In Nath Jonesford's charming and surprisingly poignant machinima music video, the Pet Shop Boy's latest album cover comes to romantic life in Second Life. To create his cubes in love, Nath tells me, "I made some cubes, attached them to my body, gave them colors, then saved it as an outfit." For the opening dance number, he invited some friends over, gave them copies of his cube suit, and connected them to a "chimera", a dance ball that can sync one avatar's animations with others.
At first Nath had only planned to make this video an extended dance routine, a remake of an earlier Pet Shop Boys machinima he created, but then a friend invited him to a new paradisical island. When he showed up with a collaborator while still wearing their cube costumes, remembers Nath, "I thought the contrast of our harsh lines and the beautiful scenery looked good, so we filmed on the island and then went back and did the escape-from-the-box shots." For good measure they shot the opening scene where the check mark collapses, and is rebuilt into the opening dance troupe. So what began as just a dance video evolved into a story about love that defies social constrictions -- a theme the Pet Shop Boys themselves would surely embrace.
I was blown away when I first saw this video. It fits in really well with the PSB's universe. I only hope they've seen it for themselves and are inspired to do something a little similar in upcoming promos.
I loved the twist at the end...
Posted by: YP | Sunday, August 02, 2009 at 04:48 AM
The Pet Shop Boys are one of my favorite artists and this video is worthy of them. Their videos sometimes play with cubes and cones and this was not only original but enjoyable to watch.
Posted by: Salvatore Otoro | Friday, August 14, 2009 at 03:18 PM
Great stuff. Thoroughly enjoyed
Posted by: DebbieTrilling | Sunday, January 17, 2010 at 03:41 PM