Sorry, only found the YouTube, but it's so neat I couldn't avoid posting.

UPDATE: Quicktime

Obtusity

         

Dougal Wilson.

         

I LUV THIS VID. i seen this for the first time yesterday on thefader.com. its simple. its cute. the guys doing tricks on the bike with the horses' heads were cool too.

         

this is so dope, well done dougal.

         

Spunk! Song is really great.

Am a little on the fence with the costumes, but very ace throughout.

         

tight

         

This is a something of an anti-Feist1234. I particularly enjoyed the hand claps and the turn to the spectral balloon holders. A good video.

         

wow! that's my favourite video of the year so far.

         

forest! furries! bikes! and yet: perfect piece...

         

great one-take. perfect interpretation of the song.

         

great, the widescreen makes it seem like a giallo theme song

         

Holy shit that was wonderful...

         

amazing stuff (again) sigh...almost perfect too, apart from the bunny changing tops in the second shot. hard to see the join in the edit too...

         

it's wonderful dougal, well done!

         

the invincible colonel wilson does it again. roll up, roll up....get your quicktime here.

         

Fantastic track, love the visuals in this vid.

         

I have a serious question for you antvillers. Now please understand, I'm a fan of this website. And I'm also a fan of this clip in particular.

But I do find it curious that more conventional videos are often trashed for their conventions, yet when a video such as this uses the animal head motif, which has been done to death, its applauded.

Is it because of the music behind the video, the artist? Why do you think this is?

         

I haven't seen choreographed, anthropomorphic bikers doing tricks in a video before... unless this is some kind of conventional idea that has slipped under my radar over the last few years.

Nice job on toning down the singers' hipster-Wiccan wardrobe, by the way. If I see one more headband and flowy shirt thing...

         

formulaone: I applaud this video in its entirety. I know the animal head motif has been used a lot in the past, but it seemed appropriate and well-suited to the track and concept. When the bikers appeared from behind the girl, I didn't immediately go "oh look, animal heads again" (it didn't really cross my mind until you pointed it out). I found the whole set-up, atmosphere and styling in tune with the music to be very striking.

         

Here are some vids with furries.

         

Regardless of how they are being used, the animal head motif has been done, overdone and has become just as conventional as having a sexy girl in a Hip Hop video (well not as much as that).

But my question remains, why is it applauded on here when it is obviously convention, and say a Hype Williams or Marc Webb video that sure as heck use conventions too, are picked apart. I'm really curious as to the double standard. I'm guessing it has to do with the like-ability of the music or artist.

         

i'm gonna say it... DONNIE DARKO! not just the rabbit, but the pan over to the random people in the forest (the pan over to the random fat man in DD), and obviously donnie biking down the hill at the beginning of the movie... oh and the lights on the bikes that were supposedly referencing ET in DD at the end of the movie

         

"Regardless of how they are being used,"

Context is everything.

         

I hate it when someone bags on something for having elements that have 'been done', as if the only good art is stuff that's completely 100% original and made in a vacuum. It's not about whether or not a video uses something that's 'cliche', it's about what they do with it. You'll NEVER find a director who hasn't used a handful of tricks from the antville cliche list (seriously, find me one), so stop using it as a reason to take the piss out of something really good that was probably made on a measly budget.

         

Dougal Wilson for Prez!

         

sometimes you just feel something is right

         

formula: Depends on which Marc or Hype vid you're talking about.

Also, stop motion has been done to death and stop-motion vids got a lot of flack last year for being played out. I'm not sure we're at the end of the furrie genre just yet.

And, a helpful hint.. Sometimes the only reason I don't 'get' a video on here is because when you watch videos in a small box on the computer screen you lose a certain depth of field which you get on the TV - especially videos that are well-photographed, like this one.

I didn't get this video at first, either, but when I watched the QT and tried to 'get' the depth-of-field cues, it worked. This vid's really good, imo.

         

Really cool. How did you do that?

         

This is so instantly catchy and wonderful that i'm a bit suspicious of my reaction... but maybe my cynicism can finally take a rest for a day.

         

mva: it reminded me more of The Shining!

         

Whenever I begin to think that you need a big budget to make a good video I slap myself around the face with Wilson's As Serious As Your Life vid for Fourtet.

Here, again he proves that it is the idea that comes first. The budget was probably very small indeed. His ideas are second to none.

I love this.

         

The changing bunny outfit was intentional for symmetry if you ask me. The look of the animal heads was probably in the hands of the sculptor who carved them for the art director, who interpreted them from the director.

The transitions are not edit points, I guess the riders all tried to ride in a line behind her, then any edges of them in shot were painted out using a clean plate pass.

I would say that Patrick Daughters 1 shot is AMAZING and the hiding a cast behind the singer started there - but as always Dougal is a very talented, very tall, very clever man, who’s work and taste is second to none.

We are all inspired by what we see, and we are all fans of the things we love. In turn what we make is part of that and comparisons will and can always be drawn. Animal heads have been a strong symbol in our culture since Pagan times and beyond. Get over the nit picking.

Love it!

         

I like the video too, but I find it interesting how no one other than kevathens is really answering the question.

