Pause (Music Video)

(Pause is a new song by the band Outpost 3, and the subject of this review is its music video animated by Dan Skelt and Will Lamb)

This is an interestingly constructed, stylistically audacious piece which, particularly considering its only three-minute runtime, is well worth your time as a viewer. What transpires in the video is effectively a surrealistic chase-sequence, taking place in a graphic world defined by dramatic reds and stark silhouettes. The eye of a raven, as motif, overlooks the exciting chase like an omniscient yet ambivalent entity – bookending the succinct narrative. Meanwhile, occasionally intercut and also silhouetted are the bandmembers performing – seemingly within their own liminal, animated world defined purely by colour and shape.

The look and feeling crafted by the animators is of a high-quality. Its potent impact on an audience can be attributed to its bold nature; jagged outlines and saturated tones overwhelm the eye in the best way. While the visuals are digital and often quite simple texturally, there also comes a pleasing handmade sensibility in its arrangement. For instance, the aesthetic is two-dimensional and makes little attempt to stretch beyond this. It’s very much a strength because the filmmakers have turned a limitation, in terms of workforce and financing, into an integral artistic characteristic. When it comes to the movement of the figures in the story – while one can tell that this is no expansive production – the motion does give you a genuine sense of physicality and propulsion. This is a fantastic effort on the part of the animators.

Now we must move onto the song itself, which is really the primary purpose of a music video. In very simplistic terms, the hard-rock sound of the track evokes a positive musical chaos. As subjective as it is, I’d say that it’s a good song with definitively strong sound production supporting it. The crazed, euphoric collage of overlapping sound – the intense, fast-paced percussion, the virtuosic electric guitar, and of course the terrific 80s-sounding vocals – all make the record a hit in my eyes. Looking at the whole product, there’s certainly an underground temperament which plays in the band’s favour. The viewer witnesses a personal work of art; not just personal in terms of the lyrics or message, but in terms of the effort behind the craft.

Let’s surmise that a music video, besides being a delivery system for the song in question, should ideally provide some sort of evocative or pleasing accompaniment to what the spectator is hearing. Additionally, a great music video may opt to place the technical aspects of the images in contrast with what we are hearing, leading us to focus on how the two operate in tandem. In Pause, the vividness and aggressiveness of the picture matches the tone and tempo of the song being performed. And to state the obvious, the visuals are just as ‘loud’ as the music. This signals a clear sense of cohesion within the piece; a great music video with a real understanding of drama and style.