Good Books
Metamorphosis
We meticulously crafted a psychedelic sonic journey to support this animated spot for Good Books. Metamorphosis follows Dr. Gonzo in a herculean struggle to acquire Franz Kafka's novella of the same name without paying tribute to gluttonous, corporate overlords.
In a trip down memory lane, we sat down with friends, colleagues and partners to reflect on what we learned from this iconic project and what it means to us a decade later.
I'm a huge Hunter S. Thompson fan, and as soon as I read the script, I said: 'We need to do this. It's going to be amazing.'
Creative Projects
Metamorphosis was a creative studio project, 100% pro-bono, and offered the opportunity to truly experiment without the constraints of a bottom line or external pressures and influence. Over the years, we have worked with BUCK on several notable thought leadership projects, including First Step, Masson and David Blaine's Spectacle of the Real. With each project, we have grown by pushing our own and the industry’s boundaries and expectations and developing new techniques, tools and approaches.
We are in the business because we love the craft, process, and challenge, and we take pride in our efforts clicking into something bigger than us. These studio projects have so many tangible and intangible benefits to individuals and the studio. We can take risks on technique and aesthetics, define new processes and, in certain cases, create work that pushes our craft and industry forward.
The process creates a mood and atmosphere in the studio of 'what if' – which isn't always practical with client work. In reflection, I like to look at Good Books (and similarly, Maxon) as moments where we suggested new possibilities and directions for sound design in the 2010s and 2020s, respectively.
Making Good Books
The free-associated winding narrative of Metamorphosis has breaks, sections and little trips throughout, providing an emotional arc and structure.
The script was golden. We started doing concept paintings – I remember creating a weird image of Hunter with an abstract crocodile in his head. That particular image wasn’t right, but these explorations helped us to determine the tone and feel of the piece. At this point, Joe Mullen helped us dial these into a graphic, repeatable style. Once we figured out the look, we brought in more of the team for storyboarding - looking for visual metaphors in the script. We ended up with an amazing string of ideas, but it was important that the mechanics used for the transitions between scenes related to or offered a perspective on those scenes.
To complement the narrative and visual aesthetic, we began the scoring process by writing Good Mother, a grimy, psychedelic, garage surf rock track with roomy, reverberant drums — recorded in the massive open space of our previous NY studio on South 11th. While it ebbed and flowed with the storyline, it felt more like a music video, not a meandering psychedelic trip. So we decided to rip it apart.
We found inspiration in the transitions BUCK had so meticulously crafted — these transitions form natural breaks in the script, offering us the chance to zoom into the sound design as it morphs from one audio concept to the next.
We embarked on a weeks-long quest of completely deconstructing the original score – transforming it into a hybrid of music and sound design. Although elements of the track hint towards traditional composition, and these raise their head throughout, a ‘song’ isn’t properly revealed until the end. I always thought of music and sound design as very separate things, but this project taught me that there is a huge grey area where musical elements could act as sound effects and sound effects could be used in a very musical way. I have since taken this approach to every subsequent Antfood project I have worked on.
A Great Trip
While Metamorphosis brought obvious and measurable returns in establishing Antfood’s position as a leader within our field, it was also a seminal project for us in terms of our approach to our craft. Its style went beyond the archetype for creative advertising at the time and we established a style of hybrid music & sound design that showed what is possible when you explore the interplay between them.
From the outset, the confluence of feeling connected to the cause, knowing we were allowed to be ourselves, and the content - a psychedelic, drug-addled rebellious persona’s ramblings created an interesting dynamic which meant that nobody knew exactly what it should be. Combined with the free reign to invent – that’s what made it what it was.
Good Books was a milestone for us. In a way, it helped us materialize two characteristics that define our creative approach. One side of us is inherently attracted to the meticulousness behind crafting music to picture and giving every sonic gesture a purpose. But the more experimental side wants to explore that beyond traditional film scoring; it is as important to us to infuse the score with a distinct identity that feels interweaved with the narrative and visual aesthetics. Good Books is clearly a reflection of this.
