Ali Sofi bangs A Different Drum for Nick Peers

Up-and-coming Partizan Darkroom director Ali Sofi visualises the pressing urgency and importance of protecting the wonders of our planet.

Combining 2D frame-by-frame animation and traditionally painted textures, this music video creates a calm yet compelling plea to viewers to consider the impact of our collective carbon footprint. A song created in light of events such as COP26, Nick Peers intends to reach the hearts and ears of those powerful enough to call the shots.

The music video emphasises the contrast between nature and man-made pollution, while using overlays to encourage understanding of our proximity to the earth and responsibility. Concluding on an optimistic note and a burst of vibrant colour, both artists believe in the capacity for change and a restorative future.

Sofi commented, "what excited me most about this brief was the importance of the message of A Different Drum. The song is a combination of a warning about the future we are heading towards, and a celebration of the beauty of the world we need to protect. The messages in Nick’s music are ones that I share, a belief that there is great potential in humanity to take a different path, and change our ways to reduce the climate crisis. I was excited to get a chance to make work for a song that is hopeful and promotes change. In all of my work, I focus on creating animation that conveys strong emotions that sometimes can’t be easily expressed. This brief was an opportunity to try and express the feelings that I feel many will share with me on the current climate situation, an uneasy mixture of fear and hope about the earth's future"

"While developing the visuals I was thinking about how the song has an incredibly important and urgent message, but has conveyed it in a uniquely poignant, subtle and thoughtful way. I wanted my visuals to reflect this balance of poetic and powerful storytelling in the music. My focus was to create ideas for clear, simple, and subtle imagery on three themes, the causes and effects of climate change, humanity’s connection to the planet and nature, and walking forward moving towards progress to the beat of the drum, tying them all together through layering 2D digital animation and hand painted texture. It was a great creative challenge and rewarding process to work out how to weave together the marching and drumming motifs with the imagery of the environment.

"I wanted this music video to feel both hopeful and grounded in the reality of the current climate crisis. It follows a simple narrative, of a girl walking forwards, at the start she moves through images of the climate crisis, but as the song progresses, it shows her walking through an alternative, more hopeful path. Colour was key to tying this narrative together, with the palette shifting from greyscale to vibrant green and yellow as the song progresses. Greyscale was chosen for the beginning of the song, to match the darker themes of the climate emergency, with colour coming in with the shift in the music towards the end of the song, highlighting the hopeful themes in the lyrics, and potential for change."