Madonna by Bouguereau: An Epic Reboot of "Frozen"

_{--Werchter, Belgium}

The Venice Film Festival has been all a-twitter over certain remarks made by Madonna regarding hydrangeas (see video below). Much more interesting, however, is the news that has set the Edinburgh International Film Festival abuzz: an impromptu pre-screening of a new music video by Madonna.

Marking the 12 year anniversary of the release of the singer's acclaimed "Frozen" music video, the new video is being described by Madonna and her co-producers as a "reboot". Already, the wildly enthusiastic response to the pre-screening makes it seem likely that this rebooted "Frozen" will meet with the same popular acclaim and critical accolades as did the original version more than a decade ago.

Can lightning strike twice in the same place? This is the question being bandied about by many who were present at the advance screening. The original "Frozen" video garnered an MTV Music Video Award for Special Effects. Can the rebooted "Frozen"--- which includes radically different imagery--- earn a Special Effects award on its own merits? If so, it would be a record-setting first time for such a double award, and might very well even set a precedent that could inspire a wave of such reboots of music videos from past hits.

During her stay in Edinburgh, Madonna has for the most part remained ensconced in the secluded, exclusive Chateau Rien district. The "Queen of Reinvention" graciously agreed, however, to hold court in Edinburgh's Cafe Royal Pub for a few hours to respond to questions about the new video. Still in high spirits at the warm reception of the new work-- in fact, seeming almost giddy at times--- she spoke glowingly of the experiences that went into the making of the new video, and also revealed that there had been a surprising source of inspiration for the reboot: The art of the 19th century French academic painter, William-Adolphe Bouguereau.

"People don't normally see me as self-deprecating, I suppose," mused Madonna. "Ha, ha, understatement of the century, right? [Here a swell of laughter ran through the room]

"But --read my lips-- this video is not about me. It's not like I needed to make an homage to myself, you know? What happened is that a couple of years ago I began to study painting seriously. And in the course of developing that... passion, a passion I've actually had for a long time... I became aware of just how wonderfully alive and new that Bouguereau's paintings are... even though they were painted more than a century ago...

“Of course, as always, the genesis of any project like this, well of course it's about the work itself, and the independent life which it has. It’s about the process. That's always the case with all of my songs, all of my videos, my concerts---everything. So it's an homage to the work.

“Next, it's an homage to a family, a giving of props to the great team who made this happen once and are now making it happen again. They're all back, we're all back: Patrick, Victor, myself... Craig, Darius, Olivier, Nick, Gary, and of course Chris. And a few new faces have joined the Scooby team this time, including Bouguereau and the breathtaking women he painted.

"We all knew as we started to see this project come together that it was more than anything an homage from an artist to an artist and his art. Although I guess some people will say that this present “Frozen” is merely an homage to the past “Frozen”. That is in a sense true---but it’s not the whole truth. I would argue that where we should focus is on a whole other layer of meaning and metaphor.... that where the present and past really are meeting---- intersecting---.... is in our 21st Century meeting---melding--- with the 19th century as seen through the eyes of Bouguereau himself.

"And what would W.-A. Bouguereau see? How would it look, if we could look at ourselves through his eyes? No, even more than that, much more: What if the screening of that series of projected images-- well, let me put it this way: imagine if we attended a film festival at which the opening screening of the video took place directly inside [Bouguereau's] eye. 
What if we were seated in the dark, waiting, expectant, anticipating, and then saw appear the projection directly on his retina, pristine, jewel-like, suffused, intense, direct! That became my fixed obsession as the germ of this idea took root inside of me-- and grew--- and grew. And that seed has grown into this 21st century homage to Bouguereau and other painters of the academic style”

Up to this point, Madonna had held the stage and all else in the Cafe Royal was quiet, hushed, listening. But now a hand went up and the first of what turned into a series of questions and answers begin. (Only a few are presented below due to space limitation)

Q: "What would you say to someone who asked, “Why Bouguereau? Why this 19th century Has Been? After all, here is someone whose painting was dismissed a few years ago by British artist David Hockney as being “rather silly”..."

A: "Well, I’d like to let Mr. Hockney et al in on a Lost Secret: sometimes the supposedly staid and stiff Establishment can be so incredibly subversive. There is absolutely nothing “Has Been” about our boy Bouguereau. I tell you what I think is going on. I think some bad blood lingers because Bouguereau, incredible artist though he was, was human. He could be a reactionary. He reacted---adversely--- to the Impressionists, and today, since the Impressionists are almost universally respected and admired, people cannot understand that reaction.

"In that day, the Impressionists might have been relegated to the Salon de Refuses--- they were, for a short while, the rejects of that period in art history. I seem to remember that Hockney once contrasted Bouguereau with Cezanne. And Cezanne was derided by many artists in the past-- Dali comes readily to mind--but today we can see that Cezanne was not silly.

"The thing is, I don’t agree with Hockney’s assessment of Bouguereau---even though Hockney is an artist of formidable talent, as well as a first-class rocker of the Art History boat. So, even though I do agree with Hockney’s assessment that Cezanne is not silly---far from it---I do not agree with Hockney’s dismissal of Bouguereau as silly. I’m just not buying that. Hockney’s the one being a reactionary now. The Establishment of Then is subversive to the Establishment of Now--- get over it. The Salon des Refuses is not a thing of the past... it’s still with us... and people are relegating Bouguereau to our present day Salon des Refuses. But they are going to find out one thing: you just can’t keep a good artist down. Trust me, I know. And I think William-Adolphe is just what the doctor ordered: precisely the right dose of subversion we need in this day and age.

