Olivia Rodrigo – GUTS

OfficialLive Performances for Vevo, exported as a short film comprising four live performances and b-roll connective tissue. We aimed to evoke the atmosphere of a classic punk venue - dirty, grimy, and completely DIY. Taking over a theatre in downtown Los Angeles that had seen better days (and now housing plenty of rodents), we created our perfect shady venue.

Dressed with thousands of bespoke posters, stickers, graffiti, merch, and props, we took the audience on a journey from backstage to the crowd. We wove our way from the toilets, past the merch stand, through the lobby and hallways, to backstage - then exploded onto the stage in front of a huge, unseen audience.

I was keen to carry the handmade theme from the initial pitch all the way through to export. We carefully mapped out and pre-visualized practical intro cards, each appearing in the background of shots or through interactions with the artist. The piece kicks off with a stamp handmade in the East Village. The T-shirts at the merch stand were specially designed, then individually distressed. We constantly needed more posters for the title cards and backgrounds, which led to a scene where multiple people were using printed posters as shoes or stress relief to wear them down.

The detail extended even to motion design - every piece of copy, every call to action, and even the Vevo Originals end cards were designed, printed, and photographed in situ to maintain the cohesive theme. The only additional graphics were the end credits, and these weren't going escape the DIY treatment, so we created four different fonts that would spool through before landing on a seemingly random selection of character styles. The final flourish was to export the credits and then film them back off an old television to match the handycam feel of the final shot.

The result is a rich, tangible, cohesive and totally immersive world.