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Nola, Union and loyalkaspar Help U2
Get Illustrated for the Grammy Awards

 
When über-pop band U2 and lead singer Bono opened the Grammy Awards telecast on 8 February, advising America that ‘the future needs a big kiss,’ there was more to the hard-driving optimism than drums and guitars. The band’s latest song, “Get Your Boots On,” brought an invigorating activism to the regular pomp-and-circumstance that pervades the music industry’s biggest night. U2’s performance, however, gained a further visceral edge with the evocative blend of graphics, animation, and text appearing on the giant screen that served as their primary backdrop. 

Making daring, eye-popping use of the stars and stripes of the American flag, the 210-second treatment punctuates the performance, and the message, in no uncertain terms. To see the piece, click here.

“More than anything else, the song is an aggressive call-to-action,” says Juan Delcan, a director with New York’s Nola Pictures, who collaborated on the project with its director, Catherine Owens, U2’s longtime Director of Content. Delcan served as creative director and designer on the piece.  “Bono’s delivery is almost militaristic, with defiant optimism replacing weapons,” he continues.  “To reflect the spirit of the song, we used the American flag very differently than it has been used before, particularly in recent years. We wanted to aggressively reclaim what that flag stands for during the dawning of what is, hopefully, a new age and way of thinking.”

And what a reclaiming. From the song’s opening lyric, rendered in pulsating text on the big screen, the familiar collection of stars representing the union of states transitions into neat rows of Xs—shorthand for the kisses the future needs. Just as quickly, however, an ominous alternative is suggested, when the same Xs transform into military barricades.

With that sentiment in mind, the energetic animation further deconstructs the flag icon.  Kaleidoscopic use of the flag’s parallel stripes comment on the nation’s issues of equality by transforming into staccato visions of equal signs and angled effects. Offsetting the frenetic imagery, however, are intermingled screens of primary, rainbow-like colors, used as backdrops for on-screen type spelling out the song’s more forgiving lyrics.  In the end, a balance of aggression and gentleness is achieved.

Making the work more impressive is the fact that Delcan and Owens took just three days to create the entire piece. “It was a very tight timeline, but there was no way I was going to say no,” says Delcan. “Catherine is an old friend, so I knew we’d work well together. Bono and the band had a couple of rough ideas of where they wanted to go, one of which made heavy use of the American flag. Initially, I was thinking that we’ve all overdosed on the flag during the recent political campaigns, but Catherine and I sat down and conceptualized these reinterpretations. It was an amazing experience.”

Delcan knew that, with this tight turnaround time, he was going to need additional resources, so he turned to the New York-based graphics firm loyalkaspar. “I’d heard good things about their work,” he explains, “and asked if they’d help out. I warned them from the outset that it would be three days of artistic tempers flaring—that we’d fight and argue and complain about each other, but it would all result in great creative. They weren’t fazed a bit. It turned out to be the most intense fun I’ve had in years and years.”  Delcan worked with loyalkaspar's creative directors Beat Baudenbacher and Elliott Chaffer on the project.

“We were also very fortunate to get Union Editorial’s Adam Jenkins to do the edit,” Delcan continues.  “Adam’s energy level on this project was so high, in fact, we had to keep reminding him that the world’s biggest band would be performing in front of the screen. From that point on, he’d hold his hand up in front of his face from time to time, just to ensure it remained a background."

"Working on this project was similar to doing a music video, in that it was a case of matching visuals to the pacing of the song," says Jenkins. "The difference was that the imagery had to complement the four blokes playing in front of the screen not on it." He explains that Bono provided a basic plan for the band's onstage blocking as a blueprint to choreograph the text and the animation portions of the piece.  “He wanted the introduction up until the Edge plays his intro guitar lick to be quite manic,” Jenkins points out. “When the lyrics came in, he wanted the words to appear on full-color pallets. The chorus, breakdown, intro and outro were our moments to show off; that’s where the band gave the creative team full reign to really push it.”

While the initial video was created for the Grammy broadcast, the band has since asked the creative team to create new versions for their performance at the BRIT Awards at Londonulls Earls Court, which took place last week. Additional versions have been created for upcoming U2 performances in Germany and France.

Additional credits on the project go to Nola Pictures executive producer Charlie Curran; loyalkaspar producer Melissa August; 3D artists Kyle Anderson, Adam Pearlman, Chris Foster, 2D artists Ann Kruetzcamp, Chris Thompson, Dennis Cheung, and Alexandra Stefanova; 2D animator Sebastien Larreur; and designers Daniel Dornemann, Emily Gobielle and Chris Thompson.  For Union Editorial, Caryn MacLean was executive producer.


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