MANGLED - LAYERS MUSIC VIDEO

DESIGN & DIRECTION, 3D ANIMATION

Comissioned by Mangled

001// THE PROJECT

Mangled needed a music video to accompany their new song “Layers” - the second single off their debut album. The track is extremely heavy and technical and demanded an equally brutal video to accompany it. After listening through the track and studying the lyrics I spoke with the guys and we discussed some reference imagery to dial in the concept. Luckily we were pretty synchronized about how to translate the themes of the lyrics into a visual concept and we got to work on production.

002// THE CONCEPT

The lyrics of “Layers” describe an internal battle with the darker side of one’s personality. They speak about a person attempting to tear out all of the dark and undesirable aspects of themselves in an effort to please another. However, once they have examined and attempted to remove each of those layers of their self they realize that those pieces are part of who they are and cannot be removed. They face the darkness and choose to become one with it.

I chose to take a physical interpretation of this mental and emotional dissection in order to give it the visual and visceral impact that felt appropriate for the track. Throughout the video we watch a figure struggling physically with their own body, physically tearing it apart and being tortured physically and mentally as they try to force a darkness out of them. A physical darkness erupts from their core in the form of a dark cloud of smoke that forms into a figure of its own. Finally towards the pinaccle of the track the two figures face each other and see themselves in one another. In the final breakdown the figures have joined as one as they march on into the future.