pascal) sealed the deal working in pair with the director Adrian Villagomez.
Pictures from the shoot.
Breakdown VFX of shot #1120.
Reception
We take pride in the final product. The project had some curveballs that made us scratch our heads, but finding solutions and being fast on our feet was a pleasure in the end. We really appreciated our collaboration with the artist. The fans were amazed by the quality of what Denzel Curry brought to them. That’s all what we wanted!
Credits
Executive Producer
Renaud Côté
Producer
Nathalie Norambuena
Director of Post-production
Frédéric Milot
CG Supervisor
Philippe Morel
Modeling Artist
Loïc Mathon
Texture Artist
Yu Han Wang
Lighting
Tristan St-Ours Nadon
Flame Artists
Dominic Belletête (Lead)
Nicolas St-Cyr
Étienne Thériault
Matte Painting
Nicolas Cloutier
Digital Colourist
Charles-Étienne Pascal
Post-production Coordinator
Ariane Bérubé
Assistant Editor
Jean-Philippe Haineault
