Behind The Scenes: VICOLO INFERNO - Cold Surface (Official Video)

The idea behind the “Cold Surface” video was to convey the sense of claustrophobia and disorientation we put into the lyrics and music through the visuals as well. This is why we opted for a dark color scheme and chose to sing some parts inside a box built for the occasion, to always give this sense of a “cage.” The first scenes were shot several times before finding the right combination of lights.

During post-production, Simone (the filmmaker) suggested distorting all the scenes inside the box during the pre-chorus, the vaguely Arabic-sounding parts, to emphasize the sense of disorientation and confusion the song conveys at that point. We thought this was a very fitting choice.

Planning how to make the box so it would be portable and easy to assemble took some effort and it was finalized almost at the latest time possible. The box was cut and painted the days just before the shooting, it was a race against time. We spent 2 days planning, drilling, and painting the plywood panels with black paint using a roller and brush. Renzo self-proclaimed himself the “Michelangelo of touch-ups” with the brush (ahahaha). We assembled it for the first time on the day of the shoot. As they say, a one-shot deal. To add new lighting points, we made additional holes with a circular cutter. Essentially, we did carpentry before shooting the video. In the end, the box was stable and functional. Now it has been reused as a shelf in our rehearsal room… nothing is created, nothing is destroyed, and everything is reused!

On the day of the shoot, we filmed the entire video and trailers for the other 2 singles from the album, totaling 10 hours of non-stop shooting. Luckily, we had set up a buffet with cold cuts, cheeses, and liquors, and occasionally we would grab a bite off-camera. Nonetheless, the next day we felt like we had spent an entire day at the gym.

Our makeup artist had her hands full keeping our foreheads matte. We approached the shoot with the same intensity as a live performance, so for every 2 takes, we needed to be “touched up.” Despite this, she managed to take naps several times curled up in a sofa in the coffee break area.

Before starting, we set up the entire backline to actually play during the shoot (except for the vocal system, so I ended up straining my voice even though I tried to be careful). This was to achieve a more convincing playback. We played and sang all the clips over the playback tracks.

The scenes with the hand pressing to “escape the confined state” were created by stretching a piece of elastic fabric as much as possible. The initial idea was to have the face emerge along with the hands, but we realized the effect would not be as expected and we ended up keeping only the hands.

After the shoot, we wanted to go out and eat all together with the crew, but we were so tired that after finishing moving all the equipment, we headed home… and the meal was done after a couple of months, on a warm summer night, drinking sangria and singing out-of-tune rhymes in Hawaiian outfits (Tom Selleck dress code)

All photos taken by: Matteo Mantovani