B.O.A.T.S.
music video

This project was done late at night while crying. When Darrell Cole approached me to make the music video for his song B.O.A.T.S. (based on a true story) I was jumping for joy to do a project like this. But that jumping soon turned into nervous foot tapping when I heard the one-month deadline. But knowing what an interesting project this could be, I took on the challange.

Client
Darrell Cole
Sony Music Belgium

Contribution
Art direction
Illustration
Animation

Filmfestivals
12°N61°W Grenadian Film Festival 2019
The Lift-Off Sessions
Portland Unknown Film Festival

PROCESS

The song B.O.A.T.S. is about the life of Darrell Cole, and how he and his family moved from place to place in his early life and the strife that brought with it. A big part of the story takes place in Sierra Leone during the civil war and to visualize this I had to do a lot of research. Research on a civil war looking through the eyes of a kid was pretty heavy and brought me to tears on occasion. But it was necessary to tell this story.

INSPIRATION & PRELIMINARY DESIGNS

CHALLANGES

I chose to show the story as a series of pictures. As if we’re looking at Darrell’s life one picture a day and that way we see him grow up. I got this idea from an episode of The Simpsons, where we see homer’s life flash by in a series of pictures. This idea enhances the emotions felt by the main character because of our nostalgic association with pictures. Every frame of this video was drawn and animated by me in the span of one month.

CONCLUSIONS

At its release the video was picked up by multiple news sites and blogs like Generations and Bruzz, praising the music and music video alike. The video got into film festivals like Grenadian Film Festival and Portland Unknown Film Festival. It went on to be the most viewed video on the channel.