Animated Music Video Clip / 2023
Music: Skiadereses / Concept, Direction & Animation: Joanna Poupaki
For the time being is a visual interpretation of the same-titled song “Προς το Παρόν” (Pros to Parón) in Greek, by the Greek music group Skiadereses, made as an animated video clip for the chorus of the song.
Skiadereses, two sisters, singer-songwriters and actresses, are a musical group that compose acoustic songs with lyrics that talk about love and other emotions in combination with experiences and references of everyday life, with a simple and emotional character. Their lyrics remind me of my way of thinking of my feelings, my emotions and illustrating them with simple figures, lines, and symbolisms.
Their song "For the Time Being" awakens many emotions. Emotions of love-hate, of loss and nostalgia.
Self-contradiction. Referring to someone else but at the same time referring to oneself. Crying.
“For the time being
I hate you
I keep trying to remind myself and I keep forgetting
For the time being
I hate you
I keep trying to kiss you, but I turn the other way”
As a result of the visualization of these emotions, a giant head that cannot stop crying emerges, at the risk of flooding the world around it and drowning in the process.
The giant head is a character that appears frequently in my sketchbooks. It has been one of the elements that I have developed to express what I feel and to symbolize a point of view of the world that I have when I begin to overthink and flood my mind. When I cry, I drown in my thoughts.
So, to maintain the sketch style, and to follow the structure of the song that is composed by only two voices and two guitars, the illustration style is sincere and symbolic, using two fundamental colors. Blue for the world and yellow for emotion. Furthermore, the surroundings, the characters and their acting, are inspired by key words from the lyrics that mention mountains, sweat, shampoo, sleep, temporality, hating, remembering, forgetting, kissing and avoiding, and the hug.
The main narrative of the relationship between the Head, the animals and their environment is developed in 2D traditional animation with an intermission sequence of a parallel narrative of a hand and a fish in stop motion. This intermission serves as a pause, to suggest that there are other points of view to life and to introduce the concept that not everything is as sad as the Head sees it. At the same time, the hand could belong to the Head itself, maybe in its dreams or maybe in reality.
From this point on, a notion of hope is formed. There are many of us that cry, that drown ourselves in our thoughts, and I wanted to say that it is ok to talk about this part of our psychology. And, to close on a more positive note, even though the tears continue falling, we see that the animals, the friends, the companions, the new family, together with the Head can bring change and create a new, slightly prettier world.
