Mathematic Crafts the Dystopian Auto-Racing World of Pink Noise’s ‘Sky Cry’ Music Video

To bring the anthropomorphic Crashtag character to life, Mathematic motion captured a performance by Ladj Ly, the acclaimed French director of the 2019 film Les Misérables. Ly’s performance imprinted humanlike qualities – including a distinct personality and authentic emotion – on Crashtag, making the character a relatable protagonist in a dystopian android world.
Credits
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
Co-director and CG Supervisor Jehan Bouazza led Mathematic’s team of artists on the nine-month production, developing the modern music video world, solidifying a unique character design for Crashtag, and managing a high volume of assets required to create the racetrack arena. Lead Character Artist Camille Gurruchaga oversaw the creation of Crashtag, crafting the character’s background story and psychological profile to inform design decisions, while concept artists simultaneously developed the look of the environments, including the racetrack and larger arena.
Once lookdev was complete, the team produced the five-minute animated sequence, using Zbrush for modeling, Maya for animation, Substance Painter for textures, Nuke and Flame for compositing, Resolve for color grading, and Arnold for the final render.

Mathematic has just shared with AWN their work creating the sci-fi world of futuristic humanoid robots, adrenaline-charged auto racing, and a spectacular, fatal crash for Pink Noise’s new animated music video, Sky Cry. Directed by Kim Chapiron and co-produced by Mathematic, Phantasm, Quiet, and Viral, the music video introduces audiences to Crashtag, the crash test dummy hero character and the world’s first robot influencer that’s already gaining an early following on Instagram.
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Mathematic is a creative studio specializing in high end CG and visual effects, and has worked on award-winning campaigns for advertising clients like Cartier, Yves Saint Laurent, Nike, and Lancome, and music videos for artists that include The Weeknd, Lil Nas X, Beck, Rita Ora, Coldplay, and Dua Lipa.

Directors: Kim Chapiron and Jehan Bouazza
Produced By: Mathematic, Phantasm, Quiet, and Viral
Executive Producer: Guillaume Marien
CG Supervisor: Jehan Bouazza
Post Producer: Jérémy Dumètre
Montage: Margerie Argentin and Benjamin Weil
Layout / Previs: Valentin Soulard and Xavier Zahra
Character Concept / Lead Character: Camille Gurruchaga
Concept Artist: Sebastien Hue and Dofresh
Environment Artist: Gregory Ginsburger, Yann Glica, and François Heysen
Rig: Beastmaker
Mocap: Mocaplab
Houdini Artist: Olivier Colchen, Maxime Delsart, and Thomas Van Maele
Crowd: Thomas Van Maele
Compositing: Fabien Delavous, Nicolas Derory, Pierre Herzig, and Anthony Lyant
Flame: Olivier Zibret
Animations: Cyril Cassaigne and Ornella Luzzi
3D Lead / Environment Lead: Yann Glica
Lighting Artist: Axel Alvarez, Jordan Lorcet, Yann Glica, François Heysen, and Victor Martinez
Grading: Emiliano Serantoni