Itongadol.-Picture a music video that features everything from synchronized swimmers in a washing machine to a baby hanging on to the wing of an airplane. A turtle floating in the subway and race car drivers zooming along the ring of Saturn to people skiing down a fluffy white pillow. That seemingly bizarre and surreal imagery is the backbone of "Up&Up," the latest song from British rock group Coldplay. Released earlier this year, the video has already racked up millions of views and just won the award for best visual effects at the MTV Video Music Awards.
"The video is – I\’m going to drop the mic here and say – I think it\’s one of the best videos people have made. Even if you take the music away. That\’s my point," Coldplay\’s lead singer Chris Martin said. "It\’s made by these Israeli guys. These young guys. I can\’t believe that that\’s our video. If that was someone else\’s video, I\’d be so jealous."
The highly stylized four-minute film harkens back to the glory days of MTV, when the videos themselves often told a story that was more interesting than the song itself.
"That song \’Up&Up\’ is kind of our defining credo and it\’s about a different way of looking at the world," Martin explained. "So this video, they just have this whole visual way of looking at things, that I could never have thought of myself. Basically, it just surprised me so much. How on earth did they think of that? They just do these things and I thought, \’Really?\’ It\’s so clever."
The people he\’s praising are Vania Heymann and Gal Muggia, two Israeli filmmakers who are already making a name for themselves in their still short career. They previously worked with "The Voice" judge and music icon CeeLo Green as well as directed commercials for American Express and Pepsi.
The Jerusalem-born Heymann, a graduate of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Israel, posted on Facebook that he\’s "proud and excited" about the new Coldplay video.
Heymann made international headlines in 2013 for his interactive video of Bob Dylan\’s "Like a Rolling Stone." Time magazine named it the music video of the year.
In addition to working on music videos, Heymann was also the genius behind the "Heavy Bubbles" commercial from Israel-based SodaStream. The video, starring the rather large actor Hafthór Júlíus "Thor" Björnsson from "Game of Thrones," turned out to be an April Fools Day prank that went viral earlier this year.
This is not the first time Coldplay has worked with Israeli music video producers. When the band performed at the Super Bowl with Beyoncé, the stage and video backdrop came courtesy of a 10-person team at the Yaron Yashinski Studio in Tel Aviv. That group of designers was also responsible for Coldplay\’s "Hymn for the Weekend" video.
Coldplay is embarked on their world tour, which saw them headline England\’s Glastonbury Festival for a record-breaking fourth time. The band will also be making stops in Barcelona, Zurich, Amsterdam and more than a dozen U.S. cities throughout the summer.