Q: Why revisit the past? A lot of people say, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. The former “Frozen” video was definitely not broken. Why meddle with a winner?

A: Well, I have already indicated some of the things that transpired to inspire this undertaking. How can I explain more? Well, let’s call it the continuing, everpresent need---the irrestible urge-- of the artist to engage in what J.R.R. Tolkien called Subcreation. Did you know that Tolkien had it in mind that other writers might build upon his Middle Earth Mythos to continue to expand and fill in gaps of the literature of Middle Earth? And that Tolkien himself often wrote multiple variations of the same tale, building up like layers of a palimpsest that contribute a layered, nuanced history and development for each tale in its better or best known forms? An example that comes to mind is an alternate version of the tale of Beren and Luthien in which the adventure is embellished by giant cats and the language and humor is obviously slanted towards a younger audience. The longer I live, the more I see, the more I need to practice my subcreation and see it spring to life, listen to it breathe, feel it push back at me.

Q: "For those who have not yet seen the new “Frozen” what can you say to give them an idea of what to expect? Or to make them want to see it?"

A: "That's a big question. Wow. [Laughter]

"We’ve seen before people attempt to show what would happen if a painting came to life... but what if life became a painting? If anyone says that’s been done before too, it’s because they haven’t yet seen this.... to paraphrase Al Jolsen, “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet”. You know, it isn’t just that we didn’t have the right technology to do this until now. We also didn’t have the right vision to guide how the technology would be applied. But now, with Mssr. Bouguereau’s hand at the helm, we can sail those waters and reach virgin territory, chart new shores.

"As for the technology, it is so cutting edge it will make your eyes bleed and your heart stop. To actually be able to turn a video into a living, breathing Bouguereau painting, we turned to Academy Software, true pioneers in what I like to call the analogo-digital revolution.

“Academy delivered the goods, giving us everything we’d asked for and more, and the result was the new Neoclassical Suite. Suite components such as OYL 1.5, Analogue 3.1.4, Eazel, and Sable_Touch, and MahlStick 9.0 all feed their data into BOOGOROW 2.3, the workhorse of the system. We can feed in the raw information from dozens of Bouguereau’s finished oil paintings, as well as his other works such as preparatory drawings, and then the Neoclassical Suite will begin to generate a visual universe based on the data.

“It’s then possible to zoom in on certain portions of that universe and begin plotting the narrative threads that the music video will follow. Not only that, but new data can be fed in, for some totally new idea that we want to include, and the Neoclassical Suite will process the information so that it can be seen in the way that Bouguereau would have seen it. I think people will be amazed... nothing like this has ever been done before. In fact it will transcend amazement. The things that we’ve grown used to in digital and cgi effects, smooth transitions, morphing, layers, will be transcended as well: the future of the moving image is to actually breathe and grow and live. Volume and weight can realistically inhere in objects, yet the objects can appear to be meticulously hand-painted, with a true painterly handling of color and strokes. We are no longer limited to a merely photorealistic look."

“Anyway, that’s what audiences can expect in general, stylistically-speaking. As for the actual content, what you can expect to see is a “Frozen” that respects yet transcends the old version. In fact, some of the imagery from the older version starts off the show, and then --we work our subtle alchemy-- is transmuted into the new imagery.

"Whereas in the old video you saw many identical clones or doubles of my “witchy persona” interacting with one another, here you’ll see me embodied in a number of distinctive personae that interact with each other. The bleakness of the desert will transform into other landscapes. The quality of light and atmosphere will undergo amazingly varied shifts, with nuances of incredible subtlety. The words of the song will be the same, yet will take on completely new meanings, and enter into entirely unexpected relationships with the images. You will definitely see lots of flowing tresses. I guess there’s a little Pre-Raphaelite in all of us, isn’t there? Even in W. A. B. himself.

“Oh, by the way. Another thing to expect: more skin than you’ve ever seen in a video of this type before. When I first began to seriously consider this idea, it struck me how amazing it was that Bougeareau could show so much of the human figure yet maintain what is essentially a “G” Rating for audiences everywhere. By studying how he and other Neoclassical artists rendered the figure, we’ve been able to push the boundaries of expression, of “tasteful nudity”, if you will, further than they’ve ever been pushed before in a music video. Maybe that will prime a few viewers to want to see it?" [Another ripple of laughter swept the room].

Q: "When is the release date?"

A: "Ha ha. Well, boys, now we've reached the proverbial "if I tell you, I'll have to kill you territory". We're still working on putting the finishing touches on a few other song/video projects and the whole thing will be released along with the Reboot together. Don't worry, I don't think you'll have to wait for Christmas.

"In the meantime, for those who couldn't see the pre-screening here at the festival, we're making a taste of what's to come available to the public at large. It's also sort of a peek into the behind-the-scenes, making of the video: The actual storyboard that I first put together to show the team the vision I wanted to bring to life. Here you'll see images from the original "Frozen" juxtaposed with images taken from Bouguereau's paintings. It shows the flow of the video. Hopefully that will whet some appetites. The preview will be available for a limited time at http://watcherbynight.hubpages.com/ "

Note: While viewing the Story Board Preview below, for musical accompaniment the original video (see link at right) may be played in a separate tab or window.

For more articles from Watcher By Night with behind-the-scenes details from the making of the "Frozen" Reboot.

_{Disclaimer: This hub should be taken with a grain of salt. The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of any sentient member of the universe. This hub is not associated with or endorsed by Madonna, David Hockney, Wm.-Adolphe Bouguereau, or other members of the Scooby Team.}