The Differ Universe
Differ is a German pop artist. Last year, he came to the Film Academy with the question if we could create visuals for the release of his new album. For this album, he had the idea to build his own ‘Differ universe’—an abstract world where he and his friends exist. A world that felt surreal, emotional, and slightly detached from reality—just like his music.
Originally, the project belonged to one of my classmates, Britt. But as it grew, I became more and more involved. I mainly focused on the technical side of the project, helping to bring the visual style to life. Differ had a very specific vision for how everything should look—bold shapes, soft lighting, and a dreamy, alien aesthetic that needed to feel both digital and human
The biggest part of the collaboration was a continuous video for all six of his songs. The video was about 20 minutes long and followed Differ in what was almost a single continuous shot, guiding the viewer through a series of surreal and shifting worlds. We started in a busy city street, surrounded by noise and movement, then drifted up over the rooftops of tall apartment buildings, before slowly transitioning into a quiet journey through nature. Each environment was designed to reflect a different emotional layer of the music. In the final moments, Differ becomes weightless, slowly lifting off the ground and disappearing into a floating bubble—symbolizing escape, transformation, or perhaps release.
Live performance
For one of the competitions we took part in, we had to create a live performance set in the ‘Differ universe’. Our idea was a factory hall on an alien planet, operated by AI beings whose purpose was to mimic voices.
We imagined a sound lab filled with odd, glitching creatures, each experimenting with tone, accent, and emotion. Some imitated voices perfectly, while others distorted them in unsettling ways. It gave the whole setting a surreal, eerie atmosphere that fit well within the Differ world.
It was a challenging concept to bring to life, especially in a live setting, but also one of the most creatively open projects I’ve worked on.
My work on the project
I have worked on the Differ project for half a year. In the beginning, it was just me helping Britt. But in the end Britt and me were both working hard on the visuals. Making 50+ posts for Instagram isn’t always as fun as it seems. That’s why I challanged myself to come up with fun technical chalanges.
For example, for one of the shots, our protagonist had to ride for 4 minutes. But to let him drive for that duration, he had to move really slow. So to make it more visually appealing, I created a moving landscape. The landscape didn’t really move, but the movement in the textures made it look like it was. And it was very easy to adjust since the “position” was controlled in the level sequence.
I really enjoyed working on this collaboration. It was quite a long-term project, and the teamwork with Differ and Britt wasn’t always smooth. Still, I’m really glad I got to be part of it. I learned a lot about Unreal Engine, and I also gained valuable experience with social media and online marketing. In the end, I’m very satisfied with the final result.
All the social media posts can be found here.