Dezeen Magazine

Nick Cobby explores the human mind in music video for Max Cooper and Tom Hodge

Music: the 3D visuals in this music video by animator Nick Cobby for Max Cooper and Tom Hodge's track Remnants explore the relationship between the human mind and the physical world.

Remnants-by-Max-Cooper-and-Tom-Hodge-Dezeen-Music-Project_dezeen_sq

Cobby's video for Remnants – the latest collaboration between techno producer Cooper and pianist Hodge – features a range of colourful patterns and shapes representing different physical processes and mathematical laws.

Remnants music video by Nick Cobby for Max Cooper and Tom Hodge

The video starts and ends with a depiction of a human head.

"The video deals with the idea of the mental, physical, and mathematical worlds, and how the mind ultimately contains everything we have developed to know as a human race," Cobby told Dezeen. "I wanted to show the mind as an environment that grew and reacted to contain remnants of memory and experience from the physical world."

Remnants music video by Nick Cobby for Max Cooper and Tom Hodge

The first section of the video features colourful landscapes, which pulse in time to the music. These represent the "physical processing of sounds by the brain as it learns about the outside world," Cobby said.

Remnants music video by Nick Cobby for Max Cooper and Tom Hodge

Cobby used After Effects and Cinema 4D software to create the brightly coloured visuals, which he described as "a moving 3D painting."

"Colour played an important role," Cobby explained. "It's so evocative and seemed like a natural ingredient when trying to describe the mind and human perception."

Remnants music video by Nick Cobby for Max Cooper and Tom Hodge

Later in the video, these vibrant environments make way for a series of cubes, spheres and other geometric forms.

"Eventually the universe and the realm of laws and structures is perceived," Cobby explained. "But while the natural laws and their resulting universe seem to create and contain the mind, the mind ultimately contains them all."

DMP-Max-Cooper-Tom-Hodge-Remnants-Screenshot_dezeen_468_9

Although the ideas conveyed in the video are very complex, Cobby believes his visuals fit well with Cooper and Hodge's music.

"I’m always looking to create reactive visuals, so that the music drives what is going on, while still conveying a feeling and a message," he explained. "Although the theories are awe-inspiring, I was relishing the chance to show the basic premise in an engaging way, with powerful music to drive the intensity of the idea."

Remnants music video by Nick Cobby for Max Cooper and Tom Hodge

Remnants is the opening track on Max Cooper and Tom Hodge's Artefact EP, which was released on 20 April by Fields Records.