Greetings from Santa Monica

July 17, 2009 6:38 pm

Wish you were here

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Coldplay-shaped puppets on tour

end the puppetry

 

not more puppet pics! arghh! Enuf with the puppets already! imho

:bomb::bomb::bomb:

:lol:

Someone wanna burn those poor puppets :P

I think they need to start putting the puppets into some speedos when they visit the beach:laugh3:

TheMarque: @coldplay Hey, you know that white short bus you blogged about? http://bit.ly/8KGoH That's Farebridge, friends of mine: http://www.myspace.com/farebridge

 

Wonder if was actually them...

Watch the Strawberry Swing video

July 20, 2009 1:30 am

Check out the video in full, now

 

Good morning. We're pleased to announce that the groundbreaking new video for Strawberry Swing is now live on Babelgum. Click here to watch it. The film will also be shown at ODEON cinemas across the UK from July 22nd, where it will be programmed in front of both Bruno and The Proposal.

 

Enjoy!

 

Anchorman

Greetings from Venice Beach

July 21, 2009 5:55 am

Wish you were here

 

 

 

Amadou & Mariam interview

July 22, 2009 1:24 pm

Coldplay's current support act tell us a bit about themselves

 

With the wonderful Mali duo Amadou & Mariam nearing the end of their ten support dates with Coldplay, we sent over some questions to find out a bit more about them.

 

 

Hello, how are you?

We are fine!

 

How have the shows with Coldplay been going so far?

It’s going very good. It’s a new audience for us. They are discovering us and we are discovering them. It’s very interesting and we feel we are communicating more and more...

 

Do you approach support slots differently to a headline slot?

Opening is always a different approach. We know that audience don’t come for us, we are trying to get them attracted by our music. For us it’s a great opportunity to make new fans.

 

How would you describe your music to Coldplay fans who haven't heard it?

An African-based music mixed with spices of blues and rock. It’s warm, joyful. It's party music with some messages.

 

Is it a nice challenge to play to fans who might not have heard your music - or even your style of music - before?

Challenge is important for us. It’s nice to play for people that don't know us in fact.

 

You've recently played with Blur and at the Glastonbury Festival in the UK, how were those shows?

It was very hot. English audience knows us more. It was a truly great experience!

 

How did you come to be on the Coldplay tour?

We met Coldplay in a TV show in England. They liked our music apparently and we were happy when they invited us.

 

Are you fans of the band?

Yes we like their music.

 

Are they popular in Mali?

Not really. Up to now...

 

Had you been to a Coldplay show before?

No.

 

What do you make of their performances on this tour?

They are great musicians. Of course we don't see them perform but we feel the audience getting crazy for them and we have some descriptions from the people travelling with us. They seem to be very good performers!

 

Are you getting any time to have a wander around the towns you're playing in?

NO

You recorded the official anthem for the 2006 World Cup. Are you excited about next year's World Cup being in Africa?

One thing’s for sure we love the fact that the cup will be played for the first time in Africa!

 

Do you think Mali can still qualify?

Of course we hope for it!

 

You guys seem to tour constantly, do you have any tips for making travelling more bearable?

Free time makes travel more fun. We like to go shopping for example. Not only be in the music routine. Doing normal things is important.

 

What do you guys have planned for the rest of the year?

Touring and then travelling back to Mali at the end of the year.

 

Finally, what's your favourite Coldplay song (and why)?

It’s difficult to say 'cause we love many songs but regarding this live tour we could mention: Violet Hill, Death Will Never Conquer & Viva La Vida.

 

For more information on Amadou & Mariam, head over to amadou-mariam.com (and if you haven't heard them before, the track [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KhFv1qJcao]Sabali[/ame] is a great place to start)

What do you make of their performances on this tour?

They are great musicians. Of course we don't see them perform but we feel the audience getting crazy for them and we have some descriptions from the people traveling with us. They seem to be very good performers!

 

 

In case you don't know, they are blind, so that's why they don't "see" Coldplay preform. I can't believe they asked them this question. :anxious:

Aw I totally forgot about that :stunned:

Sure, weird question :confused:

Interview with Shynola (Strawberry Swing video directors)

 

 

The makers of the new video explain how they worked their magic

 

The amazing new Strawberry Swing video was directed by visual artists Shynola. We asked Kenny, one of the Shynola team, to tell us how they made it.

 

Hello Kenny, how are you?

