ODESZA Explores Complex Human Emotions in Epic Animated Video 'Light of Day'

Balázs Simon continues to push the boundaries of animation as he directs this stunning promo for ODESZA’s Light of Day featuring Ólafur Arnalds. Off the back of music videos for BRONSON and Bastille, as well as the Winter Olympics promo for the BBC, the Hungarian director is on a roll. 

We follow a man traversing the mountains on a life affirming journey, taking him from the harshness of his reality to the euphoric surreality of his inner self as he reaches his goal against all odds. It explores the complexity of human emotion as the protagonist progressively loses sense of reality versus his imagination. 

Spanning live action, motion capture, 2D and 3D animation, the film poignantly captures the exhilarating emotion of achievement through cinematic animation and intricate camerawork. To create an immersive world, the environments were crafted in 3D with painterly 2D brushstrokes applied.

The character’s movement was recorded via motion capture and real life elements were shot to complement the 3D environment, heightening the sense of realism. The world is rich in texture and has a tactile yet abstract feel. Balázs’ visual language coupled with ODESZA’s cinematic sound is a match made in heaven. 

Balazs Simon, “I was fascinated by the idea of this very old character who gets rejuvenated in a sense during his struggle to experience something magical. This film is about focusing on the values of life, and not giving in to the pressures we face each day. I wanted to harness the immersive qualities of 3D animation, but also make it more painterly than usual. The result is a mixture of hand painted backgrounds, in camera effects, motion capture and tens of thousands of algorithmic brush strokes in each frame!”