Silicon’s “God Emoji” is one of those videos that I instantly just start talking about, because it has AMAZING written all over it; the VFX work, the cinematography, the locations, the set design, costume... I could go on and on. This is a video that makes filmmaking look easy, but it actually has many well-executed parts that make it a cohesive, entertaining video, especially for a new artist. The narrative stays minimal - it focuses on the main character who takes a few forms, mostly wearing a fur suit and a pixelated, neon blue-eyed head, which intermittently floats around his house, whilst he smokes a cigarette.

I got into the song immediately because I haven’t heard much like it, and it has a laid-back catchy beat. It’s kind of like dance music for introverts. (Note the lyric “Don’t wanna go out on a Saturday night.") The video matches the vibe, utilizing slow zooms and focused visual effects to set the mood. The video moves slow, but it’s definitely not boring. Director Sam Peacocke has a penchant for milking slow-mo footage for all it’s worth, and making something spectacular - his video for Shihad is nothing less than a masterpiece!

The static cinematography in "God Emoji" really blew me away. The cinematographer Andrew Stroud utilized every inch of the super wide format in this project. There were so many shots that were just beautiful. The window reflection shot, the shot of him getting in the car, and especially the opening John Carpenter-esque shot in the forest with the incredible low-lying fog and candy colored lights were so captivating! Stroud has been around for a while, most notably working on two videos for Lorde, which also showcase Stroud’s sense of widescreen composition and high contrast lighting technique. 

The set design was also on point - I have to make note of the 1970’s Alfa Romeo Montreal they featured. Those car sequences had a very Knight Rider feel to them that gave it a really cool vibe. I have to tap on the forest scenes again as well - the opening wide shot was obviously beautiful, but the tropical forest shots in a studio were packed to the brim with color and texture. Chris Elliot (Production Designer) has been in the film industry for a long time, so it’s satisfying to see a small video get such an incredible designer. He’s worked on a hundreds of commercials and films - even Peter Jackson’s early film, Brain Dead.

This is a Kiwi production through and through - from what I could gather, the crew is all from New Zealand, including the multi-instumentalist Silicon (a.k.a Kory Nielson). He has only released this one single, with an album to be released later in the year, according to his record label, Weird World. UK - catch him on his mini tour with Unknown Mortal Orchestra if you can!

Thurs 21 May – UK, London, Islington Assembly Hall (w/ Unknown Mortal Orchestra)
Mon 25 May – Holland, Amsterdam, Bitterzoet (w/ Unknown Mortal Orchestra)
Tues 26 May – UK, London, Power Lunches