The brief asked for a simple and elegant video to mirror Kylie Minogue’s new arrangement of Yazoo’s chart topping hit ‘Only You’.  Layla poured through a mountain of source material before coming across a single image that for her captured the spirit of the song.

Previously Trunk’s lyric videos for the likes of the Rolling Stones, Vampire Weekend, and Lilly Allen have concentrated on the text being king. However for this song Layla felt a more pared back look was needed.  Using After Effects she concentrated on animating two simple star elements that represented Kylie and her duet partner, James Corden. Their journey and pace perfectly conveyed the relationship of the two performers captured in the duet. A simple typeface kept the focus of the video on the interaction of the elements with the text, rather than solely on the text.

The festive message was perfectly captured using a traditional Christmas palette with simple snowflake and star elements. Layla notes, “ I was thrilled to get the chance to work with Kylie. Once I had decided on the look and feel of the video I thought it would be a simple and straightforward process. However, we spent a long time trying to find a way to smoothly animate the star, its trail and the gap between them. After a morning of tests we found that using a concoction of particle emitters, masks and splines achieved the perfect look, and then it was just down to getting the timing right. I have to say that while it can be frustrating, the sense of achievement when you find a way to make something work rather than abandon the effect you want is wonderful. ”

Credits

Kylie Minogue featuring James Cordon
Track: Only You
Director: Layla Atkinson
Animators: Alasdair Brotherston, Layla Atkinson, Leslie Dart
Producer: Daniel Negret
Exec Producer: Richard Barnett
Commissioner: Andrew J Law
Label: Parlophone