Mastodon: "Black Tongue" Official Video

Source: Youtube 2011, Black Tongue, viewed August 3, 2011,


This is a video clip for Mastodon's new single Black Tongue. Mastodon has always had a strong visual aspect to their audio work. The band deals with mythical and mystical subjects in its music and this particular video is no exception. The video shows a wooodworker bringing the cover graphic for their forthcoming album to life. The cover features a multi mouthed beast that looks like a cross between a deer a wolf and a cow. The video shows the crafting process and pays particular attention to the creation of the eye.

I have been thinking about ways to show process lately. This is born from thinking about the videos I have previously uploaded for my journal/blog and how they show artistic process as a way of providing insight into the way different artists work, and also through reviewing footage I have already shot and thinking of visual imagery to enhance my own artist profile videos for the current "Rage Cage" project.

I have been cutting the video footage I have shot down from almost an hour of conversation with each artist, to 5 minute distilled versions of the footage that speak to the essence of that interview and tell a story or capture the essence of that artist. From this I will storyboard a sequence and come up with a concept for each artists profile video. It will feature rich visuals that will accompany footage of the interview or might just accompany the audio of that interview. The outcome is intended to be insightful. A window of vision into the artist and their process.

Although nothing new I do like the scratchy effect on this video. I think its unnecessary on this video but it can be fun and an obvious choice hwen trying to make a video appear older than it is. I in fact don't think that the video and the music work that well together on this video. I think that the part that works are the computer graphic elements in black and white where the head of the beast is multiplied and turns in on itself. I think this part of the video is most successful as a visual and as an aesthetic that fits with the bands song. The footage of the craftsman is too slow and does not seem to find rhythm with the music.

You can't always praise every video you find and you need to see what doesn't work so you can try and lean from them and create things that do work. I find that you can often match music quite well to a video if you take your time to really understand the mood of the visual and also what the content is trying to say.