Cannes Lions

Keep Moving

SMUGGLER, Los Angeles / BRONSON / 2021

Film

Overview

Entries

Credits

Overview

Background

The music video starts in a banal humdrum world of the daily commute and 9-to-5 office grind, however, as the song progresses, the beat begins to affect reality. The characters first start to move in sync with the song as the rest of the “business world” is slowly infected by the track. Everything goes bonkers when the beat drops, laws of physics are broken, tables and chairs and people all tumble to the rhythm. A lovely whimsical visual firework, all to the beat of the track.

Idea

The idea for this video was born out of creative starvation during these corona times. We got this awesome track from the artist at the beginning of lockdown and really wanted to do something special for it. At that point it was impossible to do anything close to a regular shoot, so we pitched a concept using entirely stock footage and CG. We've always had a strong fascination for stock footage and the thoughts and process that goes into creating it. Especially this kind of corporate business world that is shown in this video. It can be so cliché and mind-bendingly generic.

Strategy

The strategy behind the film was extremely COVID-friendly, using existing stock footage for the base of the entire video. The team shot matching close-ups of mouths that are lip-syncing the lyrics to the track and edited the footage in post. With the editor, they built offices in full CG that match the look of the chosen stock footage. All post was done in-house with the director.

Execution

The resulting film is intentionally mind-bendingly generic. The actors take turns playing the boss, they have positive meetings and they have arguments. They high-five, shake hands in glass buildings and proudly point at their PowerPoints. They listen really carefully, nod in approval, or decide to put another idea on the table.

The video was released on the artist’s YouTube channel and across various digital platforms.

Outcome

“Keep Moving” is a compelling example of how some imaginative effects wizardry can transform cliché into promo gold. The video hit over 300K views on YouTube and garnered serious attention from global press outlets, due to its innovative and bizarre approach - especially during pandemic times.