The Animated Music Video p.1
In my search for Awesome Hand-Drawn Animation Music Videos, I discovered to my surprise that there are few of any quality out there at all. For an art form that has been with us for almost as long as live-action moving pictures have, it is somewhat shocking that so few artists have put this medium to use. Excepting computer animation, which I will return to at a later date, I could only find a handful of celebrated cartoon animated videos, and even fewer where the animation was the center of the story rather than an accessory to a performance.
Animation gives the artist complete freedom. Every decision in a cartoon had to be made; the colors, characters, objects and movements all have to be meticulously deliberated over. Every single noun, verb and adjective. As such, animation is both an incredibly elastic and diabolically tedious, but the results are always wildly imaginative.
As cartoon videos go, this one is a great example of how animation does not need to be vibrant and chaotic to be interesting. The use of black and white is refreshing, lending the story a simple feeling rather than the barren sense you often get from grey tones. It suits the song perfectly, reflecting its thoughtful tone. Upon researching the song, I discovered that the band, Kashmir, released a DVD of the same title, a documentary about the making of their second album Zitilitis, but for the life of me I could not find the name of the director of this particular clip.
Gorillaz is a group that is the melding of great minds, and they have the videos to prove it. They are technically a “virtual band” comprising of Damon Albarn of Blur fame and Jamie Hewlett, the author and artist for such critically acclaimed comic books as Tank Girl. So Albarn makes the music (collaborating with other musicians) and Hewlett makes the videos. The rest of the members are fictional: 2-D, Murdoc, Noodle and Russel. “Clint Eastwood” is the first single off their self-titled 2001 album and the introduction to these characters. These personalities are probably one of my favorite parts of the clip, and the band in general. Each has a distinct identity, which are fleshed out further in subsequent videos. At least one of the characters has been in each Gorillaz music video to date, and they are totally worth checking out.
This clip was perhaps the most highly recommended of the bunch. The story told has been inspired by the iconic book Ishmael according to songwriter Eddie Vedder, and author Dan Quinn said it was as close as anyone had come to capturing the message of the book. Does the animation style look familiar? Was I the only person watching Saturday morning cartoons fifteen years ago? The co-director was Kevin Altieri had also directed Batman: The Animated Series! The decision to go with that kind of bleak, angular animation style was excellent. Combined with the choppy editing and graphic imagery, the style worked to really express the idea behind the song. Ironically, this song about greedy fatcats controlling the masses was exported to Korea after the design and storyboarding process, so it could be meticulously animated by factory artists. Makes you think, no?
There are definitely a few other cartoon animation music videos to discuss, but another day. As usual, let me know if you can think of any I haven’t mentioned yet. If I don’t already have them on my list of Things to Discuss, I’d love to have something to add.
Cheers,
Sprinks
