Everything Will Dissolve in the Void

Everything Will Dissolve in the Void is a new and inventive music video from filmmaker Diana Galimzyanova. It's dark and moody - depicting the subject in what appears to be an abandoned complex of buildings as they smash objects to the beat. The music, which is of a high production value, certainly feels incredibly nihilistic and operates with the handheld, often sporadic, visuals to create a feeling of rebellion. It's enjoyable to watch for it holds a real energy and sense of creativity; however, a couple artistic decisions hold it back from being a truly great and stylistically cohesive music video. The piece's strengths lie in the production design, mise-en-scene and overall atmosphere and concept - with the location acting as an eery representation of mood; the piece's weaknesses, on the other hand, lie for the most part in its overuse of AI manipulated imagery, which may work for some, but personally took me out of the experience.

When discussing the mise-en-scene, what might be most impressive about Everything Will Dissolve in the Void is the video's attention to detail. Meaning, the creative attention paid to each element of what we're seeing in the video footage. For example, the application of the pale makeup and darkness around the eyes is a detail which subtly adds an implication that our subject is not fully 'alive' as it were - residing in the titular 'void'. It's a nice touch and a little goes a long way. The building itself is also just phenomenal as an environment and accomplishes so much of the formation of a tangible, haunted atmosphere. Its baron sensibility as well as the random assortment of objects scattered around the character is unsettling to say the least.

Occasionally within the music video whilst we observe the subject having fun and causing havoc, the film's format will change to an augmented AI video wherein the person is transformed into what appears to be a vampiric or ghoul-like creature - similar to the filmmaker's other video art work. The light will be flashing and made to look vivid and scratchy. This is a problem in as much as the work does not need this manipulation in any way. The video is fun to view and would be even more enjoyable without the in-your-face AI reality; it detracts from the in-camera work done on set as well as the visual attributes of the world they've worked to create. Namely, there's some quite dynamic cinematography at play. The decision to have the camera be completely handheld and always in motion - moving in and out, spinning and tracking with the individual - really works in the movie's favour.

But to conclude, this new music video is a really admirable effort. I particularly admire the amount of creatives involved in the production -- consisting of the director/performer, camera person, makeup artist, and music artist. This demonstrates an embracing of collaboration; an enthusiastic showcase of everyone's talents. Thus, the work is rich with deep and metaphorical ideas and, whilst oftentimes imperfect, is a brave and stylised production.