Shadow of Intent’s music and subject matter centers on the many evils of the world, whether mythical or real-life, as well as the future they may lead to. The band will release their new album “Imperium Delirium” on June 27th via Blood Blast Distribution.
Recently, Shadow of Intent turned to director Norbert Crowfield to visualize the track “Feeding The Meatgrinder” (featuring Corpsegrinder). Born in Romania and now based in Hungary, Crowfield drew upon his skills as a director, cinematographer, editor and visual effects artist to execute the project, which crosses themes of horror, the apocalypse and psychological trauma.
Lyrically, “Feeding the Meatgrinder” paints a brutal, anti-imperialist and anti-war narrative, describing the dehumanization and destruction of mass conflict in harrowing detail. Its visuals show a man who is tormented by internal and external conflict.
According to Crowfield, the shoot spanned two days, with much of it taking place in abandoned military barracks in Hungary. The visuals are desaturated and haunting, and the shuddering camera moves reflect the chaos going on in the man’s head. Crowfield shot the visuals in 6K using a Blackmagic Design camera. Much of the stuttering motion was captured in-camera, though the band requested further blurring of the imagery, which was then applied in post. Adobe After Effects was used for much of the visual effects, including the nuclear clouds that appear in the sky above the barracks. Crowfield also used KlingAI to achieve some of the visual effects, with his own material serving as a starting point.
“I use the KlingAI because they have this option (where) you can give your own footage and give a reference,” he explains. “The starting image is going to be by yours...This was the hardest thing because I had an idea, ‘I want to see this,’ and I had to start playing with the prompt. I was generating videos for four days...Every time, when I get the image, it’s 10 minutes, even with premium...I’m generating all the time.”
AI can be difficult to work with, he admits, but as a content creator who takes on many roles in both production and post, AI can be a valuable tool in one’s arsenal. His toolkit also include Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve, which he uses for editing and color grading. He’ll also use plug-ins for visual effects when needed. Collectively, they allow him to stay busy as a creator of music videos, overcoming limited budgets that he feels plague the genre.
“Most of the people, when they’re doing music videos, it’s just for a hobby,” he observes. His approach is to make a video that looks rich, rather than budget-strapped. “This is the difficulty,” he reveals. “I figured it out with my own things. How can I do things that look great (and) doesn’t cost too much — and also make some money?”
He uses each project as an opportunity to learn, as well as to improve his skills and ability to deliver on those expectations. Things that he takes from a shoot can range from how to better handle a camera or interact with talent.
“I guess all artists feel the same way, even if you’re a painter,” he reflects. “You have a painting, and you spend maybe a couple of months with the painting, and at some point, you finish the painting, and you say, ‘Okay, that’s cool, but maybe next time I’m going in a different way.’”