Dissecting "The Walrus", Eviscerating "The Prairie Dog"

Following "Chuck the Cucumber," I began working on a more elaborate project merging surrealist and psychedelic elements with political metaphor.  This project became the silent film, music video for "The Walrus and The Prairie Dog."  In the film, the Walrus (and his domain Polarkreis) represent an ideal Socialist society.  Public harmony, true-self-governance, absolute freedom of expression, and pleasant living/working conditions.  The Prairie Dog (and his domain, "Factoryville") is a critique on cut-throat capitalism, the SOPA & PIPA censorship bills, and corporate greed.  The Praire Dog carries out genocide against his gingerbread men after catching one looking up videos of Polarkreis on the internet.  The Walrus, unable to let this atrocity slide, battles the Prairie Dog.  At the end of the video, the curtain splitting the "Arctic Circle" in half (Blue for the Walrus, Black for the Prairie Dog) pulls away.  This is symbolic of the Soviet Iron Curtain during the Cold War.

Black Curtain, Iron Curtain

This film was my first attempt at set construction.  For this, I teamed up with two accomplished cakestresses to bake, assemble, and ice the town.  Building a set like this allowed me to created a very specific atmosphere and environment where my characters could interact.  The puppets and gingerbread gave it a surreal vibe, and added some shock value.

Expressionist Experiments... Toying
with the shadows, di-chromatic gels. 

Around the time I began planning this video, I started watching old expressionist and surrealist films, like Un Chien Andalou, Dr. Caligari, and the shorts of Jan Svankmajer for inspiration with dreamscaping and the art of making a film and using film as means to protest or express philosophical/political ideas.  Film could be so much more than simple character drama and plot lines.  I aim to expand this style with my work.  

As for the music-visual relationship in this film, both are separate entities that augment each other.  The visuals do not represent the music verbatim, but expand on themes present in the note structure and lyrics.  For example, the song describes a battle between a manager and rebellious employee that takes place inside a Freezer at a futuristic, dystopian grocery store.

Propaganda in Factoryville

After completing this video, I went out on a limb and submitted it to the Vimeo Film Festival under the Music Video category.  It's a long shot, but it's my first attempt to get my work noticed outside of twitter circles.

"The Walrus" is the second step towards my senior seminar project.  This project let me test the waters with set building on a puppet-sized microcosm.  For the final, I'll be crafting a Man-sized set out of cardboard to dissect the idea of isolation caused by consumer culture.