Doff Figures it Out for Royal Blood

3D films are now all the rage in movie theatres, but director Ninian Doff of Pulse Films has put a retro spin on this by harking back to the days of blue and red cinema glasses. His latest video, for British rock duo Royal Blood’s song Figure it Out, flips between two coloured filters to reveal two parts of the same story.

The video tells the tale of a young woman who is wanted by the police. When the screen is blue, blood is clearly visible on the girl as well as the people and objects she comes into contact with. However, when the screen turns red the blood is invisible and viewers have to rack their brains to fill in the missing pieces.

Speaking to shots, Doff reveals why he chose to shoot in this innovative style and why it worked for Royal Blood’s track.

He says: “The idea of these filters hiding bits of information was something I had in my head and wanted to play with but I needed the right track – something with balls, edge and really strong, driven music. Royal Blood’s song was perfect. I’d never worked with the band before, they’re still on their first album but there’s a real hype about them.

“I can’t pinpoint exactly when I came up with the filter idea but it was probably when cycling around on my bicycle, as that’s when I come up with most of my ideas. I think anyone who put on the red and blue 3D glasses in the old days might have closed one eye and noticed that colours remove other colours. I thought it was really cool how you can hide information through the way you shoot and unveil a whole different part of the story.”

It’s easy to assume that the red and blue effects were added in post production, with the images being manipulated to include the blood. However, Doff proudly reveals that the video was made entirely in-camera.

“We shot the video 100 per cent in-camera, which I’m super happy about. Director of photography Pat Scola built a rig with an extra-long slidable lens which had a sheet of blue glass and a sheet of red glass. He literally flicked it across the camera lens by hand at selected moments,” he says.

“They all had sheets of this glass in makeup and the look of things had to be judged by that rather than the naked eye. It meant that things looked a bit weird in person, but really cool through the camera.”

Doff says he had the filter idea long before he came up with a narrative for the film. The first thing he decided upon choosing the track was what he wanted to hide using the different colours.

“It was interesting to think about what we could hide. Blood became the obvious choice as seeing it and not seeing it totally changes the story. The narrative came once we’d come up with this idea.” he comments.

“I want people watching the video to feel engaged and taken by surprise. I also want them to feel differently about the girl’s character by the time it reaches its end – she’s ultimately much less 2D than you initially realise.”

The video was shot in an LA shopping mall over the course of one night, giving the team just a short 12 hour timeframe to complete the complicated film.

Doff says: “It’s great that the track is called Figure it Out as that’s what I was doing all the way through, but I had a fantastic team and cast working far too hard with me.

“With music videos, I always ask: ‘Is there something in this video that is unique and hasn’t been seen before?’ That’s when I know I’ve got an idea worth doing.”