Jess Cope on directing for Metallica

Last week saw rock gods Metallica release their new album, Hardwired... to Self-Destruct along with the video Here Comes Revenge among others.

Directed by Jess Cope through Partizan, the promo is an animated Brothers Grimm-esque fairy tale story about a deranged killer and his victims.

To find out more about the video, and the shocking true story that inspired it, shots caught up with Cope.

Tell us about the concept of the video?

The story is loosely based on a real life serial rapist/killer who committed terrible crimes back in 2009 - 2014. I found out that the song was written with this guy in mind and so I decided to base the video around this theme.

I wanted to avoid using real people so we developed everything around this world where everybody is a hybrid between animal and human - the animal somewhat representing a persona. We follow this deeply disturbed man who takes pleasure in hunting stuffing a mounting his victims on his dining room wall. He’s onto his last and final victim but is unable to succeed in the kill. After being put away he relives the day over and over in his mind sending himself completely mad. 

Why was this style of animation chosen?

I discovered this incredible illustrator just by chance one day whilst googling images of a creepy looking girl…as you do. I came across this tiny thumbnail image that was exactly what I was looking for and I found out who the illustrator was.  His name is Adam Oehlers and his work is stunning. I got in touch, introduced myself and asked if he’d like to work on something with me.

Since then we have worked on a couple of projects and have found it to be the most phenomenal working relationship. So, when this Metallica opportunity came up I felt that there was no better person to come up with the concept art. Adam’s style is very Alice In Wonderland and I just thought his work would be such an intriguing contrast to the dark story and heavy metal tune. The actual cut out animation style is the one I use, and is sort of my trademark, but unlike the traditional handmade way that I usually animate this video was done in after effects using scanned images of Adam’s handmade art work.

How challenging was it to make? 

The only real challenging aspect I found when making this video was the amount of work to be done in such a short timeframe with the song being over seven minutes long. In animation that’s a lifetime! The beauty of animating using AE is it’s much faster and far more controlled. The amazing team at Partizan powered through the shots whilst keeping the standard high! Poor Adam however, was faced with the enormous task of creating a whole world, its elements and characters from all different angles in only a few weeks! 

Did the six-week timeframe create additional challenges?

It was a very big challenge but I think this worked in our favour as it forced us to make good decisions quickly instead of procrastinating. The pressure helped me personally to pull this story out of my head fairly quickly. It gave me clarity weirdly enough. 

What if any input did Metallica have?

With so many music videos being made all at once just before the album’s release, it was quite a hectic time for Metallica. Myself and Robert Trujillo [Metallica bassist] have been in touch for quite some time now and have formed a really good friendship, so I was always able to run things by him. It’s important for me to know what the song is based on. In this case, it is based on quite a horrific theme about a real life serial killer who murdered one of their fans after a Metallica concert. I decided to take this idea and tell a story of revenge that might loosely depict the theme without being disrespectful to the real people involved in the story. 

Was there added pressure creating content for such a high-profile act?

I actually felt just the same way that I do when I make a music video for anyone. I always feel an intense pressure to produce my best work for whoever I’m working for so I kind of had to put ‘Metallica' to one side whilst I concentrated on making it for each individual in the band. The realisation that I have made a music video for Metallica still hasn't properly sunk in. It might do when I see them tonight at the House of Vans show!