Dilated Pixels is proud to have collaborated on and provided visual effects and compositing for, “I Never Knew You” by the artist Cage. This project was directed by Shia LaBeouf. Jeff Balis and Ken Franchi produced.
This video is scheduled to be in wide release via MTV2 and mtvU and their respective websites on May 18th.
Our charge in creating the visual effects for this video was to create the “ethereal spirit,” a beautiful girl that seems to float through our existence, and the “troubled presence,” as portrayed by a dark, looming cloud that floats above a man with questionable intent.

Determining The Approach

Like many music video projects, the primary challenges were that of budget and scheduling. Once the storyboards were finalized, it was time to explore the wishes of the creative leads and determine what could be accomplished within our means. Ambitions such as performing an underwater shoot in a tank were likely to limit our options. We opted instead for combining elements shot high-speed and then incorporating these into realtime footage. Rather than shooting in NYC, it was decided to stay within Los Angeles, which was more accessible to the home of the director and post production facilities selected for this project.

After performing tests with high speed digital and greenscreens, we determined that the Red One camera would be perfect for our needs. Lensed by Thomas Ackerman, we shot at various locations in the warehouse district of Los Angeles over one weekend in February.

After The Shoot

The day after the shoot wrapped, work began on transcoding the Red footage to dailies. The edit started immediately afterwards with all clips translated to Pro Res format and edited on a Final Cut Pro suite within our offices. Simultaneously, final development of the visual effects for the “ethereal spirit” and “troubled presence” continued on clips from the actual shoot. Multiple variations were prototyped and tested and modified with feedback by the director.
Once the edit was locked, visual effects were completed over the course of about 2 weeks. Prior to delivery, the entire edit was then color timed as a digital intermediate by Company 3.