The London based band
PISTOLS AT DAWN recorded the protest song “Please Report
Anything Auspicious To A Member Of Staff“ against the rise of
the far right and xenophobia in answer to the Brexit referendum
in June 2016.
The title refers to the
cherry-picking of 'worthy' immigrants, and also points to an
Orwellian dystopia. The music video for the song was designed,
animated and produced by Christian Hörlesberger in
Vienna.
The production took about 6 weeks
in August and September 2016; the video was released on
November-14-2016 on YouTube.
The music video gets along
without any edits. An animated cartoon version of Nigel Farage,
former leader of the UKIP, walks along a road. He spreads empty
promises; then he starts to sing the song. Gradually other
cartoon versions of right-wing populists join (Heinz-Christian
Strache, Marine Le Pen, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin). They
sing the choruses together. During the video the environment
gets darker and monotonously. At the end we find ourselves in a
war zone.
The video was brought to life
with Adobe Character Animator. The software allows someone to
animate Characters by using the webcam, touchpad and keyboard.
It is still in development and is being tested.
The band from London and the
filmmaker from Vienna met at
Radar Music Videos. On this
internet platform for low budget music videos record labels and
bands can put briefs online. Directors can pitch ideas and
treatments for these briefs. The record labels and bands can
choose one treatment and commission the filmmaker with the
production of the video.
