Behind the scenes on The Doors' 'Riders On The Storm'.

Directors Brendo+Gonfiantini on making the official video for The Doors, 50 years after 'L.A. Woman'.

Work

4 min read

To mark the 50th anniversary of The Doors' legendary 'L.A. Woman' album, director duo Brendo + Gonfiantini crafted a psychedelic music video for one of the band's most celebrated songs, 'Riders On The Storm'.

Creating a music video for a legendary rock band is no easy feat, and we knew Rhino Records would be looking for something special to celebrate the artistry and cultural impact of the iconic '70s track.

Enter LANDIA and Great Guns directing duo Brendo + Gonfiantini, the creative partnership of married pair Brendo Garcia and Adriano Gonfiantini. The couple started their careers in art direction and cinematography, before they began directing award-winning creative and commercial work in their signature experimental and surrealist style.

From their initial pitch on Genero to the final psychedelic project, we went behind the scenes on the directors' striking and technical music video, which was delivered in just six weeks with the help of their production team at LANDIA.

The concept

Approaching a track from a completely different era in the music industry challenged Brendo + Gonfiantini to find the perfect visual world for a video that could combine the old and new. Both the band and the song "are such an emblematic and important part of music culture, that we had to have the exact world for them to live in harmony", the directors explained.

Eager to honour the cultural impact and original lyrics, their intention from the beginning of the brief was to create a contemporary homage: "With all the glory that Riders On The Storm deserves, we wanted to create something to connect all generations by bringing modernity, technology and an intense narrative to the video".

While the opening scene gives a nod to the crucifixion artwork on the inner sleeve of the 'L.A. Woman' record, another important piece of visual and thematic inspiration for both the original track and new music video was a short experimental film from 1971, which stars frontman Jim Morrison as a transient hitchhiker crossing the Mojave desert.

Digging into the history of Jim Morrison unearthed another key piece of imagery when the directors found a photograph of him balancing on a bike as a child, a visual they used to reflect the relationship between internal ego and self-control. "The protagonist's journey", they explained, "begins when she puts her fear to the test and challenges the indomitable ego, represented by her motorcycle".

In casting talented transgender actress and model Gabe Joie as the character that breaks through physical and metaphorical barriers, the directors wanted to find "a personality who could translate the daily fight against oppression" and be able to represent the LGBTQIA+ community as they continue to advocate for diversity in the creative industry.

The visuals

As queer kids themselves growing up in the '90s in Latin America, Brendo + Gonfiantini needed a place to go to "escape to [their] minds" and feel safe. They were captivated by the magic of cinema and the dream-like qualities that CGI films encapsulated in their childhood, so they used those memories as inspiration in their work.

Incorporating this love for visual effects and its relevance in popular culture, they put forward a creative treatment with a focus on '60s and '70s psychedelia and retro VFX, designing the music video to look like a retro video game with a modern twist.

"How do we create a new psychedelic look in a world immersed in games – a territory of magic and unthinkable possibilities?" - Brendo + Gonfiantini

With that in mind, they decided to work with virtual production and game engine techniques "to translate all this psychedelia into a gaming language, which was suitable for production, post-production and the narrative."

The production

Pre-production VFX processes were used in over 75% of scenes to create 3D real-time backdrops for live action filming. These virtual environments, including both virtual deserts pictured in the video, were crafted in Unreal Engine and powered by Pixotape, which helped integrate more than 80 square metres of LED walls that were used on set.

After coming from such an intensive process of pre-production and pre-vis, the directors "had a very clear story to tell" with their shot list. Working with in-camera VFX was also a valuable approach to save time in post production, as the backdrops had been processed in real time to include live visual effects and reduce the need for green screens.

As they moved into post in collaboration with editor Nathalia Kamura, the team focused on clarifying the narrative, adjusting the pacing and reviewing the intention for each shot to develop the film into its final creative form.