         

Question upon further watching, how do the animal riders all maintain the same speed as the singer, even though she continues to pedal and they never do? Creepy.

         

formulaone,

"But I do find it curious that more conventional videos are often trashed for their conventions, yet when a video such as this uses the animal head motif, which has been done to death, its applauded. Is it because of the music behind the video, the artist? Why do you think this is?"

Had I read your question without actually seeing the video, I would assume that it was a spot that tried to get all of it's milage out of a cheap animal head gag. However, I think that's just one small part of the video, and not the real crux of the concept. By describing it as 'the animal head motif', you make it sound as if the poor director ran out of ideas and fell back on some tired old trick. I don't know Dougal's motive for choosing the animal heads, although I'm guessing he wanted to have something large and visually interesting, something that looked a little creepy to match the song's vibe, and something that would make sense in a forest. I would tend to agree with osophy777 that animal masks have been a strong symbol in all of art since the beginning of time, and to call someone out for deciding to use it is a little like smugly declaring a writer to be a hack for creating a story with love triangle in it. While I would agree that some videos might employ animal masks to cover up for a lack of concept/budget/well-executed art direction, this video is not one of them.

Maybe, what you're really asking, is if its possible that people are enjoying this video because they are unconciously drawn to the song and artist. Is this really a thinly-veiled comment on videos.antville's 'indie-leaning' tastes?

         

Yes spit, thank you. It is actually a thickly veiled comment on the indie leaning tastes on this site and the hypocrisy of you secular video progressives. I just like to watch you indies squirm when you are called out for the very things you like to criticize. You win. I'm done.

It still is a pretty cool video tho.

         

i'm weighing in a bit late already on this one, but I've always thought that most videos are only as good as the song they're complimenting. that is to say that videos that have longevity and are worth watching more than once. all that being said, this video is one of those. onlyl watching it once and not being able to point out exactly why...this is my favorite video of the year so far. (with the bumblebeez video a close second)

         

After years of using Antville for professional reasons, I just signed myself up only to take a bat to formulaone. And unfortunately now find that he/she has left the field.

Damn.

First, formulaone, baby, your comments belong in the passive aggressive notes hall of fame for this week (check it at: tinyurl.com).

Now, of course, I discover these are "thickly veiled" comments. Thickly veiled? WTF? Why not come out and say what you mean? This kind of BS is amusing as it smacks of the squirmy, oh, I-don't-really-say-what-I-mean preciousness I associate with indie kids. Who are, apparently, the target of your clever little satire. Yet in them it somehow often looks sexy whereas in you it reminds of an overly self conscious 16 year old who is just tiresome.

Ugh. I never give shit to videos, no matter how poorly done, because it takes a lot of damn time and effort to put these things together. If I don't like it, I'll keep my mouth shut. But a video like this, which employs one possible cliche (the oh so overused animal head mask? (like anyone gives a s***?)) in service of a package of remarkable visual coherence and thematic unity and then takes fire from someone on a chat room for perhaps employing an element seen before, makes me want to rain down fire upon your head, if I knew where it was. Do you know how hard that shit is too choreograph! It ain't easy MF!!!!

And I have no association with the people that made this, just can't tolerate little wimpy nitpicking comments about minor elements in an otherwise excellent production.

And, what, you're saying antville has an indie prejudice? Have you been in a design studios recently? Who gives a shit? You get smart you get this way. Call it indie, call it successful, I'll keep calling posters like you "those that smack of dumb assery" and probably (sigh) making you even happier that professionals notice. But DAMN BITCH, you are wearing on me.

         

hail the new pasionario! (flapj = mefi @midnite?)

and: formu - a classy exit. (it's such a tired point...)

         

lovely! cool and haunting, great job!

         

I’m very nearly sorry it ain’t wee Lily Allen being chased tru’ Wandsworth n Tooting Common* by a posse ov road kills

Nice dope! Well worth the watch *LDN (Not that I’ve anything against Lily’s music, it jus occurred to me with the sound turned down n the wonderful u2b compression such a mistakes could easily be made)

         

"The transitions are not edit points, I guess the riders all tried to ride in a line behind her, then any edges of them in shot were painted out using a clean plate pass."

That can't be it can it? What about the transition to slow motion at the end? It has to be two different takes composited... but then the singer's shadow overlaps the bikers. Does someone with more FX knowledge want to explain this?

         

it is two shots only...and it was a re-shoot, the first one went tits up as there was a film stock issue and everything was underexposed...

         

Simplicity at its finest.

         

while we all lose time here trying to decide if his work is cool or not, dougal had fun doing that, learned a thing or two along the way and is getting ready to do the same soon with the next video.

so, whatever we say, he wins.

and we lose.

         

i thought 'tits' meant good?? like, 'wow! this video is the TITS!' no?

         

hey buenosonic, thanks for the roundup on the scores there (!?)

         

continuing

         

I'm seriously late for this party, but... for goodness sake, video of the year

         

Kanye extra loves this video :)

Oh, and Chris Milk e-mailed him this link ;)

         

dougal's sketches and further insights.

         

LOL

(seen on Glossy)