Back in the summer of 2005 Rush fan and computer animator Bobby Standridge put together a computer-animated video for YYZ featuring a virtual Neil Peart. The video, titled A Digital Man, was extremely well-done and quickly wormed its way around the internet, drawing the attention of Rush fans everywhere and Neil Peart himself. Neil liked it so much that he posted it to his official website. According to the RushTrader.com blog, Standridge has also recently created a band-sanctioned video for Malignant Narcissism that may be released in the near future. It sounds like it would just be an internet viral-marketing sort of release - not a video you'd see on TV anywhere - but very cool nonetheless. Here are the details from Ant at the RushTrader.com blog:
Today I was given a look at what could become the official video for Rush’s manic instrumental, "Malignant Narcissism". Honestly, I didn't know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it tied in directly with the religious themes of the new album, "Snakes & Arrows".
The video itself is completely CGI and centers around religious “family trees”. These trees grow like “snakes” and are woven before your eyes, finding Ancient, Eastern and Western religions along the way. I will keep the ending a secret, as promised to the producer.
While the ending and video iteself are under wraps for now, the producer is someone who’s work you may be familiar with. You may recall the work of Bobby Standridge (BobbysBrane.com), an insanely talented computer animator, who produced another popular Rush related video, “The Digital Man“. That video showcased a computer generated Neil Peart drumming away at the instrumental, “YYZ“. Upon seeing Bobby’s fan tribute, Neil loved it and soon added it to his own website, neilpeart.net.
“I got the (MalNar) gig by ‘pleasant persistence’ with their management”, Bobby says, “and I’ve been slaving away for the last five weeks to complete it.”
In addition to the challenges of creating CGI, the video project also required some fairly extensive research on the origins of world religions. “Research on Wikipedia took a bunch of time” Bobby told me. Then gathering all that information into a logical arrangement, while keeping it on a timeline and synched to the animation was very time consuming. Not to mention all the time wasted in the “second guessing” department.
Right now Bobby is awaiting feedback from the band and their management. If all goes well, Bobby’s video for “MalNar” could be going viral on a website near you.
Stay tuned!
Ant
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