Wild

The video we created for Ivan Dorn’s track «Дичь» (which means “wilderness” or “wildfowl” and has a double meaning of “nonsense” in Russian) has now reached 2 million views on YouTube. This music video is dedicated to the lives of endangered bird species and features the voices of species such as Gallinago, Willow ptarmigan, Yellow-breasted bunting, Strix, Cuckoo, Radde’s warbler, and many others.

The video consists of nine short stories drawn in different styles. We made the decision to divide the video into novellas due to the abrupt style of the song itself and the numerous problems that lead to bird extinction. The video touches upon only one topic — the relationship between humans and birds — but it is presented through various techniques.

This video is part of a massive project by Yandex.Music and WWF, which led to the creation of the non-profit label Bird Records. All proceeds from the label go towards reinforcing the nests of endangered bird species.

The music video begins in a bustling city with intricate details and people. We showcase birds that have adapted to the environment, without yet highlighting the problem. This allows us to open up a dialogue with the viewer using reminiscent images, gradually diving into the agenda.

Our goal was to seamlessly merge the key topic of the project, the struggle of birds, into a visually stunning approach. Only by paying close attention can one spot all the unacceptable things happening on the screen during the visually perfect and comforting scenes.

This scene was built around the comparison of human and bird realities. Humans can easily interact with fire or use webbed materials to design garments, while for birds, these objects mean inevitable death.

The visualization of this segment was inspired by games. A bird with a luminous soul is in agony trying to find an escape from trees on fire. Together with that bird, we try to find a path, but we pass out and die from a fallen tree.

At this point, the style of the narrative is radically changed by the singer (Ivan Dorn) to a more suave tone. His words about the Red List of Threatened Species and the role of humans in the extinction of bird species create great pressure.

We highlight this pressure with a broad choreography of the Black Vulture that moves all around the screen, changing angles and filling up space.

The visuals for this scene were inspired by Japanese anime mecha duels, magical metamorphosis, and picturesque locations. The giant is a composite character representing a human and his destructive activities such as deforestation, plant construction, tourism, etc. The human is so big he doesn’t even see the birds trying to confront him.

The Superbird is a symbol of hope for all birds. It looks dangerous and imposing, but compared to the giant-human, it is weak and hardly noticeable.

This part of the video is a sequence of 140 acrylic hand-painted pictures. Given that every scene has a unique background and bird choreography, the visual imagery is flickering, which fuels uncomfortable anxiety.

The scene in the shooting range feels tangible and real, but the toys in it are made of plush and wood. This part of the video touches upon the issue of hunting, which can be both a game and a tragedy.

This scene addresses the issue of pollution, and therefore, it is entirely black and white, alluding to oil, darkness, and smoke. The slideshow technique helps us create a documentary feel.

The track’s final part is a message to humanity on behalf of the birds: we can still help save endangered bird species. Ivan’s monologue seems very calm compared to the rest of the track. We wanted to highlight it by creating a slow and spacious scene. That’s how an image of a dissolving cloud-bird was created.