Thursday, January 6, 2011

The Goo Goo Dolls Video "Not Broken"!

Check out the new video for "Not Broken" by The Goo Goo Dolls, directed by Carlos Lopez Estrada. I was the VFX Supervisor on it and was basically in charge of turning what was shot on a blank white stage into this:

Goo Goo Dolls- Not Broken from Carlos Lopez Estrada on Vimeo.

We had very little money to do what we wanted so everything was shot seperately (people, props, explosions, etc.) on about 16 feet of white stage and the worlds were designed and composited together in After Effects in the weeks that followed. You can get a sense of the process from the behind the scenes, cut by one Taylor Brusky:

Goo Goo Dolls: Making of Not Broken from Brusky on Vimeo.


And here's a picture of me hard at work on the computer putting all the elements together. I was wearing a monkey-hat:



36 comments:

  1. You guys did an outstanding job! I really love the way it turned out. You did justice to the song.

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  2. I love this!! Thanks so much for posting it! Great job on this video-really captured the meaning of the lyrics

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  3. Thanks for sharing this! The video is outstanding. Loved watching the behind the scenes footage. Congrats to all involved in this video! It's a winner :)

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  4. Pretty much echoing everyone else's sentiments, I really loved this video. It's simple, beautiful and effective, truly capturing the essence of the song. I love how everything was done in silhouettes so the story takes precedence over everything else which is the way it should be. Kudos to everyone who made this music video possible! :)

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  5. Not bad...I like the silhouettes in the video, but I don't really like the song. They did change the video story a lot from the version John Rzeznik tells in interviews though. He says it's a true story of a woman with a severely injured soldier husband in Iraq (although we never find out who she is or where she's from)who is ashamed to come home, but the video takes a much lighter approach with the soldier being from World War 2 and only needing crutches which he discards at the end.

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  6. i think this video is awesome. i also think it totally captures the spirit of the song- so appropriate and well done. if this song and /or video doesn't win an award there is something wrong with the world today.

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  7. Loved it. I love a video that tells the story of a beautiful song. All this bump and grind burlesque stuff that all the gals have been doing in videos for years on VH1 is getting really old. They all look and sound the same.

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  8. Love the video, love the song. Love hearing how it was made (...and sadly, many of us fans know who the January 6, 2011 3:53 PM "Anonymous" poster is and wanna say: "Get over it, please! It's music! It's art! The video and the song can be whatever it wants to be at any given time!"

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  9. Ugh, at this point, we just call him the "gouche" (Goo Douche).

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  10. Those glasses look kind of sexy on you.

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  11. If you don't like the Goo Goo Dolls, don't watch the video, dude.

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  12. It's a she, not a dude that is the hater.

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  13. I'm not a Goo hater,(going to see them live soon :)) but I do question certain things that don't seem right. Truth be told, I enjoyed the video a lot more than the song, and I thought they did a good job with the silhouette concept & a limited budget. I also enjoyed the behind the scenes footage.

    I just find the "true" story that John tells hard to swallow with the woman & soldier husband nowhere in sight. I find it interesting that they changed his injury from a severe one (paralyzed) in the "true" story to a rather minor one that looked like he was on crutches for a sprained ankle.

    Did the director decide to do that to lighten the mood of the song? It really changes the meaning of the song, in my opinion.

    Sue

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  14. this is what I pictured this video to show, I love it, the colors, the simple effects, and the band doing what they do best, sing with all their emotion.. great job, a winner

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  15. Stop trying to explain yourself, Sue. You clearly don't love the Goos like the rest of us.

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  16. Last comment from me: The song does not bring me to tears like it does half of you, but I'm still a Goo fan and I like a lot of Goo songs. I don't need anyone's approval.

    I do hope to see the same video director/editor/team working on the Nothing is Real video when the time comes. Now there's a great song. :)

    Sue

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  17. I know you probably like the Goos as much as the rest of us (or, almost, at least). I just have such an emotional attachment to the lyrics of this song...like, just listen to it. "Morning comes and life moves on
    And when it changed you didn't know you belong."
    It's so beautiful. So sorry, I got defensive...but I know what you mean, I guess.

