“My Own Monster” By X Ambassadors

Haunted by his inner demon, a man's shadow transforms into a cartoon monster and the two of them engage in an old-school dance routine through a world that looks like a cross between Toon Town and Sin City.

The short film IN MEDIAS RUSH is an experimental cinematic journey into the depths of a manic mind. A poetic retro-sci-fi narrative unfolded in a string of unsettling tableaus that encapsulates the male protagonist’s ambiguous feelings about his birthday. While balancing between realities in his silent struggle with severe mental illness, we plunge into the film at a neatly orchestrated birthday party. The protagonist is accompanied by his girlfriend, and they are drinking cocoa on the couch in their mutual home. The setting breathes pure perfection, but through the voice over we sense that another reality is soon to be revealed. With one foot on the accelerator, he is heading towards the edge. The thematic focal point of IN MEDIAS RUSH is mental health problems among young adults, and the social/personal consequences related to the existing taboo on the subject. The film wishes to formulate an honest cinematic space in which words, sound, and image artistically interprets and articulates some of the perspectives related to especially bipolar, anxiety, and psychotic disorders. IN MEDIAS RUSH was nominated in the category 'Best Danish Short Film' at Copenhagen Short Film Festival in 2020. Original title: IN MEDIAS RÆS Directed by: Esben Persson -------------------- DK: IN MEDIAS RÆS IN MEDIAS RÆS er en filmisk rejse ind i dybderne af et manisk sind. En ung mand fejrer sin fødselsdag, mens hans tanker tordner afsted. Med en uvillig fod på speederen har han kurs mod kanten. FR: IN MEDIA RES IN MEDIA RES est un voyage dans les profondeurs d’un esprit maniaque. Un jeune homme fête son anniversaire tandis que ses pensées se multiplient. Malgré lui, il se dirige vers un point de non-retour. -------------------- Cast: Peter Alexander Bach & Amanda Overby Drew Director // Script writer // Set designer // Costume designer // Editor // Speaker: Esben Persson Photographer // Editor: Lasse Mølsted Producer: Latifa Lykke Ben Mabrouk Assistant producer: Cecilie Creutsberg Music composer: Martin Bejder Sound designer: Mads Hye Chief Lighting Technician: Rasmus Bruun Liboriussen VFX: Jonas Fonnesbæk Lodahl Colorist: Kristopher Paterson Graphic designer: Jakob Toft Kristensen -------------------- Shot on RED Monstro 8K with Lomo Squarefront Anamorphics.

This project was a total labor of love for everyone involved, including our post house Mathematic - we couldn't have even attempted this without them. Sam from the band brought me the logline concept of a man's shadow morphing into a cartoon monster and doing a soft-shoe dance routine with him. Then we elaborated the world around him to feel like a cross between Sin City and Toon Town. On our budget we couldn't afford to make the VFX in a 3D way, so from the get go we knew there could be no camera movement - which I liked because it forced us to put all the creative power behind the things that mater: the dance, the world, the content of what's happening; rather than relying on big camera moves as a crutch. We were really inspired by the 80's film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and wanted to do a similar approach of fusing modern tech with old-school craft. So I put a storyboard of ideas together that focused on clever moments between Sam and his shadow, visually creative vignettes, minimalist designs, and pre-vis'd the whole video beat-by-beat. Then came the choreography which was all put together in an animatic, and we used that as our bible for post. Everything was real specific.

Daniel Iglesias Jr. - Director

Credits

Artist: X Ambassadors
Director: Daniel Iglesias Jr.
Production Company: Stray Dogs
Producer: Phillip Soulliere
Cinematographer: Casey Stolberg
Choreographer: Genna Moroni
1st AC: Aaron Seller
2nd AC: Sophia Harbo
Gaffer: Heath Gresham
Key Grip: Zane Tan
BBE: Arthur Garcia
BBG: Jesse Lee
Electric: Andrew Doward
HMU: Erica Armendariz
PA: Freddie Gardner
Editor: Daniel Iglesias Jr.
Post Production Company: Mathematic
Post Company Owner: Guillaume Marien
Post EP: Guillaume Audibet
Post Assistant Producer: Natasha Pearson
Post Supervisor: Mathieu Bétard
Post Producer: Laura Warnault
VFX Supervisor: Vincent Blin
Shadow Monster Character Design: Boris Zaiontchkovsky
2D Animators: Mathieu Bétard, Faouzi Hamnadi, Kevin Faria, Noémie Mongin, Estelle Bray
Backgrounds: Justine Gasquet, Boris Zaiontchkovsky
Compositing: Mathieu Bétard, Bertrand Avril, Arthur Busson, Adèle Baquiast, Géraud Mottais
Grading: Clément Germain, Michael Bianchi, Vincent Heine
IN/OUT: Nathalie Tramier, Romain Beltran, Maëlle Masson, Adrien Jean-Robert

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