Dezeen Magazine

Soap bubbles traverse colourful landscapes in A Love Like Pi's music video

Music: photographer Kim Pimmel used soap, water and food dyes to create the multicoloured visuals in this music video for A Love Like Pi's single Jack and the Giant (+ movie).

Jack and the Giant by A Love Like Pi music video

Pimmel's video for A Love Like Pi, which follows a soap bubble as it travels through a variety of different brightly-coloured swirling liquids, was inspired by the lyrics "brave little adventurer" from the song's opening verse.

Jack and the Giant by A Love Like Pi music video

"The lyrics seem to suggest a vulnerable protagonist," Pimmel told Dezeen. "What better vulnerable object than a fragile bubble that might pop at any moment?"

Jack and the Giant by A Love Like Pi music video

Pimmel created the bubbles by mixing soap and water together, and applying the solution to a glass screen with a syringe.

He then added different food dyes and paints to the screen, and manipulated the liquids to make the bubbles slide through them as the different colours combined.

Jack and the Giant by A Love Like Pi music video

"The liquids and bubbles were manipulated with a bunch of different methods," Pimmel said. "The main ones included tilting the glass to get the liquids to flow, using a sponge to draw liquids in a certain direction, and pipetting liquids into the scene."

Jack and the Giant by A Love Like Pi music video

Pimmel lit the glass from underneath and used a macro lens to shoot the scenes, which were tiny.

"The bubbles themselves are quite small, from less than a millimetre up to half a centimetre," he explained. "Most of the shots in the video are about the size of a credit card in real life."

Jack and the Giant by A Love Like Pi music video

In the second half of the video the brightly-coloured dyes are interrupted by a thick black magnetic liquid called ferrofluid, which Pimmel manipulated by moving magnets next to the glass.

Jack and the Giant by A Love Like Pi music video

"In the first part of the video, I wanted to introduce the world of wonder with rich appealing colours and textures," Pimmel said. "The second part is foreboding, so it felt right to have a shift here to introduce a dark moment for the main character."

Jack and the Giant by A Love Like Pi music video

However, the colourful liquids soon return to ensure the video ends on an uplifting note.

"The last segment is about celebrating a triumph over struggle," Pimmel explained. "[It's] almost like the finale of a fireworks show."

Jack and the Giant by A Love Like Pi music video