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  18. I have wanted to disagree with Sue in the past, but in this case...she's right. The song is really not that good. Sorry, guys.

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  19. its SUCH A GOOD Song, are you serious??

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  20. Oh my god, who invited Greg.

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  21. The Sue Comment above me (Oh my god...) is not me (Quebec Sue)


    Sue

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  22. I'm not sure why people are discussing the video treatment vs. the "real" meaning of the song, whatever that may be... here. This is Cameron's blog not the Goo Goo Dolls blog or even the director's blog! There appears to be another agenda going on that doesn't belong here.

    That being said, Cameron, I love what you've done with what was filmed - it looks terrific! Does the monkey hat help? lol!

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  23. Sorry to inform you, Sue, but I am the real Sue who wrote all those comments. Why are you impersonating me?

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  24. Ok, so from now on I'll sign in with canadasue5 from wordpress.com to avoid any problems. Sorry about that, but I don't like having people say they are me when they are not.

    Sue

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  25. Where did you get those glasses?

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  26. Thank you all for the nice comments. I'm sorry that there are clearly some internet trolls on this thread, which should be ignored. Don't feed the trolls...

    As far as some of your questions go:

    I didn't write the treatment, so I didn't have a real say in the concept. But I do agree with Carlos's (the diretor) decision to go with WWII instead of Iraq, for a few reasons. Primarily, being a designer-type, I agree for aesthetic reasons. The environment, weapons, and fighting style of WWII are more classically charming than today's warfare. But I also agree on a more philosophical level. America's military presence in the Middle East is incredibly politically controversial, and whether or not I agree with it, I don't think this video is a good venue for political discussion. Nor do I think the song is about war at all but rather the relationship between a soldier and his wife. WWII has a historically romantic image in America that removes it from the political discussion and lets the viewer concentrate on what the story and the song really focus on, which is the human drama.

    And the choice to not severly maim the soldier was most likely because this isn't a documentary about the horrors of war, but a music video meant to entertain. Your average VH1 viewer isn't looking to get bummed out by a Goo Goo Dolls video.

    My question back to you all is, how did you find my blog? None of the official links to the video lead to this page as far as I can tell...

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  27. It was posted on www.absolutegoo.com I assume the girl that found it searched Notbroken Goo Goo Dolls or something like that in the blog section. Thanks for the answers.

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  28. Thanks for your commentary, Cameron. It was really interesting. I think this video has real potential to be the Goo Goo Dolls best ever. Kudos to all involved in it's creation!

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  29. There was nothing charming or romantic about World War II Cameron. My grandfather died at the end of that war, and I've had many family members suffer greatly because of it. I wish you, the director and the Goo Goo Dolls had the balls to tell the story as it is.

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  30. Cameron, I found your blog in a tweet. Actually, the band even tweeted a link.

    With CNN, MSNBC & reality TV shows dominating the landscape of TV - it's refreshing to see such a serious subject given an artistic interpretation evoking feelings for the husband and wife's relationship rather than hitting the viewer over the head with more horrors that could be seen 24/7 on your TV.

    I've watched the video several more times since I posted before. I love how the light plays with the flat silouettes subtly highlighting facial features during the more emotional sections. I assume you had something to do with that? Nice job!

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  31. Thank you Cathy! Carlos and I spent quite a long time going back and forth over how much of the detail to leave in the silhouette. I'm pretty pleased with how it came out.

    And Sue, I'd wish you'd leave our balls out of this:)

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  32. Sue,

    If you actually expect every single piece of art that involves war to be extremely dramatic and showing the horrors of battle, then you're slightly delusional and should stay away from art, as a whole, period. Especially the whole "commenting" about it.

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  33. I feel compelled to comment as well. This is one of the most beautiful music videos I have ever seen. Fits the song perfectly and just has this amazing, indescribable quality to it. Has the feeling of a stage play, which I think is really cool. So thank you for creating something that stands high above all of the flash-and-trash music videos that are being made today.

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