The visual effects in rapper/songwriter Kendrick Lamar's new music video are hot enough to ignite your brain.
Just in case you haven't noticed, the internet has been buzzing for the last 24 hours about Kendrick Lamar's new music video for his single "Humble," and rightfully so. The visual effects in this video directed by Dave Meyers are subtly amazing. Heads on fire, a 360-degree glitchy Last Supper, and what we can only describe as a cross-frame switcheroo effect really have us wondering how it was all done.
Here to offer a few possibilities is editor Justin Odisho— but before we get to that, let's take a look at Kendrick Lamar's music video.
Here is Odisho's take on how a few different visual effects could have been pulled off.
What we love about this breakdown is that even if the techniques mentioned aren't exactly how the original was done, it doesn't matter. Odisho basically tells you several ways to pull off some awesome visual effects—ones that usually leave a lot of filmmakers scratching their heads.
This is true especially for the "Last Supper" shot. The great thing about this technique is that it's really not that complicated. All you really have to do is capture the scene using a three or four-camera rig, and then get creative in editing. You could even get a little crazier and try your hand at building a 360-degree rig to do a "bullet-time" shot.
Sure, it's time-consuming and requires some attention to detail (especially in post), but it's a relatively simple effect to create. It might end up costing you some major funds to buy up or rent all of the cameras that you'll need, but if you've got the budget, you could do it without needing a whole lot expertise. (GoPros work really well for this.)
At any rate, now we're all a little bit smarter about creating cool visual/camera effects like the ones in Lamar's new video.
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7 Comments
But how did they actually do the "crazy slider" effect??
April 1, 2017 at 11:46AM, Edited April 1, 11:46AM
Looks like a moco robot to me. Something like the Bolt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRvnYmxcMOY
April 1, 2017 at 2:37PM
Thanks for the link Gleb! Watched it 5 times in a row!!
April 1, 2017 at 9:34PM
That was actually the only shot I was wondering about. I figured it was that device they use to shoot slow motion spills for commercials. No idea what it's called.
April 2, 2017 at 2:03PM
I can't tell you the manufacturer of the arm, but I can tell you the company that specializes in 'spills, drops, and general slow motion goodness' is a German company called The Marmalade
May 27, 2017 at 5:03PM, Edited May 27, 5:03PM
I think one of the cooler shots that he missed talking about was at one minute in with all the bald dudes, is that all the people around him are clones of the same people when they look up to do filler vocals. Likely how they did the glitchy 4 camera quick cuts, they filmed the same person with 4 different angles, to then clone and preposition that guy in multiple locations in that group. A cool way to do crowd extensions in the future with proper camera perspective when they are so close to camera.
April 3, 2017 at 7:03AM
Excellent...
Really fascinated by those creativity.
Thank you.
April 5, 2017 at 7:37AM