Great, thank you. I'm eating a yogurt.

 

How did you come to be involved with the Strawberry Swing video?

We were approached one day, with what was an unusual, but rather intriguing brief - namely, make a video for a song that wasn't really going to be released, and at film resolution so it could be shown in cinemas. More of a short-film than a typically commercial piece.

 

Could you tell us some of the other music videos you guys have worked on?

We've made videos for Beck, Unkle, The Rapture, a load of stuff for Radiohead, a video with David Shrigley for Blur, and my favourite one - Queens of the Stone Age.

 

Are you fans of Coldplay?

Who?

 

Had you had this idea up your sleeves for a while, or was it a direct response to the Strawberry Swing song?

No, we always pitch specifically for the song. That has meant on previous occasions that we have stared at a blank wall for a week and found no inspiration at all. We've then had to pass on those projects. But we'd still rather work that way. The work is pointless agony if you're not inspired. Our hope is that when the video is finished and you've watched it, that afterwards when you hear the song you can't help but think of the video.

 

So, how did you go about planning this video?

We sat around throwing ideas back and forth, silly details or camera moves, and then started to sketch these as stills. We then cut these stills into a timeline, alongside the song, to get a sense of pacing and how it would all marry with the music. It was deliberately spontaneous at that stage to try and keep the video playful. That's a hard thing to hold on to when you are being meticulous.

 

What's the inspiration behind the story in the video?

First and foremost we really wanted it to be nonsensical and almost dream-like. We also knew that the technique itself would also be a lot for the eye to take in. So when we had the idea of a day with a superhero on some weird adventure we chose to frame the journey with a very simple, easy-to-understand narrative: superhero saves girl from baddy. So it's pretty weird, but makes some sort of sense. I saw the video referred to as "ten-steps-left-of-centre" which we take as a great compliment. I might even get that as a tattoo.

 

Have any of Shynola had a bad experience with squirrels?

Our lawyers inform us that if we talk about it now it may jeopardise the court case.

 

It looks like you must have had a very detailed plan before Chris came into the studio?

Once we got confirmation that it was happening we all made a swift visit to the toilet. As you can imagine this took a LOT of organisation and planning. We were going "what have we promised here?" We ended up making a fully animated "pre-vis" version of the video beforehand, with a CG Chris. You can watch it in its own right. This served as a microscopic, frame-by-frame guide for us on the shoot. Which meant that when we actually came to start shooting, in a way, the video was already edited and finished.

 

How much did you try to tie the plot in with the Strawberry Swing lyrics and the music?

We never see the point in following lyrics literally. We would be adding nothing. We do however try and capture the feel of the song - what the music suggests to us.

 

How long were you with Chris (and where)?

We were in Los Angeles for around a week or so. I think the band were on a little break mid-tour.

 

How did you communicate to him what he had to?

We broke the video down into shots and tackled them chronologically, having a much needed rest between each. We would show Chris the animated version and then try to recreate it as precisely as possible. "Start here. Move 52 increments. Finish in this position. On frame 38, look behind you." He was unflappable, he memorised it all instantly. Just outside of shot we had a huge grid drawn out to help us find his position and we would yell at him "North east, one foot!".

 

Was he a good real-life-superhero-in-an-animated world?

It wasn't really until we started filming that it dawned on us just how vital his ability was to the whole show. If he hadn't got it, and got in to it, we would have been scuppered. Luckily he was even better than we could have anticipated. He's also incredibly fit. We filmed some tests in our London studio with myself on the floor and after 10 minutes I needed a hip replacement.

 

Did you have to do a lot of takes?

There really wasn't time to to redo shots, so everything you see is the first attempt. We did have a false start when we checked the first shot and found that you could clearly see the grid we were using and had to start again.

 

How long was Chris in the studio?

We met briefly a couple of times for his costume fitting and then when we were setting up the day prior to filming. He put the costume on and started rolling around on the floor giddily while we looked through the lens. That was perhaps the happiest moment of the project. We thought "Damn, this might just work".

 

Was the "chalk-drawing" actually done on the floor?

No one seems to want to believe that we drew it on the floor. Which is particularly galling, seeing how long the video took us.

 

So how did you do it?

Again we had pretty much all of the animation roughly blocked-out beforehand using computers. It was just a matter of taking one frame at a time with our grid for reference. Luckily, you only need to draw or rub out the bits that have moved since the last frame. We also had this cool portable monitor while filming, which showed you a live feed from the camera, blended with the previous take and our pre-vis.

