After dropping the trailer three months ago, Icelandic songstress Björk has released the short film for “Black Lake”, a song from her new album, Vulnicura.
The 10-minute film was commissioned by New York’s Museum of Modern Art for a retrospective exhibition that looks back at more than 20 years of the artist’s daring and innovative projects in the disciplines of sound, film, art, music, fashion and everything in between.
Under the direction of filmmaker Andrew Thomas Huang, Björk combines a mix of multimedia experiences using CG and visual effects with her harrowing voice and raw emotion. The film is set in Iceland and features many of its strange natural features such as caves, ravines, lava and moss fields.
The video’s immersive landscape scenery was enhanced post-production courtesy of visual effects studio Wolf & Crow to make the most of the region’s topography. They used a combination of high-resolution terrestrial and aerial photography taken by drones and laser scanning.
Being Björk, every detail of the production has been considered. The body suit worn she wears, for instance, was designed by software company Autodesk and Dutch designer Iris Van Herpen, who combines haute couture with 3D printing. The dress incorporates software to connect Björk seamlessly to the computer generated environment and fungus – not just any fungus; Huang requested that a specific Icelandic fungus be used.
The craggy Icelandic landscape, Björk's emotional pain and the plumes of blue lava shooting around her make for a surreal and transporting experience.
