Music Video Analysis

        

Music Video Analysis

Mastodon

Asleep in the Deep

         

Directed by: Skinner (http://www.theartofskinner.com), Shane Morton (http://www.silverscreamfxlab.com) and Video Rahim (https://musicvideorahim.com)

Creative Direction: Mark Szumski and Gina Niespodziani

Produced by: Shane Morton and Hey Beautiful Jerk (http://www.heybeautifuljerk.nyc)

Story and Character Design by: Skinner

*PRODUCTION:

SILVER SCREAM FX LAB
Creatures, Sets and Puppeteering by:
Shane Morton
Chris Brown
Sarah Cherney
Clay Croker 
Torrence Greene 
Victoria Kelly
Tom Pietch
Jason Feeman

Construction Department:
Rick Doucette 
Scott Fowler 
Dusty Mumma

AXIOM LIVE MEDIA 
Director of Photography/Camera Operator: Tim Reis
Assistant Camera/DIT/ B­cam Operator: John Manfredi
Key Grip/Lighting Designer: Michael Bremer
2nd AD/Best Boy Grip: Mike Morgan
Best Boy Electric: Billy Bolton
Production Assistant: Paul Katzman
Visual Effects Supervisor: Gina Niespodziani

*POST PRODUCTION

HEY BEAUTIFUL JERK 
Visual Effects and Animation by: 
Dengar
Joey Deady
Gina Niespodziani 
Mark Szumski
Mark Rubbo

Edited by: Gina Niespodziani and Jeremy Baumann
Color Grade: Ricart and Co.

Skye (the cat)
provided by Star K9
Owner/Trainer: Tracy Sargent
Wrangler/Trainer: Jenn Gagne

Production Coordinator: Ashley Simpson 

Assistant to Skinner: Hal Rotter
Assistant to Mr. Morton: Madeline Brumby
Assistant to Video Rahim: Ashley Simpson

Analysis

As we all know, cats are people. This is one of the lesser concepts found in Mastodon's music video for Asleep in the Deep. This music video is a conceptual narrative that follows a cat on an adventurous vision quest.  

Asleep in the Deep uses the rhythm of the song to use as cut points throughout the entirety of this video. The tone and color starts calm and cool and warms up for the rising action, only to resolve back to cool tone and color. A harmonious blend of practical and digital effects were used in production. This video was designed by Skinner, and is in his art style.

Concept/Story

The concept and story revolve around a linear story with conceptual elements. A cat called Skye leaves his sleeping owner and travels out of a kitty-door and begins the journey. He travels a little before reaching a cave. 

In the cave, Skye comes across a primitive sub-city of puppet men. These creatures are engaging in a ritual and offer him a drink from a ceremonial milk dish.

Upon drinking from the dish, Skye encounters a psychedelia-type state of consciousness. This allows him to unlock a wormhole inside the cave. 

He goes in. 

   The psychedelia intensifies and Skye himself becomes a distorted puppet version of himself. His visions become more prominent and he eventually meets an amphibious king whom has a hookah much like the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. The king blows hookah smoke into Skye's face. The cat's visions persist as he wanders around this psychedelic realm. He follows a flying sword to a rat or squirrel tied to a stake. Skye immediately uses some gained powers to release the little creature, and the rat-squirrel rides on Skye's back to a volcano tower where a congregation led by a three-faced yeti. The rat-squirrel launches himself at the yeti, knocking both he and the yeti into the volcano. The action resolves as Skye travels back through the worm hole and eventually back to his sleeping human's lap.

Production

The cuts, especially in the establishing scene, use drummer Brann Dailor's kick and snare drums as the videos rhythm. To signify the change from reality to psychedelic fantasy, the camera utilizes some dutch angles, otherwise it uses traditional framing techniques. Deeply saturated hues with abstract line work in the art-style of Skinner are found throughout the video. There are 5 different puppet types: Skye, the primitive-men, the amphibious king, the rat-squirrel, and the three-faced yeti. 

Steady use of particle fields and atmospheric effects aid in the psychedelia mode of most of the video.