When I was eleven, I was in a music video for a band called San Cisco. The visuals have since inspired a lot of my writing, from immaturely-written dystopias when I was still young to a more developed understanding now. Though it was explained to us at the time, it took a while longer for me to fully understand that the ‘Wild Things’ are a metaphor for our own inner-demons.
I think that using the kids toys is further interesting, as some element of societal/cultural norms that are pushed onto us as kids corrupts us – another post to explain that, though.
Here’s the music video…
So, aside from the actual symbol of the children being the ‘inner demons’, and then the inner demons burning them alive, there’s also quite a lot of interesting props and costuming in the video.
The images of the doll heads on the wrought iron fence is one that’s been dominant in my memory for a long time now. It’s the boundary of the kid’s domain, and the ‘innocent toys’ – ones most kids would have had – being destroyed is really effective. These kids are using something that is intended to offer comfort as something that is threatening and sinister. It symbolizes that these kids are no longer innocent and have moved past the childish belief of bears and toys.
As far as the craft – because I do want to try to recreate some of these elements – I think that it’s just paint, although the one on the centre right looks as though it has been burned?
Kid wearing the mask is pretty terrifying… shielding himself from the world around, while also attempting to appear threatening.
Craft wise, it again looks to be some watery brown paint.
There’s a few things I really like about this particular kid’s costume… the hat, in the situation, is absurd. A kid that age wouldn’t wear a top hat, but at the same time, has the innocence that he might find a hat and decide to wear it… and obviously, it contrasts the situation at hand, because a top hat in the apocalypse is fairly ridiculous.
(And you can’t see it, but he’s also wearing a vest and dress shirt).
I think that the random costume signifies more than just a kid wearing clothes… the kid still has an imagination, despite the situation at hand.
And then there’s the doll with the multiple nails through it’s head… he’s still holding this comfort item, but it’s been hurt, like the emotions and childlike innocence of the kids.
(My mum deserves credit for this one, because she gave me the book to then give to the prop people.)
A book on psychology being in a song that is a play on psychology… being bashed to death by One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest is pretty ironic, even though the weapon probably sucks in practice.
Not as much point on the costumes, but the kids toy baseball bat being used as a weapon is also really cool.
The costuming is also really hard to capture, as it’s mostly close ups rather than wide shots, but it’s mostly torn up and dirty… as you’d probably expect.
After re-watching it, I hit up my local savers for some toys, and was surprised at how distressing it was to buy a teddy with the knowledge that I was going to tear it up.
There is also a clear difference between dystopian and post-apocalyptic film (which I will go into in another post) so I am using the terms interchangeably here, but I wanted to see what information I could find about making props, as if I just went for it and tried, I’d probably end up having to go back to Savers and making the props anyway.
Surprisingly, YouTube didn’t offer many results directly on creating dystopian props unless they were weapons/clothing (e.g, nothing on how to destroy a teddy bear) but I found a channel by a German guy who goes to dystopian conventions and has made many dystopian costumes – and lots of the techniques will be transferable.
Depending on the project, you can have varying degrees of realism… if it’s meant to be set in a society that plausibly stems from today’s one (not mythical or set too far in the future), then the props used will also be everyday items. Changing and modifying weapons will also get you caught – because even if it’s not obvious to you, it will be to someone in the audience.
First video was this one (ignore the penis face mask. Please.)
So basic needs are a small knife, the ‘shedder’ (which he also explains how to make), black paint, clear spray paint, dirt (many types. Maybe red sand for Australian dystopia?) and white powder.
It was also good that he explained minor things e.g don’t use flour because it turns mouldy because I definitely would have used flour otherwise.
So the shredder tool is used to make the major tears, and a small knife is good for making the smaller details. Fabrics that are heavy and or have multiple layers are better (though, this is also for a warrior type scenario… so I understand that some degree of it isn’t applicable to something like what was in that music video).
Then black paint is applied, and from there, dirt and dust can be stuck on.
I then wanted to know how to make the shredder tool… and at least it seems pretty easy and cheap.
Working with leather was also really interesting… not sure how much leather I’ll actually be using, but the effects were amazing. I didn’t know that acetone would be able to do that and have that effect…
Adding fat (especially as it can be as simple as oil) is also really cool – makes the dirt stick. It’s the finer details like that that had carry over on the screen. Trick is probably knowing where to stop.
Then I looked at a few more on colour etc. which are all minor details… but important if you want it to look good. I think it’s more important on the screen, too, because it helps bring the audiences attention to the important features. I think I might’ve just gone in and gone to town, otherwise, and ended up with too many colours that might be disorientating and distracting to the audience.