 

Was that the most time consuming part of the process?

It was all pretty gruelling. The thing that sticks in my mind was when Chris is falling with the umbrella. If you look closely he is lying on a tiny square skateboard we had made. For each frame we had to drag him an inch this way or that to make him swing. There was a lot of sore backs after the shoot. Always bend at the knee. And back up your hard-drive.

 

Did you have many technical problems while you were making it?

We did have the occasional problem with the cape getting snarled up - oh, the perils of superhero life! - but we had a brilliant art department team who very capably waggled his cape for the whole shoot.

 

How long were you working on it in all?

Far too long. My therapist says I should draw a line under it.

 

Presumably you're pleased with the final video?

We always hate our videos when we've just finished them. If they are not full of mistakes, meddling or compromises, then we are always sick to the back-teeth of looking at them. There's always a discrepancy between what's in your mind and the end product. Astonishingly, considering how difficult it was, this one worked out really, really well. Largely this was due to the amount of trust the band and the management put in us.

 

Have you seen it on a cinema screen yet?

I went to a special test-screening in London to check the transfer. You really need to see it huge to take in all the detail. For a while we wondered: will anyone even know it's Chris Martin? But when you see it in the cinema he is life size. It's weird. It's like he's rolling around in front of you.

 

What do you hope viewers will take from the video?

The best technique for blowing up a squirrel.

 

And finally, tell us a bit about the dog at the end. What role did he/she have in the production?

The dog's name is Phil. He's often credited in Coldplay's sleevenotes as the fifth member.

 

http://coldplay.com/newsdetail.php?id=448

"The dog's name is Phil. He's often credited in Coldplay's sleevenotes as the fifth member."

:lol:

this interview is great!

:laugh3: so true!! Awesome interview, expecially when he talks about Chris :wink3: :heart::heart: and the dog :laugh3:!!

I agree, great interview!!

So they were really drawing this... AMAZING.

 

It must have been so funny:

Chris comes to the studio in his sweatpants and flip flops, then gets out of the chaning room as a technicolor superhero... I can just see him say "I am out of my comfort zone" :lol:

Phil the Dog

This is such a great interview!!!! :D

Are you fans of Coldplay?

Who?

 

Have any of Shynola had a bad experience with squirrels?

Our lawyers inform us that if we talk about it now it may jeopardise the court case.

 

Have you seen it on a cinema screen yet?

I went to a special test-screening in London to check the transfer. You really need to see it huge to take in all the detail. For a while we wondered: will anyone even know it's Chris Martin? But when you see it in the cinema he is life size. It's weird. It's like he's rolling around in front of you. :lol:

 

What do you hope viewers will take from the video?

The best technique for blowing up a squirrel.

 

And finally, tell us a bit about the dog at the end. What role did he/she have in the production?

The dog's name is Phil. He's often credited in Coldplay's sleevenotes as the fifth member.

Really funny and entertaining :lol:

Man, I wish I could watch it in all it's movie theater screen glory :wacky:

^ya, me too!

 

How long was Chris in the studio?

We met briefly a couple of times for his costume fitting and then when we were setting up the day prior to filming. He put the costume on and started rolling around on the floor giddily while we looked through the lens. That was perhaps the happiest moment of the project. We thought "Damn, this might just work".

 

ha, he's such a little kid!:lol:

Philsqueeeeeeeee!!!! arf arf

:lol:

 

He's hilarious.

 

"We met briefly a couple of times for his costume fitting and then when we were setting up the day prior to filming. He put the costume on and started rolling around on the floor giddily while we looked through the lens. That was perhaps the happiest moment of the project. We thought "Damn, this might just work"."

 

Chris is so cuuute [/fangirl] :wacky:

I wish they'd give us a behind the scenes, like in the LiTii vid..... :wacky: minus the puppets :uhoh:

Awww, that guy had a good sense of humor :nice:. What a nice interview!

 

I wish I could see this in theaters too...perhaps it'll still be playing in London in mid-late August :sneaky:. I still stand by my opinion that it needs to be shown in front of KIDS movies, though...I think they'd really enjoy it :wacky:.

^Same here :nice:.

My niece loves it and she's 3 :D

She also likes the LiT vid :P

:lol: :nice:.

Awesome interview !

And Chris totally acts like a child, that's why we love him :D