Chaos Reigns

In June 2019, the designer Oleg Paschenko invited me to make a short episode of 33 Words on Russian Design, an anthology film by BangBang! Education.

My ink sketch of the Chaos mask, with storyboard frames in the margin.

The episode is about chaos in design. Oleg gave me almost complete creative freedom, with only two demands.
First: it’s a philosophical treatise, so it needs a voiceover.
Second: Oleg wanted a mask, so he could be in the film himself, playing Chaos. A mask of Chaos (hence my final sketch, above).

On the red-lit set: a seated figure, then the masked Chaos standing, then Chaos in near darkness.

Chaos is never still. It’s constant movement, and that’s where my team and I went.

Six small red-lit copies of the masked figure stand in a row on black.

Oleg Paschenko as Chaos, in a spiky foil mask and a long blue coat, hands clasped.

Red silhouettes of the masked figure, one close up and two in the distance.

Pale faces, one upside down, float around the dark Chaos mask.

Five copies of the masked figure stand shoulder to shoulder in blue light.

The spiky Chaos mask lit red from one side against black.

Chaos in blue, hands clasped, with a smaller copy reaching out behind him.

An old portrait of a moustached man with a gaping round mouth, flanked by upside-down copies.

The Chaos mask, barely visible in the dark, with one red glint.

Copies of the masked figure tumble upside down across the frame.

Shards of the mask glint blue in the dark, with red points for eyes.

Smoke rises from the Chaos mask above the figure in a blue coat.

The masked figure in the dark, red light catching the foil.

The mask blurs into white streaks of movement above bare shoulders.

The mask lit red, the face beneath it in shadow.

Most of the special effects and transitions were done in camera.

The moodboard set out the mask, the lighting and ideas for poses and movement.

Moodboard: dozens of photos of sculptural headpieces and masks.

Behind the scenes: a camera operator films a hooded figure seated in a red-lit studio.

Figures in spiky black masks under blue light; a gloved hand reaches down to one of them.

Production crew

Text, voiceover and on-screen talent: Oleg Paschenko · Concept, mask design, camerawork and editing: Andrei Kovalev · Assistant DoP: Nikita Goryachkin · Gaffer: Roman Matveev · Voice recording and sound design: Olga Lopina · Engineering team: Ilya Ponomarev, Tatyana Gallyamova, Timur Ivanov · Producer: Anna Bednieri · Behind-the-scenes video: Elina Wexler

More of my masks →
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