The American Dollar "Anything You Synthesize"

Genece Klein 101

The American Dollar ”Anything You Synthesize”

Music video

Descriptive Contents:

Director: Kasper Verweij

Production: Onesize

Animation/design: Onesize

Role: Concept/Design November 2008

Format: HD 720p

Length: 278 sec.

Kasper Verweij is the owner of the Onesize Motion Direction Designs. Onesize is a Dutch, Amsterdam based creative studio, founded in 2001. This group of talented designers and artists create Music Videos, Audiovisual Art, Animations, Commercials, Character Designs, VFX and games. They focus on motion graphics, animation, visual effects and live action direction and production for film and television.

What Happens: The video combines elements and images into a whole story in one. It starts out with an image of a decaying desert world, buzzing flies on the screen, the film reverses and moves back in time showing scraggly trees slowly coming back to life. It’s continuous moving of time, showing climates of rain, snow, night and day. The same realistic landscape is shown going from left to right as a bleak dead desert turning into a lush green beautiful spring time landscape. The moody music of American Dollar plays in the background, no words are spoken.

Additional Background: This link is the official website of the Onesize Motion Directors and producers of the video The American Dollar, “Anything you Synthesize” http://www.onesize.nl/

This link is on YouTube and it shows the video “Anything you Synthesize” by the American Dollar band. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSU49AFzgtw

This link is the official website for the American Dollar Band and also shows the video http://theamericandollar.info/

On the website for Onesize they have some information they share on the process they take to produce a film. They start out with a 3D computer image that’s a simple shape called a wireframe. The 3D projection-Breakdown starts with a original raw image, PRE grading, 3D Geometry, Camera Projections, Camera Move, Background paint, Composite, Post Pan and Post effects then the Final shot, Manobada, Rhythms & Hues and The tweaking process. This information was for a commercial they did on another project but I thought some of these steps were probably used for the video “Anything you Synthesize.”

A Key Question: This film was a music video produce by Onesize for American Dollar. American Dollar is a rock band formed in 2005 in Queens New York. Onesize was inspired by their music and was commissioned to do a music video for them. Onesize says that they were trying to communicate an image of emotion that was felt in the music of American Dollar.

My impressions: I liked this music video. This film is full of emotions of gloom and darkness but also hope and life. You feel like you’re missing something, there’s an empty feeling and sadness. But then through the sound of the expressive music and the images of the landscape moving back in time, changing into a beautiful green lush land, you feel a hope and happiness as it comes back to life. Watching this film and listening to the music, makes you want to take a look at your life, think about the future and what’s in store for our planet. It makes you feel like slowing down. I wonder about the events happening in the world today. From natural disasters to our environment, how we contaminate our world and the effects of pollution, what could the future hold for our planet? Are we heading towards the image in this film of a lifeless, desert?