Previously unseen footage of David Bowie striking some “iconic movements” for a piece of 3D album artwork has been released from a university archive.
Leicester’s De Montfort University were in possession of the footage, which was filmed by the late artist’s friend and collaborator Professor Martin Richardson and was screened publicly for the first time at an event in Leicester last week.
Richardson captured Bowie for over 30 minutes during an experimental filming session in west London in 1998 in order to create a piece of 3D artwork for an insert in the artist’s October 1999 album ‘hours…’.
The result created a giant moving hologram of Bowie, who is seen in the final artwork beckoning to the viewer.
Speaking to the BBC about the footage, Richardson recalled the daunting experience of directing Bowie on camera.
“There was David and he said to me, ‘OK kid, tell me what to do,'” Richardson remembered. “And it suddenly dawned on me that I was going to be directing David Bowie!
“He picked up on this because he was very sensitive, and immediately jumped back onto the stage and started to do this set of amazing iconic movements that he was famous for and all his fans would recognise.”
The fourth anniversary of Bowie’s death was marked last week with fresh tributes from his family, friends and fans.