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Monday, 12 November 2007 | Levent OZLER
The War Inside: Shilo Directs Passion Piece with and for Angels & Airwaves, Tom Delonge
Shilo, the authors of We Make It Good, recently teamed closely with musician Tom Delonge to direct "The War," a striking short film inspired and backed by the Angels & Airwaves song of the same name. Thanks in part to Delonge's admiration for the studio's work, the Shilo creative team was involved with this "passion piece" even as the original song was being written. Staying true to their technique of "design-infused storytelling," Shilo conceived, designed, directed, composited, and edited a short film of epic force and intensity.
Perhaps best-known as the lead vocalist/guitarist of the now "indefinitely hiatused" Blink-182, Delonge formed Angels & Airwaves in 2006, writing "The War" for the band's first album "We Don't Need to Whisper." As Delonge was conceiving and writing the songs for the album, Shilo had the extraordinary opportunity to collaborate directly with the songwriter, creating storyboards and designs for short films through intimate conversations and free associations. Shilo ended up directing the band's second music video, 'Do It For Me,' and designing the cover for their first album.
"When working with commercials, everything is tidy and nice at the end," says Andre Stringer, Creative Director at Shilo. "In contrast, 'The War' was all about creative freedom; free reign to make inferences and convey feelings without having to tell a literal, product-driven story. Both the plot and the schedule were open-ended, and we were able to really let the ideas flow."
"Tom gave us a lot of liberty, as well as a lot of his time and trust," says Creative Director Jose Gomez. "We'd just go and hang out with him and find out what was influencing him. In the end, we were able to direct something we are entirely passionate about."
In many ways, "The War" unfolds just like it sounds. Opening with an epigraph from Sally Kempton reading "It's hard to fight an enemy who has outposts in your head," the short film draws a clear and ominous connection between scenes of battle and the daily struggles of the individual mind.
A shot of Delonge looking pensively into the camera moves smartly through the pupil of his left eye to a scene replete with conflict. Within an entirely 3D world, dramatic images of World War II era warriors find a direct analogy with sharply dressed, combative, modern businessmen. As soldiers prepare for the battlefield, the professionals take up their places on a giant chessboard. As dirty, nervous fingers hold a twitching cigarette, a manicured hand drums with a sterling silver pen. There is no doubt that these two worlds, separated by time, space, and urgency, nonetheless bear striking similarities.
"The piece deals with visually representing the two sides of any person," says Tracy Chandler, Executive Producer at Shilo. "There are clear struggles between conformity and individuality. We were trying to create visual poetry with an intense layering of meaning; about politics, war, internal frustration; about the games we play in our own minds; and about simply being a pawn in society. There is a sense of the anxiety of choice; of having to choose between the two sides of oneself. The artistry ultimately stems from taking two contrary things and making a third something from their collision."
That sense of internal creative tension reaches its unsettling zenith in the concluding scene of "The War," as two planes zig-zag across a fire-colored sky en route to an inevitable collision.
"We shot six actors using 35 mm, then replicated the characters as needed," says Stringer of the process. "We performed a crazy amount of rigging and prop work as well, with miniature war sets and actors being dropped from great heights and against massive greenscreens. All the environments were a combination of digital matte paintings and 3D models, which we also created. This was a real mixed-media piece."
In the end, however, it was the film's subject, rather than its execution, that proved most challenging for the Shilo team. Says Stringer:
"This was an introspective and thoughtful project for us. Not only was relating to Tom and his vision a refreshing challenge, "The War" tested how we juggle the artistry within our own imaginations. Sometimes what's in your own head can be the most difficult thing to adequately express."
To view the film and additional stills and behind-the-scenes images, please visit Shilo's gallery site at: http://wemakeitgood.com/article/live/the-war
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