Pink Floyd - Louder Than Words promo video background |
Written by Aubrey Powell | |
Wednesday, 03 December 2014 | |
When Pink Floyd commissioned a video for ‘Louder Than Words’ there was no specific brief. This was totally normal. I had heard the music and read Polly Samson’s lyrics. The emphasis of the lyric seemed to be about the band, not specifically placed in any time frame, but more about their personal relationships in their nearly five decade career. “It’s louder than words this thing that we do” speaks volumes. Pink Floyd have nearly always made some formal, or informal, statement about things they do, be it a reflection of social comment or a sense of political leaning. Writing an idea for a music video for them is complicated. It can be something current, but then it’s easily dated; it couldn’t really address the lyric as that would involve starting at the genesis of Pink Floyd through to the present day, and that’s more than a five minute film. What was required was something more observational, more a case of bringing an awareness of something that one might have no previous knowledge of especially if it effects the future of our planet. “It’s louder than words this thing that we do” was the line that caught my imagination. Earlier in 2014 I had made a video for the reissue of a track from The Division Bell, ‘Marooned’, and I had decided with David and Nick’s blessing to go to Pripyat, the abandoned and radioactive city on the outskirts of Chernobyl. The video gives a look at what will happen if mankind doesn’t pay careful attention to the dangers of nuclear energy. The film doesn’t cast any judgement - it’s purely a bit of sci-fi that shows a dead city, dead for centuries to come. It’s an overview of what can result if we don’t take more care of our world.
Aralsk, in Kazakhstan, used to be the main seaport for the Aral Sea, and is where a few of the rusting ships still exist, and was therefore the obvious place to film. We used a Quadcoptor, Red cameras and crew provided by a local company in Almaty, and took our own DP, Brett Turnbull. Benny Trickett was assistant director, editor and DIT specialist, and Fiz Oliver producer. Aralsk is remote, to say the least, and after a plane trip, and then an eight hour train ride it’s a journey lasting some 18 hours. The ships lie a further two hours drive over rough roads carved through the ancient sea bed. The weather was dismal - snowing for some of the time and then a chilly 10 degrees below freezing with 20 mph winds. Just what you don’t need! However, the sun shone for a few hours each day and we filmed as if our lives depended on it. Editing lasted some four weeks and consisted of a lot of CGI work by Glassworks in London. Aubrey Powell - Director Our thanks to Aubrey for the background to the video, which we have brought you in full here as another Brain Damage exclusive. And, for those who have yet to see the video (or want to see it again), see below... |