Case Study:
I Don’t Know How But They Found Me (IDKHow)

Around 50 VFX shots were performed for the “Leave Me Alone” music video, largely around compositing custom-made retro-FUI graphics into blank live-action computer screens, and a key visual for the singer (Dallon) “inside the computer.”

Main software used was Cinema 4D and After Effects.

The primary “wow” visual I took on was the glitchy, holographic appearance of Dallon “inside the computer.”

There were also composites of this over footage of the computers on set. Note that I also created the reflections around the borders of the screen!

This look was among the very first conversations with director Raul Gonzo, and I advised him on a simple strategy for filming towards it: shine a single light from the front. In the early discussions, I sent him this example video of myself:

This effect is happening by using the brightness of the footage to drive the 3D dots in Cinema 4D. Here’s a breakdown of the process:

The computer displays were designed primarily towards 1980’s retro-futuristic appearance, but took influence reaching back to 1968’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

Below are some of the very first animated experiments. Incidentally, most of these actually ended up being used in the music video!

EASTER EGG BONANZA:

Since the graphics needed so much filler content, and they were mostly too small to read in the designated shots, the music video is riddled with easter egg references that were simply there to fill in space. There are three numbers seen throughout the video: 117, 161, and 426. “117” is a reference to Halo (Spartan 117). “161” and “426” are references to the Alien movies (Fiorina 161 & LV-426).

The “system engaged” screen alone references LOST, The Lord of the Rings, Crysis, Back to the Future, Star Wars: A New Hope, Mrs. Doubtfire, Rick & Morty, Firefly, Family Guy, Ninja Turtles, and Star Trek!

The very first shot, with the system loading screen, also went through various iterations. Here’s a look at some of the first experiments! The final animation in the video took elements from these.

Here’s a look at the 3D & 2D graphics for the main screens behind Dallon & Ryan in the video:

And finally, here’s a breakdown of one of the final compositions.

For the final few shots of the video, we needed energy & electrical effects reminiscent of 80’s movies. I specifically referenced these frames from Back to the Future:

Early versions were very literal to the reference material, with blue lightning:

In the end, different layers of this effect were prepared for the editor & director to make final decisions, where they settled on an orange energy!