Balázs Simon’s new video for British duo Sad Night Dynamite (co-directed with Cátia Abreu) is a darkly comic conflagulation of prosthetics and nightmarish digital VFX but the good news is he just dropped Stash fans a peek into the process.

Balázs Simon: “It was a messy, exhausting, head-scratching and fun production with countless production techniques involved, from a live-action shoot to 3D scanning, motion-capture, detailed prosthetics, a CG monster, and photo-scanning the streets of London.

“The CGI creature was designed from the ground up and brought to life in Unreal Engine by a mixture of rigging and shot-sculpting, coupled with additional simulations of cloth, hair, organic tissue, and saliva. Each of these were carefully coordinated with the live action prosthetics and styling to create a consistent world.
 

“It was a messy, exhausting, head-scratching and fun production with countless production techniques involved.”

 
“3D scans of the band members’ heads and facial performances were made to map onto the monster. For the live-action portion, they were also strapped into a fully custom-made prosthetic suit complete with tentacles.

“As with most music videos, this was also made on a shoestring budget, so we had to approach every problem very cleverly. A good example of that was the extensive use of Unreal Engine. We used UE for the facial performance scans, but most importantly to render the CG elements.”

Watch the finished video:
 

 
 

 
Artist: Sad Night Dynamite
Commissioner: Sam Seager
Artist Management: George Shepherd, Hannah Browne

Production: Blinkink
Director: Balázs Simon
Co-Director: Cátia Abreu
EP: Josef Byrne
Head of Production: Alex Halley
Producer: Rowan Mackintosh King
Creative Director: Will Hooper
Director Of Photography: Peter Bishop
Post Producer: Máté Barbalics
Monster Design: Mysie Pereira, Ewa Luczkow, Conor Quinn
Sculptor: László Aszalós
Animation: Dávid Dell’Edera
Environment Artist: Áron Somay
Rigging Technical Director: Róbert Tóth
Texturing/Modeling/Simulation: Balázs Bányai
3D Artist: András Gunda
2D FX: Adrián Majoros
Compositor: András Pflum
Graphics: Bianka Horváth, Isabel Gomez
First Assistant Camera: Milo Brown
Second Assistant Camera: James Tilyard
Production Manager: Maddy Williams
Production Assistant: Charlotte Herbert
First Assistant Director: Kitty Rajakulasingam
Art Director: Hara Spyrou
Prosthetics Artist: Mathilda Mace
Stylist: Suzie Walsh
Groomer: Lauren Webster
Gaffer: Charlie Relph
Spark: Georgie Fenny
Runner Driver: Tom Gonzalez
Runner: Samad Kunle

Post Production: Jumpcut Productions
VFX Producer: Ádám György
Post-Production Coordinator: Emőke Böjthe
3D Modeling: Péter Blahó
3D Modeling/VFX Artist: Tamás Horváth
VFX Artist: Balázs Seres, Máté Szusza

Post Production: Umbrella Collective
VFX Producer: Zoltán Hidvégi, Miklós Kázmér
3D Modeling: Levente Gyémánt
IT Support: Andor Gerebenics, Csaba Bálint

Lighting Production: Sunnyside Animation
Lighting Producer: Dániel Szabó
Lighting Technical Director: Gergely Rácz
Lighting Artist: Stefán Lukács

Grade: No.8
Colorist: Alex Gregory
Color Producer: Charlie Morris

Sound: GAS Music
Sound Design: Aaron Bentley
Sound Design Assistant: Ruraidh Oliphant
Sound Supervisor: Greg Owens