Dezeen Magazine

Kamiel Rongen creates hypnotic music video inside a fishbowl

Music: musician and director Kamiel Rongen mixed different liquids together in a fishbowl to create the surreal multicoloured landscapes in this music video.

Waterballet - Shortcutz music video shot in a fishbowl

Shortcutz is one of a series of clips called Waterballet that Rongen – who composes and directs under the moniker Hyde Park – shot entirely in a tank of water.

Waterballet - Shortcutz music video shot in a fishbowl

"What you see happened once upon a time in a fishbowl," Rongen told Dezeen. "I was always fascinated by reactions in water, and also by puppet shows. In one way or another I do the same thing. Not with puppets but with liquids."

Waterballet - Shortcutz music video shot in a fishbowl

Rongen created the trippy visuals by mixing different oily liquids and water in the bowl, flipping the footage upside down and adjusting the playback speed.

By adding powders to the mixture, he was able to create droplets and other three-dimensional forms that appear to rise up from the surface.

Waterballet - Shortcutz music video shot in a fishbowl

"I don't want to say too much about creating the visuals," he said. "If you know too much, it is not fun anymore!"

"But one example is the reaction of oil and sugar. Oil stays on the surface. When you throw sugar in the oil, the sugar takes the oil downwards. After a while the oil gets loose and then you have those drip effects."

Waterballet - Shortcutz music video shot in a fishbowl

All of the visuals were created in the fishbowl, Rongen claims, without the addition of any digital effects.

"I like to visualise digital images in a natural way," he told us. "Everything you see was shot in camera. I only used the computer to edit the footage."

Waterballet - Shortcutz music video shot in a fishbowl

Rongen used a 25cm-diameter tank to shoot the video, but he hopes to create more elaborate underwater worlds in bigger bowls, which he plans to incorporate into a live show.

"I want to work with bigger fishbowls," he explained. "This video is part of a live set I'm working on right now, and the biggest challenge is to make it interesting for 40 minutes with different emotions."