07/11/2021 09:44:36 PM
The Itchyworms celebrated two and a half decades of being in the music industry through the release of “The Life I Know,” a piano-backed ballad off their fifth studio album, Waiting For The End To Start—released on digital music platforms via Sony Music Philippines.
The music video became the first-ever in the country to a stop-motion animation format that is embedded with Filipino cultural sensibilities, thanks to animation from Apartment D, and with partners Marie Jamora and Jason McLagan of Indie Pop Films serving as its directors.
Marie Jamora said The Life I Know follows the story of Awit, a toddler who begins to understand her place in the world as she gets more independent from her mom. Tension arises when an incoming new sibling threatens to take the place that was once her own comfort space.
The award-winning filmmaker added, “with this spiritual quest, Awit realizes that she needs to accept her new baby brother in order to reconnect once again with her mother.”
“Being a new mother myself and remembering the experience of having a baby in my own womb, I always wondered what was going on inside, whether there was a different universe that my baby lived in,” said Jamora. “This all inspired and informed me for our video. I don’t think I would have ever thought of this concept if I didn’t go through this experience.”
Director of animation Cami Kwan is proud of how important the film is in documenting the universal experience of growing up, and relates the concept to how a child starts to lose the world they’ve known, and navigate a new realm that is both uncomfortable and terrifying but is part of a bigger life process.
“There is a beauty and awe in embracing a wider world, of seeing beyond yourself, but there is an inherent loss in that as well, and we wanted to explore that sense of melancholy as well as that sense of power and joy.”
For a part of 25 years, Marie Jamora has been a trusted collaborator of the Icthyworms. As its former manager and music director, Jamora steered the pop-rock quartet in some of their timeless hits such as “Antipara,” “Buwan,” and “Love Team” as a result of maintaining a formidable friendship with them through the years. Lead vocalist, drummer, and all-around musician Jazz Nicolas explained and how of all the directors they’ve worked with, Jamora is the one that knows them really well.
“I fully trust her with making this video. I asked her to make us a music video and to choose any song from the album she wanted to work on. She chose The Life I Know. I trust that she would put her whole heart into it and come up with something awesome, as she always does.”“Personally, I always thought that her talent is really for the international stage,” co-lead vocalist, guitarist, and multi-instrumentalist Jugs Jugueta said fondly of Jamora. “With this project, we hope The Itchyworms too, can reach an international audience.”
As for the visual execution of the music video, Cami Kwan was excited with the infinite possibilities of the stop-motion animation as it “brings real materials to life in a way that no other art form can.” In true Filipino fashion, Kwan reveals that the team has always wanted to celebrate the tradition of weaving that exists in the country, specifically the textures and patterns in the work of T'Boli Dream Weaver.
“The Dream World is made entirely of these traditional woven fabrics, and the characters are all made out of wool and other weaving materials,” commented the animator. “This fundamentally links the characters to the Dream World, which we also designed to evoke the feeling and patterns of a womb. Dreams and wombs are safe spaces, where anything is possible and where life can be created from nothing.”
The music video release of “The Life I Know” on YouTube and WeTV is part of a campaign series that aims to champion the legacy of this 4-man group of Jazz Nicolas, Jugs Jugueta, Kelvin Yu, and Chino Singson as one of the definitive bands of our time, a true mark of an artist that continues to shape pop-culture consciousness for more than two decades and redefine Pinoy artistry with cross-generational classics.
As part of the multiple celebrations that mark their existence for two decades and a half, The Itchyworms are also set to release its milestone anniversary single “Eto Na,” a music video to their title track “Waiting For The End To Start,” a mockumentary chronicling their official ‘untrue’ story and Worms Upon A Time podcast.
Author: slickmaster | © 2021 The SlickMaster's Files
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