Dancing Diablo Animation Brings Radiohead's Music Video To Life With A Poetic Visual Landscape

New York: Dancing Diablo, the innovative animation studio was founded by artist Beatriz Helena Ramos in 2002. Her mission was to bring together a handpicked collaborative group of visual artist specializing in commercial projects and committed to a level of style and freshness that breaks through the clutter and resonate emotionally with its audience. Recently, a competition to create a music video for a track from the Radiohead album, In Rainbows inspired them to do just that. The results: an artistic video landscape that breaks the rules of traditional music video with a visual interpretation of Nude that captures the multi-layered song’s essence in an unexpected way.

“This project pushed the limits of animation into something closer to art,” said Ramos. “We thought it could be very interesting to show not just the video, but the whole range of elements used, including photos, paintings and still frames. The Gallatin Gallery of NYU presented us the ideal venue for this multimedia exhibit.”

While Dancing Diablo is best known for its work in the commercial arena, and remains focused on providing advertising agencies specializing in the general market will groundbreaking animation and design, Ramos considers it essential that her team mixes it up by working in a variety of genres that give them the opportunity to experiment with new techniques and grow as artists. The results is a company that is a unique creative resource with a stellar reputation for creating visually captivating animation and design work that brings a fresh perspective to their commercial projects.

“Nude is a haunting dream-like song, filled with provocative abstract references, and ambiguities,” notes Ramos. “It lyrics and tenor inspired us to deviate from the conventional music video approach, and create a piece of art that captures its complexity with a textural and organic visual stream of consciousness true to the emotional spirit of the song.”

“We did not interpret the lyrics literally, or give them a narrative structure, but rather took a more poetic approach,” adds Ramos. “Nude is a meditative piece – so we wanted to create visuals that would lead the viewers to find their own narrative threads and meaningful associations.

Dancing Diablo created all of the art for the video by hand, combining a variety of natural and manmade objects, while experimenting with the four natural elements: earth, fire, water and air. Remaining true to this organic approach, they opted for traditional stop motion animation, keeping the use of Aftereffects to a minimum.

While Dancing Diablo’s artists have the option of using high-tech hardware and are proficient in manipulating complex software – they let each project and their collective imagination dictate their approach - not the technology.

“Nude demonstrates that by using paint, seeds, nails and a few found object - with a still camera, basic laptop and software that is easily accessible - two people can create a captivating and evocative animated piece with dramatic impact,” states Ojea.

Radiohead’s In Rainbows has been a resounding success from its initial digital release to the standard CD, released in January. Dancing Diablo’s video version of Nude presents their unique, organic interpretation of this song’s message.

Beatriz Helena Ramos and Jose Antonio Ojea directed the piece, which was recently showcased at NYU’s Gallatin Galleries.

Dancing Diablo is a full-service animation, 2D, Stop motion, illustration house dedicated to commercials and children’s content. For additional information call 718-243-0103, email Diablo@dancingdiablo.com, visit www.dancingdiablo.com.
#