U2 Vertigo effects filmed in Spain

U2’s music video, Vertigo, caught the attention of viewers with its special vertigo effects, smoke, and an gyrating ampitheater.

U2 on set in Vertigo video

Vertigo begins with the band in the middle of a large target-shaped amphitheater. As Bono counts the band into Vertigo, a dust storm appears to engulf the set. Each of the members of the band develops a smoke trail. The smoke clears as Bono begins the lyrics but the effects continue. Rings of smoke pour out of the ground. The layers of gravel become vertical layers of concrete, moving up and down to create the vertigo effect.

Download U2 Vertigo as a video from iTunes

Credits

Vertigo was shot in 2004 at ‘ Punta Del Fangar ‘ in the Ebro delta on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. Filming was directed by Alex & Martin, the working name of French directors Martin Fougerole and Alexandre Courtes, Partizan Entertainment, working with producer Grace Bodie and production manager Johnny Wardle. Alex & Martin host a clip from the music video as a quicktime video. Lighting and photography were directed by Omer Ganai.

Vertigo was edited by Joe Guest at Final Cut and hosts a clip as a 2 minute 13.644 mb quicktime video. Offline Editing was done at Medialabs.

Post production was done at BUF Compagnie, Paris who host Vertigo as a 1 minute 10 mb mpg video, under the supervision of Jam Abelanet.

Art directors were Ben Gill and Dan Betteridge.

U2 with Vertigo effect

A useful source of background on the filming and production of the Vertigo music video is a May 2005 interview by Sharon Kennedy and Iain Blair, featuring Alex & Martin and Jam Abelanet.

Alex & Martin and team built a mini-studio in the middle of the desert for close-ups and lighting effects. At first the plan was to construct the ‘target’ out of concrete, but due to environmental factors they chose to build with different colours of gravel.

Abelanet explains that the vertigo effect, in which the ground separated in different circles, was developed with a special algorithm using scripting language. Thirteen graphic artists worked with two Flame artists to produce the smoke effects, including color correction, rotoscoping and camera matching. Software was developed for camera matching, comp software and 2D effect (bcolor), 3D software (Bstudio) and scripting language (db2)].

U2 Vertigo won a Grammy award in 2005, and was nominated for Best Group Video, Breakthrough Video, Best Direction in a Video, Best Special Effects, Best Cinematography at the 2005 MTV Music Video Awards.

See the Vertigo music video, along with documentary on its making, on the U2 18 Music Videos DVD.

U2 with smoke effect

Lyrics for Vertigo

Unos, dos, tres, catorce [1,2,3,14]

Turn it up loud, captain!

Lights go down
It’s dark
The jungle is your head
Can’t rule your heart
I’m feeling so much stronger
Than I thought
Your eyes are wide
And though your soul
it can’t be bought
your mind can wander

Hello, Hello
Hola! [Spanish for Hello]
I’m at a place called vertigo (¿Dónde está?) [Where is it?]
It’s everything I wish I didn’t know
Except you give me something I can feel
Feel

The night is full of holes
Those bullets rip the sky
Of ink with gold
They twinkle as the boys play rock and roll
They know that they can’t dance
At least they know

I can sell the beat
I’m askin’ for the cheque
Girl with crimson nails
Has Jesus ’round the neck
Swinging to the music
Swinging to the music
Woooao

Hello, Hello
Hola!
I’m at a place called Vertigo (¿Dónde está?) [Where is it?]
It’s everything I wish I didn’t know
But you give me something I can feel
Feel

Check mated
Oh yeah
Hours of fun…

All of this, all of this can be yours
All of this, all of this can be yours
All of this, all of this can be yours
Just give me what I want and no-one gets hurt

Hello, Hello
Hola!
I’m at a place called Vertigo
Lights go down and all I know
Is that you give me something I can feel
You’re teaching me …aaahhh
Your love is teaching me how
How to kneel
Kneel

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah…
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!

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This entry was posted on Saturday, August 12th, 2006 at 4:30 pm and is filed under Inspiration, Music Videos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.