Ewen Farr creates atmospheric music video for Izzy Bizu

Now, he’s taken his distinctive aesthetic and created a new lyric video for singer-songwriter Izzy Bizu's new single 'Lights On'. Farr began work on the project in March this year, having won the work through the Sony music Creative Commissions website, somehow managing to complete the thing in just two weeks.

The video uses rotoscope animation to illustrate the neon landscapes of inner-city life. “After getting the basic idea down, my friend kindly drove me around Soho as I filmed the passing scenery, which I then used to rotoscope,” Farr explains.

He used an iPad to capture the footage, then the iPad and apple pencil to rotoscope the images using a mixture of Procreate and Photoshop. The final composition and grading were done using Aftereffects.

“The client wanted visuals that wouldn't look too 'cartoony', so I decided to go for a slicker look using the iPad to draw, and the method of rotoscoping, using bright neon colours against the dark night which helped in keeping the lights clean and legible,” says Farr.

“At first I tried hand-drawn subtitles in the style of Tarantino and an old footage filter, which they weren't too keen on. So instead I layered photocopy textures over the top, to give it an analogue touch, and used a digital font.”

The single is released today, on 3 May.