'Disappear' Animation Music Video by Ala Nunu

Porto-based animation director and artist Ala Nunu (Ahead) has worked for an array of music videos, apart from her animator work (in the Oscar-nominated 'Ice Merchants'); her new indie animation short 'Telsche' (co-directed with Sophie Colfer) was at the 2024 Annecy Festival. Yet the world of music video is something that occupies her time as well -not as a necessity, but as a creative challenge.

In 'Disappear' music video, she has the directorial responsibility for Reason and Impulse musical piece, written by James Asturias; the film alternates images of destruction and construction, with an aesthetic care for the underwritten and the trauma rarely spoken out loud. We talked to Ala Nunu about her film.

ZF: Tell us about how this music video was created. Who approached you, what brief did they give you (if any)?

AN: James Asturias approached us at COLA Animation and we've found a match with me as the director of the project and Bruno Caetano as the producer. James was very open to let me figure out what this project is about. With his music he is exploring the topics of Reason and Impulse and we wanted to try and convey this. It was a true collaboration, inspiring each other. I love projects like this, where we can learn and build on from the perspective of every person involved.  

ZF: Why did you choose a car accident as the setting of the video?

AN: When I listened to the music I couldn't stop imagining a machine being meticulously built for the sole purpose of it being destroyed and rebuilt again, and again. This idea is very much inspired by the science fiction writing of Stanisław Lem, where he describes things that we cannot fully comprehend what is happening, due to the limits of our human senses. I presented this idea to James and he suggested making this all happen in the subconscious of a person that due to an impulsive decision needs to deal with the consequences.

ZF: Did anything trouble you in the design and animation part of it? Τell us more about the design and animation process?

AN: The animation process was great, the brilliant Ana Iutes and I were the main animators and we had some additional help from talented Alicja Liss and Tanaka Triboyi. The production was happening around the time that Procreate Dreams was released. We tried to incorporate it, but in the end the majority of the film was animated in TVPaint ad After Effects.
An interesting fun fact - everything in the video is tied together by adding various live action videos of floating particles of flour. They were made by one of my teachers - the amazing Paweł Prewencki, years ago at the University of Arts in Poznań Poland and I absolutely adore using them.

ZF: Working for a music video entails having already a 'script' for your work. How do you transform this constraint to your own style and creative understanding?

AN: I absolutely love working on music videos, it is one of my favourite forms due to the collaborative nature of it. The "script" rarely really exists in my opinion. It is more about your interpretation of someone else's art, combined with conversations where you get to explore and learn from each other's perspectives. As an animation professional it is so easy to just live in an animation bubble. Don't get me wrong - I love my animation friends. But it is absolutely fascinating and fun to collaborate with and learn from people from all sorts of areas!

ZF: The film has its set of flashbacks and an interesting editing sequence. How did you work with editing the film in this case?

AN:The editing of the film was a true collaboration with James, us going back and forth with ideas and in the end he was the one that actually came up with the final editing. We wanted to create this world filled with silly creatures living in the subconsciousness of someone that wishes to turn back time and undo an impulsive decision. We tried to balance the straightforward storytelling with a bit of absurd and weird puzzle that you as the viewer get to solve by watching the video.

ZF: Does the feeling of 'disappearing' relate to you as well as something you experience?

AN: I think everyone at some point wanted to disappear. Myself included. But I think it's super cool to be and hang around :)

James Asturias, the co-story and editor of the piece intervenes in the discussion.

JA: I wrote 'Disappear' years ago, when I was at a personal low.  My way of coping at the time was avoidance: to put distance between me and those who were making me unhappy.  It didn't work very well.  I would fantasize about leaving everything and starting over, anonymous, with a clean slate.  When I was desperate, I would fantasize about not existing at all.  These were just escapist fantasies for me, but for a lot of people they are not.

I wanted to reduce the instruments to their fundamentals; to start from scratch, and see what is really needed to make a good sound.  I wanted to reduce the signal processing to its fundamentals as well; I wrote the guitar processing algorithms --- distortion, reverb, eq, etc. --- from scratch.  They are written in C++ and are packaged in a VST plugin so they can be used in a DAW.  If what you're after is the sound of vintage equipment, this is probably a bad approach.  I was interested in connecting cause and effect, in learning what is and is not necessary.  It's very satisfying to create something out of nothing --- and then use it to create music.

Watch 'Disappear':

About Ala Nunu

Ala Nunu is a Porto-based Polish director and illustrator specialising in 2D animation, one of the co-founders of COLA Animation. Nunu has experience directing and art directing social campaigns, music videos, TV series and short films. Her portfolio includes companies like Universal Studios, Frank Sinatra Estate, The Atlantic, and OnBeing. Her short film AHEAD has been screened at festivals such as Animafest Zagreb and Bucheon International Animation Festival and her newest film “Telsche” co-directed with Sophie Colfer had its international premiere at Annecy. As an animator, Nunu has recently worked on films such as the Oscar nominated Ice Merchants and Slow Light. She is also a guest lecturer at UALG (Portugal) and PJATK (Warsaw)

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