Evil Nine - Crooked
Marine Parade
Goals
Music Label Marine Parade were looking to commission a music promo for one of their acts, electro/hip hop producers & DJs ‘Evil Nine’. The track was destined to be a popular release with interest from radio as well as broadcast TV channels. The single had a firm release date, so the video promo needed to be created in a very short period of time with a maximum impact.
Solution
A strong graphic style had already been created for the sleeve artwork featuring a stylised representation of the duo, and this was taken as a starting point for the look and feel. The characters animations were developed using a combination of 2D and 3D techniques, allowing for full lip-synching and fluid movements throughout. The narrative references the track lyrics as the characters rap their way through a chaotic city, with the action happening around them. Their positioning in the middle of the action reinforces the visual link between the video and the original artwork, and the gives impression of one long continuous take. With a distinct beginning, middle and a final gag at the end, the video is guaranteed to raise a smile. The Flash animations was dropped directly to tape for broadcast, before being developed further to include 'send to a friend functionality', e-commerce links and full tracking to measure its proliferation.
Results
The promo was released by the record company and was immediately picked up and included in the MTV playlist in the UK as well as across Europe. Additionally, the video was released online in its original Flash and was played over 4.5 million times with over sixty thousand 'send to a friend' referrals combined with significant online community interest in how it was created.