Cat Velez - 14th Apr 2015

Julien Lassort's video for ALB's The Road completely immerses the viewer in a dark, perpetually evolving world of mesmerizing black and white imagery: the cutting of trees, the creation of houses, roads and phone lines, girls thighs opening, human heads becoming skulls...

It all reflects mankind's impact on nature, and it's perfectly timed to the rhythm, creating some satisfyingly smooth transitions from sequence to sequence. And at the end of the road we find a little bit of hope - and colour. 

It's all the more impressive for the fact Julien is, as he explains below, usually works in live action and was making his first fully animated film.

JULIEN LASSORT:

"My interpretation of ALB's tracks was the consequences of man's time on earth. I wanted to make an hypnotic video that would totally match the track and lyrics. The film is like an endless immersion inside an evolving world.

"This is my first time directing a full animation film and this is very different to what I am used to in live action. It needs patience of course, but also a different way of thinking about the film conception. What's amazing is to be able to imagine scenes that takes us to space and say 'hey, no problem! we can do it!' without having an interstellar budget!"