It actually came out a while ago, but the beautiful video for Beirut’s The Rip Tide by Houmam Abdallah is well worth checking out.

It begins with a lone ship at sea – a gorgeous image into itself, but then Houman taps into his post production skills to turn an idyllic landscape even more painterly, evoking the work of artists like Turner and Seurat.

“When I approached the band with this idea, I felt strongly that the film had to resonate with their music as much as possible,” Houmam explains. “We filmed the boat off the Cornish coast and captured the ink moments inside a water-filled glass tank. Putting this together in the edit and Flame brought the picture alive. The concept for me became clear when listening to the marriage between the poetry and harmony of The Rip Tide.”

Since this was Houmam’s directorial debut, everyone at The Mill from producers to artists including editors, flame artists and assists collaborated together, making sure the end result was exactly what Houmam was after. Houmam also graded the work, and colour is, as much as the boat, a central character.

“It reminds me of Salvador Dali, Georges Seurat and JMW Turner whose glorious use of light and colour is evoked in this nautical adventure.”

Beirut
The Rip Tide
Director: Houmam Abdallah
Producer: Elaine Britton
Director of Photography: Simon Pinfield
Script Editor: Ruby Ocean
Set Design: Max Frommeld
Phantom: Steve Price
Editing Company: The Mill
Editor: Daniel Budin
Edit Assist: William Barnett
Post-Production / VFX Company: The Mill
VFX Producer: Sophie Hogg
Shoot Supervisor: Graeme Turnbull
2D Lead Artists: Ilia Mokhatareizadeh
2D Artists: John Price, Siro Valente, Brad Wood, Milo Paterson
Assist: Carl Norton
Colourist: Houmam Abdallah