Syndrome Thinks Outside the Box for T-Pain

Every so often a music video comes along that breaks new ground with its creativity, and this trilogy of videos for T-Pain helmed by directing collective Syndrome out of Robot Films is a perfect example of just that. Utilizing vibrant color fluctuations, Syndrome was able to launch these videos into a realm all their own.

In "Can't Believe It," the plethora of unique ingredients include miniature apparitions of T-Pain and Lil Wayne and a cyber-roller coaster ride among other things. An ongoing galactic backdrop, with simultaneous circus and carnival themes make the video nearly impossible to classify.

In "Chopped and Screwed," T-Pain and fellow hip hop star, Ludacris are portrayed in an animated wonder world with T-Pain depicted as a lion and transforming scenarios. The bold colors and elaborate camera moves transcend us into an extravagant, surreal world.

"Freeze" features T-Pain's collabo track with Chris Brown and exhibits fluid motion and contemporary dance moves dipping and weaving in an otherworldly environment. Pulsating digital animation, neon colors and dance offs performed amid dynamic 3D aesthetics are only a few unconventional, yet engaging aspects of this video.

While most hip hop videos are faced with ongoing criticism for redundancy, these efforts show an evolution that feature similar aspects of the usual formula, but explore a variety of new and creative alternatives.

Syndrome commented on their effort, "These videos have been an amazing experience for us. T-Pain and Jive gave us their full trust and creative freedom to bring our flavor to their already unique aesthetic. We are grateful for the opportunity and realize how rare that is, especially in today's market. With that said, it was important for us to establish a cohesive look and feel which played off the album's cover as this series of videos were specifically designed to be an overall branding campaign for T-Pain."

Further elaborating, Syndrome noted, "Upon shooting "Can't Believe It," it was clear that this was going to be a lot of fun and something special. The vibe and energy clicked very naturally between Pain and ourselves and that energy spilled all over these videos. It's one thing to have an artist stand in front of a green screen and perform, but when they interact and play off of what the treatment calls for, that interaction takes it to another level by adding the emotion and soul. T-Pain really went hard with his performances and got what we were going for ultimately being the key ingredient to bringing the concepts to fruition."

Max Nichols, VP of Video Production at Zomba Label Group remarked, "When we were first kicking around ideas for "Can't Believe It," it was important to all of us that we find a way to reference all the far flung locations in Pain's lyrics in a fresh and imaginative way. Chartering a 747 for a week long shoot in Aspen, Wisconsin, Costa Rica and Toronto proved not to be cost effective, so we decided that a post-intensive approach was the way to go. From there, it was a no brainer that Syndrome were right for the job. We were all tremendous fans of their work and had been looking forward to an opportunity to work with them. Little did we know the end result would surpass all expectations and blow our collective minds. The way the guys perfectly captured T-Pain's charisma, humor and imagination, highlighting those qualities and more with their ground breaking visuals, it was clear that they would do all three of the videos we had slated. What we didn't know was that they would achieve the near impossible by topping their previous effort each time out. I have never gotten so many enthusiastic calls and emails about a series of videos. I can't wait to see what the guys come up with next. I just hope it'll be for one of my projects."

Credits:

Artist: T-Pain
Song Titles: "Can't Believe It," "Chopped and Screwed," "Freeze"
Airdate: January 2009

Label: Zomba Label Group

Prod Co: Robot Films/LA
Director: Syndrome
EP: Amanda Fox