Music: Religious rituals and 90s dance movements inspired the thousands of dancing men in De Staat's Witch Doctor music video (+ movie).

Studio Smack, the production team behind the video, worked alongside director Floris Kaayk and the Dutch band's lead singer Torre Florim to develop a set of visuals that reflect the themes in the song.

"We decided to use the song Witch Doctor because that's the most powerful and interesting song for a music video," Kaayk told Dezeen. "Torre had some very clear ideas about minimalism and religious inspirations."

With this in mind, the team centred the track around a central figure dressed in a suit ? played by Florim ? who appears to be controlling a large group of followers.

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As the boss-like character moves and gestures, the bald, topless men around him move in a synchronised fashion and dance in a way that is reminiscent of 90s hardcore Gabber dancers.

"We wanted to create an image that had both the Gabber feel and elements of religious rituals, like the Kecak dance and Sufi circles," said Kaayk.
"We wanted to present [Florim] as a demagogue, so we analysed films like The Wolf of Wall Street to get the right gestures and body language."

All gestures were created using a motion capture suit ? a tight, Lycra one-piece with markers that track and record movements.

This was then translated into cro...