Liam Moore's Handcrafted World for Olivia Rodrigo's The Cure Music Video

Production designer Liam Moore led a team of over two dozen craftspeople for a month to create the handmade world of Olivia Rodrigo's music video for 'The Cure', released alongside her album 'You seem pretty sad for a girl so in love' on June 12. The video, directed by Cat Solen and Jaime Gerin, features practical effects, stop-motion puppetry, and miniature art. Moore's moodboard drew from Björk's videos, Michel Gondry's visual trickery, Roy Andersson's films, Regina Spektor's 'Us', and the Smashing Pumpkins' 'Tonight, Tonight'. The set used cardboard, wood, and yarn, with a pastel color palette contrasted by brown cardboard. An animatronic heart was built by Erik Beck, with felt skin by lead fabricator Sara Paquette. The video's climax involved Olivia crushing a handcrafted miniature diorama, requiring precise camera alignment by director of photography Chris Ripley. Moore emphasized the human touch in an age of AI, aiming to evoke wonder similar to his childhood experiences at Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean, Kate Bush's music videos, and The Phantom of the Opera.