When MJ Cole reached out looking for a music video for his new track, I naturally jumped at the chance! Having been a fan of MJ Cole’s music for years it was an amazing opportunity to pour a lot of passion in to a project. Having heard the track, it was clear to me that the piece had to be fun, vibrant and a bit surreal. I wanted to stay true to MJ Cole’s roots but align the visual style to work for todays market.

The inspiration for the video stemmed from the music itself. Sometimes a piece of music makes you see a certain thing, or a collection of things. When listening to Pictures in my Head it instantly triggered images of a colourful world made up of random visual metaphors. The more I dissected the lyrics of the track it felt like it was all about the idea of love and the emotional experiences that go with it.

In the video we venture in to the mind of the female vocalist, exploring visually what the lyrics may represent. The overall vibe is random and dream like. There are sexual undertones in the lyrics (or at least that’s what I got from it) so I tried to capture some of this naughtiness and portray it in a way that wasn’t crude but still fun and visually appealing. ‘Where the magic happens’ and ‘Breakfast in bed’ were just a couple of ideas behind some of the visuals in the chorus.

Once I knew MJCole was on board with the idea I set about building a team to help execute the vision. In this instance I had the help from 3 wonderful female 3D artists each from different corners of the globe. Mexico, Canada and London via France. Electra, Lauren and Grace all brought another layer of unique interpretation to the project. This collaborative effort helped enrich the overall visual and take it up a notch. Once we had all the scenes built I set about animating, texturing and rendering in C4D and Octane.

Credits

Music – MJ Cole – Pictures in my head

Directed by – Nik Hill
3D artists – Electra, Lauren Galloway, Grace Barth
Production company – Twenty Third C

Special thanks – Denzyl at Platoon & Tom Street

MJCOLE – Pictures in my head by Nikilldesign