Emerging Fervour

Carl Burgess is a filmmaker whose work is full of surrealism and absurdism. His piece for music video for Ratatat’s single “Drugs” caught my attention, and I just had to share with you. Check out part of Carl’s interview with the Creators Project and the video.

Ratatat – Drugs from Blink on Vimeo.

Your latest piece, a frightening yet compelling music video for electronic music duo Ratatat’s single “Drugs” (above), is made using stock footage from Getty Images. It could be seen as a companion piece to Three People Trapped in Infinite Politeness. What is it that appeals to you about stock images being manipulated?

I had the idea to make a video from stock footage long before Evan [bass player and producer] got in touch about making a video for Ratatat. Getty Images is something I’ve worked with in the past, and I knew it had legs to become something more. In a similar way to Pictures From The Daily Mail I’d been scouring Getty for a long time — saving up a library of these clips. I was captivated by how surreal they were, the long stares into the camera, the fake smiles and the bad acting. I’d think “Who the hell buys these clips”? A good example of this is the woman at the end of the Ratatat video who’s stroking the dog, that one is so weird, I’d love to know what purpose they had in mind for that one.