New White House directors complete promo for debut Fightstar single

Horsie, a directing team recently signed to White House Pictures, have completed work on the promo for Fightstar debut single 'Palahniuk's Laughter'.
Fightstar, the new band fronted by former Busted vocalist Charlie Simpson, are to release Palahniuk's Laughter on Moshi Moshi next month.
The result is an ambitious and wholly successful bid to amplify the power and emotion of the track with evocative visual effects.
Horsie wanted to create a desolate ocean planet torn apart by fire and water as the backdrop for the promo, deciding to use a blend of visual effects to enhance the piece, which was shot in a specially constructed water tank. After the water tanks were filled by the local fire brigade, the directors shot the promo on High Def using progressive scan to define and augment the overall water effects. Shot in one day, this fantastic and evocative promo owes much to the crew, who worked tirelessly and long into the evening to accommodate the tight turnaround.
After cutting the promo, the directors began implementing the extensive visual effects, undertaking all the compositing and additional sound effects on their own systems. Using a combination of fluid dynamics simulations and traditional animation in conjunction with shading work in the composite and grade, the team maximised the overall water effects in the piece.
For the fireball elements, they used two plug-ins with Afterburn (from 3D Studio Max) and an ‘in-development’ plug-in called Aura (from Chaos Software) for a fluid fire/smoke simulation. With Chaos generously providing Horsie with their own build for the purposes of the video, the team were impressed with its capabilities, even at the early stage of its development.
Horsie said: "Our goal on this project was to provide visuals that were tailored explicitly to support and enhance the feel of the music rather than the songs lyrical content or the band's style. I'm extremely pleased with the contrast between fragility and fury that we executed on this project. A big thank you needs to go to the record label for allowing us to run wild.”
(GB)