Best EVER Animated Music Videos

16 Apr 2010

What makes an awesome music video?

It's not the song, because we've all seen some bad songs made bearable by great videos, just as we've all seen great songs let down by a terrible video.

There have been a lot of really creative, original music videos made over the last 50 years or so, that have combined with the song to make a truly seminal, memorable experience. The music video should enhance, evolve and explain the track. They are the visual translation of the lyrics, the tone and the meaning of the song.

Animation is the perfect medium for Music Videos, because you have 3 minutes to try something totally new and innovative. Lots of new animation techniques have been pioneered in the Music Video Industry, because artists are given so much freedom to express themselves visually.

This is my list of the top 20 animated Music Videos ever. Some are old, some are new, all are awesome.


20. Jason Forrest - War Photographer


Directed by Joel Trussell
2D animation
2005




19. Keane - Bedshaped


Directed by Corin Hardy
Stop-motion animation
2004




18. Nizlopi - The JCB Song


Directed by Monkeehub
Hand drawn animation
2005




17.Weird Al Yankovich - Jurassic Park


Directed by Mark Osbourne
Claymation
1993




16. Pearl Jam - Do the Evolution


Directed by Kevin Altieri and Todd McFarlane
Handdrawn animation
1998




15. Oren Lavie - Her Morning Elegance



Directed by Oren Lavie
Pixelation
2009




14. Johnny Reubonic - Word of Mouth


Directed by Chris Oatley
2D animation
2006




13. Santogold, Julian Casablancas, and N.E.R.D - My Drive Thru


Directed by Psyop
Photography and CGI animation
2008




12. Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.


Directed by Passion Pictures
CGI and 2D animation
2005




11. Royksopp - Remind Me


Directed by H5
Isometric shapes 2D animation
2002




10. Oldelaf and Monsieur D - Le Cafe


Directed by Stephanie Marguerite and Emilie Tarascou
2D animation
2008




9. Team William - You Look Familiar


Directed by Michélé De Feudis and Joris Bergmans
2D animation
2009




8. Junior Senior Move your feet


Directed by Shynola
Pixel Art (using Microsoft Paint)
2002




7. Fujiya and Miyagi - Ankle injuries


Directed by Wade Shotter
Dice stop motion animation
2006




6. White Stripes - Fell in Love with a Girl


Directed by Michel Gondry
Lego
2002




5. Streetlight Manifesto - Would you be impressed?


Directed by Jurjen Bosklopper
2D animation
2007




4. Michael Jackson - Leave me Alone


Directed by Jim Blashfield
Mixed Media
1987




3. BBC Children in Need - Children in Need


Directed by Chapman Studios
Mixed
2009




2. Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer


Directed by Aardman
Stopmotion animation
1986




1. A ha - Take on me


Directed by Steve Barron
Rotoscope
1985




I hope that you enjoyed this list of the best animated music videos. If you want to see other music videos, here's Wikipedia's list of All the Music Videos ever made with Animation. It's a long list,but if you're interested, it's a great way to spend an afternoon!

And here's the shameless plug part: Check out our recent music video for Sam Roman's song 'The Best Day We Ever Had.'

2 comments:

MAPS Video Art said...

Great blog post.
Check out this student made stop motion clip for Power Animal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h952vFcBnM

Diogo said...

hi i was looking for a video... its a eletronic music, and the video its anime related... its about the late 90's or earlirer 2000... if you remind of it, just let me know!

thanks