A buddy of mine recently linked me to a video by the band Queens of the Stone Age. It’s sort of your typical “high speed chase” music video, but there’s definitely something redeeming about it. For one, it only uses three different colors of what looks to be a cel-shading type animation throughout. Although the usage of just black, red, and white is comes across as somewhat redundant in terms of originality for anything relating to the music industry, it actually fits well with this video, in particular.
This video in many ways is in contrast to what I normally look for when it comes to art. I normally like things that are less polished with a more home-made original 90′s feel to it. However, when it comes to a lot of animation, this doesn’t always work. In the “Go With the Flow” video, everything is very polished. The scenes zoom in and fade out and all the character’s movements, from their mouth movements to the car zipping around the deserted highway, just slide around the screen in a pleasing way.
There’s definitely a lot of detail and the use of all the reds work well too. They fit in well with the sunset and even the redline on the odometer is incorporated well. The whites and blacks offer a sleek contrast to one another as well. In some ways it reminds me of the “Sin City” comic animation style while still carrying a level of originality at the same time.
February 18, 2010 at 6:49 am |
This is a great song and great video. I’d never seen it before. But, I too liked the perfect use of three colors. And, the attention to detail is very apparent. The car is racing down the road and you see a close up of a bug as it gets smashed by the tires and a deeper shade of red blood runs out onto the red road. I also really like how the animator made all of the singers faces black but with very bright white eyes and mouths because it really makes them stand out and easy for the viewer to read their lips as they sing. Near the very end of the clip I also notice some hidden sexual messages and find it funny to see sperm shaped bugs flying through the air in the desert after the man and woman kiss.
Your post was short but effective because it was straight to the point and I like that. Thanks for the video!
February 22, 2010 at 7:28 pm |
I haven’t heard this song in a long time. But this does remind me a lot of the “Sin City” comic style and that “Spider-Man: The Animated Series” on MTV. It was interesting to see how the video use that kind of animation. I do agree that they could have done more but the use of colors did fit with the chase scenes and the interesting explosion of semen at the end.
February 23, 2010 at 5:27 am |
This video looks very polished like you said. Some things that stand out to me is the characters being black and white, and how the video matches the tempo of the song. The song is very fast, and the video starts out with the truck driving through a fence.
February 23, 2010 at 5:37 am |
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