Yakuza is a jazz band from Lisbon.
They mix various styles within their music and achieve a very fresh and groovy sound. I’ve done visuals for them before, and was challenged to do the music video for their debut single.
They mix various styles within their music and achieve a very fresh and groovy sound. I’ve done visuals for them before, and was challenged to do the music video for their debut single.
"Tuning" is the first single off of Yakuza’s upcoming debut LP “Ailleron”.
The band wanted to explore old arcade aesthetic and mix it with some other references.
The band wanted to explore old arcade aesthetic and mix it with some other references.
Their instrumental sound gave space for a lot of possibilities and the deadline allowed for a good amount of time to develop the visual style.
However the duration of the song, and the “vague” initial concept of Arcade + Racing posed some problems.
However the duration of the song, and the “vague” initial concept of Arcade + Racing posed some problems.
Mainly, how to maintain viewer interest and attention during the whole music.
Process
Concept
The band proposed having a retro arcade aesthetic in the music video - Time Crisis was one of the first references - but there was also talk of having this sort of wacky / “out there” feel to it - something like the anime Initial D.
Those were the two main references, and the main concept for the video was born from the junction of both.
Those were the two main references, and the main concept for the video was born from the junction of both.
Nostalgic visuals and references wouldn’t suffice to maintain the viewer’s attention for a 6 minute music video though, so there was a big need to have a narrative going throughout the whole video.
After settling on the racing theme, I needed characters.
The main character - Toyota AE86 Trueno - comes directly from Initial D, and one of the band’s members actually owns a similar model!
The antagonist came from the bands name - Yakuza - which came to be as a reference to Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 3. There’s an in-game gang (Yakuza) represented by a car called the Stinger (which is the gray and pinkish car in the music video)
The main character - Toyota AE86 Trueno - comes directly from Initial D, and one of the band’s members actually owns a similar model!
The antagonist came from the bands name - Yakuza - which came to be as a reference to Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 3. There’s an in-game gang (Yakuza) represented by a car called the Stinger (which is the gray and pinkish car in the music video)
The whole story is a rather simple one, the main character - Trueno - is an excellent racer that has no problems winning races, but is suddenly confronted by - and loses to - a surprise antagonist, the Stinger.
Loss doesn’t come easy for the Trueno, who goes through a sort of mental breakdown/panic moment, only to come out of it and face the stinger on a one-on-one night-time race on a mountain, riddled with drifting and downhill acceleration.
Loss doesn’t come easy for the Trueno, who goes through a sort of mental breakdown/panic moment, only to come out of it and face the stinger on a one-on-one night-time race on a mountain, riddled with drifting and downhill acceleration.
After deciding on the story, I only needed to divide it into various moments/beats and spread them out through the song’s structure in a manner that would make sense.
Storyline planning
3D Production
The main bulk of the video is made within Cinema4D - 3d modeling & 3d animation.
The intro’s icons were created in Illustrator and animated in After Effects.
The car’s and environment’s textures were created in Photoshop, and the final video edited in Premiere Pro.
The main bulk of the video is made within Cinema4D - 3d modeling & 3d animation.
The intro’s icons were created in Illustrator and animated in After Effects.
The car’s and environment’s textures were created in Photoshop, and the final video edited in Premiere Pro.
The whole retro-arcade feeling was recreated by:
- Tossing out any kind of Anti-Aliasing, to preserve pixelated edges
- Rendering in a small resolution native to old arcade machines (512x384) and scaling it later to the final bigger resolution (1920x1080 pillarbox)
- Low Poly modelling
- Small texture resolutions
- Other videogame trickery, such as cross-plane trees (A “tree” is basically two identical images, crossing in 90º, so it can be seen from any angle)
From left to right:
Trueno UV & Textures; Stinger 3d model and rig; track environment animation loop
Trueno UV & Textures; Stinger 3d model and rig; track environment animation loop
