# A Song for Europa

> A black-and-white animated music video for Jóhann Jóhannsson's A Song for Europa, inspired by coded Cold War radio broadcasts.

Canonical page: [A Song for Europa](<https://gergely-wootsch.com/projects/a-song-for-europa>)

Project ID: aka\_son

Year: 2016

Role: Director

I directed and animated the film, building simple 3D layouts with hand-painted textures and flour-dust particle plates.

Work: A Song for Europa (2016)

Production: [Studio AKA](<https://studioaka.co.uk/>)

[A Song for Europa](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngUnLL4CAck>) is a black-and-white animated music video for Jóhann Jóhannsson, made at [Studio AKA](<https://studioaka.co.uk/>). The composition is built around recordings of the Numbers Stations, shortwave broadcasts of number lists, letters and coded messages from the Cold War era (here is an [example recording](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3RGBN8b19Y>)). The video interprets those broadcasts through animation.

Jóhann approached Studio AKA's Marc Craste, whose short film [Varmints](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-uec0ZMXzI>) he had [scored](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUi19pbbGTg>).

## The Film

[A Song for Europa: The Music Video](</media/video/aka_son_edit.mp4>) (Studio AKA for Jóhann Jóhannsson)

## Stills

[A Song for Europa: Looping Excerpt 1](</media/video/aka_son_loop2.mp4>) (Studio AKA for Jóhann Jóhannsson)

[A Song for Europa: Looping Excerpt 2](</media/video/aka_son_loop1.mp4>) (Studio AKA for Jóhann Jóhannsson)

[Blurred black-and-white shoreline with a dark fence at left and a shadowy peak across the water.](</media/image/aka_son_still1_xxl.webp>) (Studio AKA for Jóhann Jóhannsson)

[Radio mast seen from below against a dark sky, with speckled white light on either side.](</media/image/aka_son_still3_xxl.webp>) (Studio AKA for Jóhann Jóhannsson)

[Night rooftops and apartment blocks with a distant radio mast and a bright burst of light between them.](</media/image/aka_son_still6_xxl.webp>) (Studio AKA for Jóhann Jóhannsson)

[Wooden house with lit windows behind a fence and barbed wire, beside two street lamps.](</media/image/aka_son_still4_xxl.webp>) (Studio AKA for Jóhann Jóhannsson)

[Cluster of glowing specks above dark apartment blocks at night, beside a tall wall.](</media/image/aka_son_still5_xxl.webp>) (Studio AKA for Jóhann Jóhannsson)

[A Song for Europa: Looping Excerpt 3](</media/video/aka_son_loop3.mp4>) (Studio AKA for Jóhann Jóhannsson)

## Making Of

Marc brought me on to animate the film, which I also directed.

The film uses simple 3D layouts covered in hand-painted watercolor and charcoal paper textures. I also shot plates of fine flour dust with a small Fuji compact camera to make the particles.

[Grid of fifteen small paintings: charcoal smudges and indigo watercolor washes on paper.](</media/image/aka_son_backgrounds_xxl.webp>) (Studio AKA for Jóhann Jóhannsson)

[Collage of six black-and-white landscape prints of dark rocky peaks in mist, and a black tree mass.](</media/image/aka_son_refs_xxl.webp>)

## Links

More on Jóhann's album Orphée and on Studio AKA's website.

- [Orphée on Deutsche Grammophon](<https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/johannsson-orphee-6626>)
- [Project on studioaka.co.uk](<https://studioaka.co.uk/a-song-for-europa/>)

## Credits

- Production Company: Studio AKA
- Director: [Gergely Wootsch](<https://gergely-wootsch.com>)
- Creative Director: Marc Craste
- Producer: Nikki Kefford-White