ABOUT

We created a magical world inside an underground parking structure based on the album artwork and music for Clean Bandit, drawing influences from the album cover, utilising the glass shapes, mirrors and trees. This world needed to wow the fans as they entered, completely transported into a 'Clean Bandit world'.

I got the call while in New York and developed the treatment. Open space, tropical, clean, airy, new age. A week before the shoot we saw the space. An underground cement car park, quite the antithesis! 2 articulated lorries full of plants, a lot of laser-cut mirrors, creative lighting and a concept projection mapping later, they had the Eden project in Shoreditch!

Responding to social media calls to appear as extras in a short film to accompany the electronic pop group’s debut album, New Eyes, over a hundred turned up to warehouse venue, The Laundry. After donning our bespoke Clean Bandit-styled outfits and special makeup, the passionate throng was then left disappointed as a video message from the band was played apologising for not being able to attend.

However, as fans were filmed roaming the customised set for what they thought was a series of simple crowd shots, the band suddenly rolled up in a brand new Kia Soul Mixx – cue dropped jaws and ecstatic delight as each member emerged for meet and greets before taking to the stage to perform a thumping six-song set.

The entire event was staged and filmed by LoveLive for the second episode of The Shhhow by Kia, a video series on YouTube – conceived and produced by Show Cobra, LoveLive’s US creative agency – that sees amazing artists shock the world with jaw-dropping live performances in unexpected locations. Episode one of The Shhhow, featuring US rockers Weezer in Venice Beach, California, is also available for viewing on Kia’s YouTube channel.

Our idea was to transform a portion of the sterile and stark cement structure into something organic, explosive, wild and lofty, not as claustrophobic. It’s as if nature has broken free and has organically sprung forth. Through elements such as projection mapping, translights, white LED panels and mirrors, we created a feeling of infinity, an large area that was moodily lit, but evenly with plenty of open white space. Once elevating the venue into something more ethereal; plants, mirrors and lighting were added to drip and break free into the space, falling out of frame, hanging from the ceiling, on many levels for tracking through. The effect was a focus-lit diorama with a ‘snow globe’ effect; nature erupting from the concrete, hidden away and discovered by our crowd.