Silhouette of the Kanye West's childhood home on fire, with a cross on the roof. The house is surrounded by water and there are flames coming out of the windows.
Motion Graphics

True Love - Motion Graphics MV

Collaborator
  • Vector illustrations: Vũ Thế Phong
Year2022
A monochromatic interpretation of the contradictory emotions of love in the song "True Love" by Kanye West and XXXTentacion. The imagery is a reconstruction of the listening party for West's scrapped album Donda 2, on which the song is featured as the opening track.

Background

True Love is a collaboration between American rappers Kanye West and XXXTentacion. On this drum-heavy hip-hop cut, the controversial artists reflect on their struggles to keep their relationships alive.

The overall sound of the song can be described as dark and brooding, lending much inspiration to this video's visuals - a retelling of West's listening party for his scrapped album Donda 2, where he first previewed the song.

As West and his team went through several tweaks before the record's release, and the official streaming version was not available during production, we used an edit by JonJeffJonJon featuring new instruments and different text.

Storyboard

A sketch of a Kanye West's childhood home with a cross on the roof, with the text "TRUE LOVE" above. A sketch of Kanye West standing in a stadium. The ground is filled with water and there is reflection of West and the stadium stands. The text "Shouldn't be this complicated" is superimposed on the image. A sketch of a person falling, encircled in white. There are hands reaching out from the sides. The text "Thought I'd die in your arms, I thought I'd-" is superimposed on the image. A sketch of a droplet resembling tear or water about to fall into a puddle. The text "die in your-" is superimposed on the image. A sketch of Kanye West standing across a water surface. There are rows of people in the background, which is a stadium. It is raining. The text "Shouldn't be this complicated" is superimposed on the image. A sketch of a person sinking in the water, with outstretched arms. The text "Thought I'd die in your arms" is superimposed on the image. A sketch of XXXTentacion sinking in the water, the perspective is viewed from the top down. The text "I thought I'd die in your-" is superimposed on the image. A sketch of Kanye West rapping, the perspective is viewed diagonally from the bottom up. It is raining. His face is obscured. The text "No hard feelings-" is superimposed on the image. A sketch of Kanye West with a tear rolling down his face. It is raining. His face is obscured. The text "but these feelings harder" is superimposed on the image. A sketch of an eye with tears. There's a circle surrounding it the background. The text "When I think about it, my eyes fill up with water" is superimposed on the image. A sketch of a streak of tear circling a blob of also tear. The text "Don't have our daughters" is superimposed on the image. A sketch of a butterfly on top of a wavy background. The text "Butterfly while they larvae" is superimposed on the image. A sketch of a Kanye West's childhood home with a cross on the roof, with the text "Wait, when you see the kids? I'll see y'all tomorrow" superimposed next to it. The house is surrounded by water. A sketch of a Kanye West's childhood home with a cross on the roof on the foreground. In the background, a blue moon surrounded by fog can be seen. The text "Wait, when the sun set? I'll see y'all tomorrow" is superimposed on the image. A sketch of a barcode scanner scanning a barcode on a black background. The text "When I gotta return them, scan 'em like a barcode" is superimposed on the image. A sketch of a heart torn apart with the words "Wait, no hard feelings, but these feelings hard though" written above it. A sketch of a pair of sneakers on a black background in the middle of a walking motion. The sneakers resemble generic Nike sports shoes. The text "Wait, who got the kids in those "what are those?" is written above the image. A sketch of a white Yeezy Foam Runner shoe on a black background with the words "Wait, why they can't wear Yeezys with the cargos?" written on it. A sketch of a dark gray Nike logo on a black background with white grid outlines. The text "Y'all know Nike don't like me, y'all take it too far, though" is superimposed on the image. A sketch of a dark gray Nike logo on a black background with white grid outlines. The logo is now set ablaze. The text "At least have 'em in some Mike's, he played for Chicago" is superimposed on the image. A sketch of Kanye West sitting on the stairs of his childhood home. The perspective is such that his left side is shown more prominently. There are rows of people in the background. It is raining. The text "I only see three kids, who watching Chicago?" is superimposed on the image. A sketch of Kanye West sitting on the stairs of his childhood home. The perspective is such that his right side is shown more prominently. There are rows of people in the background. It is raining. The text "And you know all the nannies is Donnie Nesbrasco" is superimposed on the image. A sketch of Kanye West's childhood home with a cross on the top and a tunnel leading to the house below it. The text "Let the kids dig a tunnel to my house, like Chapo" is superimposed on the image. A sketch of Kanye West's childhood home with the door and stairs being the focus. The text "Only neighbor in the hood with a door they can knock on" written on it. The door is ajar. A sketch of Kanye West's childhood home with the door and stairs being the focus. The text "I leave the light on" written on it. The door is closed. The windows are bight as if illumninated by a light. A sketch of a Kanye West's childhood home with a cross on the roof, with the text "True love shouldn't be this complicated" superimposed next to it. The windows are illuminated. There's fire coming out of the attic window. A sketch of XXXTentacion's silhouette singing the lyrics "Thought I'd die in your arms, I thought I'd die in your-", which is also superimposed on the image. In the background, a raging fire can be seen. A sketch of the silhouette of the Kanye West's childhood home on fire, with a cross on the roof. The house is surrounded by water and there are flames coming out of the windows. The text "True love shouldn't be this complicated" is superimposed on the image. A sketch of Kanye West kneeling in front of a large fire spanning across the image. He is surrounded by water. The text "Thought I'd die in your arms" is superimposed on the image. A sketch of Kanye West with tears rolling down his face. His face is partially obscured. A raging fire takes up the background. The text "I thought I'd die in your-" is superimposed on the image.

Typography

Kanye West and XXXTentacion's handwritings are distinctive and reflect their personalities. West's handwriting is large and messy, while X's is more angular and jagged.

For the video's lyrics, we found a typeface that recreated X's iconic scratches and used a marker-type font for West's verse.

Rigging

VFX Breakdown

Unlike common kinetic typography videos that use clever transitions and fast-paced movement, we opted for a cinematic look with heavy grain effects, subtle textures, and lighting effects such as reflections, chromatic glows, and camera blurs.

Comparison between a sketch and a photo of Kanye West's childhood home as seen in the Donda 2 listening party. Comparison between a sketch and a photo of Kanye West sitting on the stairs of a replica of his childhood home from the Donda 2 listening party. Comparison between a sketch and a photo of Kanye West's childhood home from the Donda 2 listening party. The house is burning, with flames coming out from the windows.
Branding
ACM Gia Dinh 2022 - Tich Tich Tinh Tang
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