“We discussed how to do something with the moving image that was a mirror of what was happening musically. . . . It had to have a different look from the video footage and from the digitally altered video footage. I knew it had to look as luscious as possible,” Chaudoir says. “It’s stripping away the artifice and the digital effects, into the raw image of Björk.”

Pagan Poetry is written and produced by Björk. It is the second song to be taken off her fourth studio album "Vespertine" as a single. The video to the track is done by Nick Knight who previously photographed Björk for the Homogenic cover image. Production: Gainsbury & Whiting. Director of Photography: Simon Chaudoir.

→ showstudio.com - where you can find the Pagan Poetry font and an interactive flashpresentation!

QUOTE

I'd always wanted to work with music boxes but it was waiting for the right occasion. I'd been collecting them and stuff. The main thing was that I wanted to write my own songs in music boxes. In the beginning, the music box company weren't very excited. They'd made wooden boxes for eons and I wanted see-through plexiglass. They couldn't get their head round it - they were like 'Why?' They wanted to make the plonky sound softer with wood but I wanted it as hard as possible, like it was frozen. In the end, they said it was the best thing they'd ever done.

QUOTE

I wanted to strip her down. She's actually quite raw, womanly and sexy. There's a different side to her that doesn't come across normally in her videos. That's what I asked her to do and that's what she did. Her dress stops just below her breasts and she's sewn pearls into her skin. She approached me with the idea. Her original idea in Iceland was to sew pearls into her nipples. She wanted to show her sexuality. There are two obvious piercings right at the end. If anybody is squeamish they should avoid the last 20 seconds. The piercings are in the back. But it's not tribal or S&M - it's about a women's love for a man.

INFO

Pagan Poetry
Director: Nick Knight. Production: Gainsbury & Whiting. Director of Photography: Simon Chaudoir. Dress: Alexander McQueen. Stylist: Katy England. Make-up: Inge Grognard. Hair: Sam McKnight. Manicurist: Marian Newman. Telecine: Tariq at VTR. Off Line Editor: Nick Waymond Harris. 3D Animation: Damon o'Connell. On-line/Effects: Peter Marin. Digital Effects Consultant: Paul Hetherington. Thanks: Paul, Scott & Derek at 1 Little Indian.

Pagan Poetry (Video Edit)
Written by Björk. Programming: Jake Davies, Marius De Vries and Björk. Bassline: Björk. Music Box Arrangement: Björk. Adaptation for Music Box: Jack Perron. Harp Arrangement: Zeena Parkins and Björk. Produced by Björk. Additional Production: Marius De Vries. Stereo Mix by Mark "Spike" Stent. 5.1 Mix by Mark "Spike" Stent