A behind-the-scenes look of Perfume's "Time Warp" video

A fan has uploaded a video showing a behind-the-scenes look at Perfume's "Time Warp" video, but it probably won't stay up for long. So y'all better watch it now.

One of the coolest aspects of the "Time Warp" video has been seeing fans speculate as to how it was shot. It's been interesting reading articles and watching reactions videos, hearing everyone's takes on how they thought certain moments were shot. Now it can all be laid to rest.

Many people figured that the "Time Warp" video was shot from a distance and incorporated post production zoom-ins due to social distancing protocols, but I don't think that's the case. The director wanted to show as much of the set and as many of the dancers as possible, because the 'time warp' aspect of the video wouldn't be as effective if it were all shot closer. Also, the fact this video features so many dancers in close proximity to one another and Perfume debunks this anyway. There were definitely protocols in place during this shoot. You can see distances are being kept amongst production crew where possible, and everybody is wearing a mask (as they often do in Japan and on video shoots anyway) and the crew isn't as big as it probably would've been otherwise. But I don't think the music video concept itself was impacted by any of this. If Perfume's team really wanted to go full social distanced route, we would've gotten shit like "Challenger" or "Saisei", both of which dead-ass look like they were shot during a pandemic.

As for the zoom-ins, they aren't post production zooms. The camera is actually moving in. You can tell because the perspective shifts as it does so. My guess is that the camera was moved in on a crane, but at half speed so the movement is as smooth as possible. I'm no camera operator, but I also don't think a camera on a crane can move in all that fast.

The one thing everybody seemed clear on was that Perfume had to perform sections slow, for them to then be played back at a faster speed, so it matches the normal speed of the song. But the cooler, and more mind-fucking thing, is that the slow sections were not shot in isolation. One take would have the song playback at different speeds, with Perfume and the dancers having to adjust the speed of their movements. And with the dancing section at the end, Perfume had to adjust their speed throughout the routine between half speed, quarter speed and normal speed. And then there are the dancers who have to keep dancing at normal speed. And all this is being done with the song playing at a slower speed, with two different click tracks at two different tempos. Bitch. I woulda had a melt down and needed to be carried off set on a stretcher. I would not be able to do any of it. But these are trained dancers, and this is Perfume, so it ain't shit to any of them.

It's a real shame the "Time Warp" video is so one note, because the effort that went into it really is something, and the concept and the set is great.

🎛️ A mashup: Whitney Houston's "How Will I Know" x Perfume's "Time Warp"
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