‘Pictures In My Head’ By Nik Hill

Music video for MJ Cole.

Directed by Nik Hill. 3D artists: Adriana “Electra” Mora, Lauren Galloway, Grace Barth. Produced by Twenty Third C.

Notes from the director:

The inspiration for the video stemmed from the music itself. Sometimes a piece of music makes you see a certain thing, or a collection of things. When listening to “Pictures in my Head” it instantly triggered images of a colorful world made up of random visual metaphors. The more I dissected the lyrics of the track it felt like it was all about the idea of love and the emotional experiences that go with it.

In the video we venture in to the mind of the female vocalist, exploring visually what the lyrics may represent. The overall vibe is random and dream like. There are sexual undertones in the lyrics (or at least that’s what I got from it) so I tried to capture some of this naughtiness and portray it in a way that wasn’t crude but still fun and visually appealing. ‘Where the magic happens’ and ‘Breakfast in bed’ were just a couple of ideas behind some of the visuals in the chorus.

Once I knew MJ Cole was on board with the idea I set about building a team to help execute the vision. In this instance I had the help from three wonderful female 3d artists each from different corners of the globe. Mexico, Canada, and London via France. Electra, Lauren, and Grace all brought another layer of unique interpretation to the project. This collaborative effort helped enrich the overall visual and take it up a notch. Once we had all the scenes built I set about animating, texturing, and rendering in Cinema 4D and Octane.