Concept & Inspiration

Inspired by the cinematic world-building of Denis Villeneuve and the iconic soundscapes of Hans Zimmer, the music video for BAZA is a bold fusion of sci-fi epic and drill culture. At the heart of the concept was a desire to pull the Dune universe into mainstream drill, creating something to challenge and attract attention.

The video’s driving visual inspiration was the opening scenes of Dune: Part Two, featuring the attack on Paul and his mother by the heavily colour-processed Harkonnen soldiers. Director Lewis Andrews thought it was one of the most creatively bold choices of colour, especially when set against the silhouetted, levitating figures in the sky.

The musical direction was equally considered. Taking cues from Zimmer’s “Herald of Change” for the Baza beat, Andrews wanted to carry the intensity of the film score but push it further using elements of the duduk and cinematic bassline. To do this, he contacted a duduk composer based in Los Angeles, who recorded an improvised melody over a simple chord pattern. Andrews cut down the raw elements to create a sample of the most memorable moments. These stand-alone sounds would become the key melodic samples in the track. To give it depth, Andrews chose a heavy, electronic-sounding bassline.

The beat was crafted over several months during his spare time. Once the musical theme was finalised, sessions were booked at London’s West Point Studios. Working with producer and studio owner Shane Shanahan proved to be a pivotal part of the creative process. Shanahan, who has mixed tracks for artists like Kanye West, Kylie Minogue, Stormzy, Frank Ocean, London Grammar, Headie One brought the Lewis’s vision to life from a simple brief.

A major creative challenge lay in producing the sound for the video, blending the epic scope of the Dune universe with the raw energy of city-based drill music. The result was a unique beat built from Armen Ko’s duduk compositions, chaotic bells and breath-like textures. The beat ended up somewhere Andrews never imagined, compared to the demo audio used during the shoot, which was just a rough mashup of Zimmer’s duduk and a drill beat he found on YouTube.

The track’s lyrics were written and performed by Richard Akam, who composed them during the location scout. This was in line with the director’s intention to keep the creative process as fluid as possible.

Creative Process

Similarly, the entire project developed naturally. For example, none of the VFX elements were planned before Andrews arrived at the location. He had also brought a wicker basket in case there was time to shoot a snake scene. What’s more, the spaceship wasn’t part of the original plan. That idea came up on the spot simply because Andrews thought it would look cool while filming.

The production design and world-building from Denis Villeneuve’s movies like Dune and Arrival were a massive influence. Andrews wanted to take the feeling of scale and cinematic grandeur of those films and reframe them within the context of the drill genre. This meant using the colour reference from the opening scene of Dune: Part Two but pushing it further into the deep red end of the spectrum. He also wanted to capture the essence of the floating, mysterious object in Arrival but give it an individual style with more versatile, agile movement. The goal was to capture that weightless feeling of the “The Shell” object in Arrival and give it an omnidirectional flight ability.

Technical & Production

Andrews was working on Blade Runner 2099 in Barcelona and took advantage of its proximity to a stunning desert landscape. He purchased a permit to shoot in Bardenas Reales, an incredibly versatile location with close access to a picturesque town with accommodation. The permit allowed them to film on private land.

The sun had a perfect setting, which enabled shots to capture the full scope of sunset and afterglow. Andrews believes the Bardenas Reales location really made the video and gave it the vast and open feeling of the desert in Dune. But more than that, he found a location with a rocky landscape rather than a traditionally sandy vibe, which gave his video a distinctive look.

On the technical side, the video was shot using a set of Atlas Orion anamorphic lenses (40mm, 65mm and 100mm) on a RED KOMODO-X camera. Since Andrews only wanted to shoot everything handheld with an easy rig, weight presented a challenge. So, he simply taped a matte box to the lens.

He wanted the footage to have a cinematic flare and interesting background distortion when the subject was sharp. Knowing there would be plenty of light, he aimed to get as much character from the lenses to hit the sensor on his camera. The anamorphic look really helped him showcase the stunning sunset backdrops while making Rich look like a superstar.

Collaboration

Andrews worked with the fashion label Demobaza, which also inspired the title BAZA. The brand supplied a range of incredible costumes suitable for creating a cinematic, Dune-like character. One standout piece was a matte-finished, oversized coat with zip sleeves reminiscent of the CG baby sandworm in the basket. The synchronicity between costume, VFX, and production design helped convincingly bring the concept to life.

Collaboration with the artist Richard Akam was easy and organic. According to Andrews, the conversation was as simple as “Listen to this beat I made. Let’s find a desert and shoot a Dune-styled music video.” Akam entrusted Andrews with full creative control.

Post & VFX

Andrews had a general idea of ​​how the edit would play out. He wanted a gentle, cinematic intro (almost like a short film) to the character and vastness of the rocky desert. Then, when the beat kicked in, he envisioned shifting to heavy-paced action with half-time slow-motion performance capture to heighten the drama. He planned for more VFX elements to return later in the video, giving it a supernatural, otherworldly feel. Andrews also split the CG spaceship shots between the intro and the middle section, where the ship flies low over Richard’s head. Alongside highlighting Richard’s performance, he included striking desert backdrops, later enhanced with CG planets.

This project marked the end of a creative itch — to explore the Dune world in one of his videos. Reflecting on the result, Andrews was pleased with how the various creative elements came together, from the costume design and location to the choice of camera equipment.