In the calm before sleep and the haziness of morning, inspiration tends to drop by unannounced. Those moments, straddling the line between awake and asleep, become fertile grounds for creative sparks. Solutions to daytime puzzles emerge, and new ideas casually pop up in the quiet canvas of the night. NAP LAB became an internal research project about the very inspiration that comes to us during nap time.
The starting point of the development of this video emanated from an AI-generated interior (on the left), which we transformed into the focal point of the unfolding narrative (on the right). There is also a creative element to it when a random picture or a sudden thought is then used to craft an entire world, weaving together threads of imagination and inspiration.
While working on this project, the team also reasoned about the balance between trusting the creative impulses that come during slumber and the discipline of deliberate ideation and hard work. Are we supposed to believe that insights from dreams should be regarded with the same level of trust as ideas born from intentional brainstorming and creative effort?
Alexey Tsarev [art director]: Dreams, like inflatable balloons, offer a semblance of shape and color, but they are impermanent and can burst or change their shape at any moment. This is a reminder of the fragility of our perception and how easily it can be distorted or changed. Dreams can be a source of unexpected and creative ideas, but their ephemeral and illusory nature make them both appealing and elusive, leaving us often with a sense of something important slipping from our consciousness.
Ilya Perevedentsev [creative director]: I believe in giving credit to the creative sparks from our subconscious and dreams. They often touch on significant aspects of human existence. While acknowledging the importance of the technical effort in our work for improving expressiveness, finding that sweet spot where the authentic and the technical meet is key. It's a delicate dance we embrace for impactful outcomes.
Research\Extra Stills
Custom Lettering by Arseny Arkatov
Original Sound by CADEU
Have you ever drawn inspiration directly from a dream, and if so, how did you translate that dreamlike quality into your musical composition?
CADEU: This has happened to me several times, that I would dream of a tune or a mood for a track. Some of those times I felt quite moved by what I'd just dreamt and would head to the studio after waking up and try to jot the idea down. When it comes to translation fidelity, it depends on so many factors (how detailed your dream was, how you feel about it, whether there’s time for music making after waking up…) that it's almost magic that one should be able to spot and play with it. Sometimes it's easy to hum a melody into a recorder while you're at it. Other times when trying to recreate a more complex idea or a vibe, it might get tricky as the nature of a dream is often fleeting and quite abstract, and some aspects eventually fade from your memory. Personally, I find it more intriguing to think of it as a creative impulse that can take me somewhere else, than of an exact idea to replicate.
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