MTV2's Video Mods

by Jeb Haught

 

MTV. Most of the world knows this to be the acronym for Music Television. While it's humble beginnings focused on bringing a new form of entertainment called ‘music videos' to the world, it has somehow turned into an entertainment powerhouse that displays humdrum reality TV shows and the lifestyles of music performers rather than their actual music. If you are lucky enough to catch a music video on MTV, it is most likely some pop star or hip hop band that spews the same old recycled garbage with a completely new set of dance moves.

Death Junior belts out I'm Not OK by My Chemical Romance.

Enter MTV2. This ‘alternative' channel is much like the MTV of the 1980s where you could see a wide variety of music videos mixed in with a few shows starring or focusing on music performers. MTV2 seems to capture the true vibe of today's music industry and isn't afraid to introduce new forms of music or entertainment.

With video games quickly becoming the dominant form of global entertainment, it isn't surprising to see people creating short movies by taking characters from their favorite game and ‘acting' out various scenarios, complete with voiceovers. This new form of entertainment has been dubbed ‘Machinima' and can be easily found all over the Internet.

MTV2 has managed to work out deals with several bands to incorporate machinima into music videos to create a cutting-edge form of modern entertainment called ‘Video Mods' (which has also become a new series). Not only are video game characters acting out scenes, but they also become the actual performers of the video. It is obvious that the game's developers work hand-in-hand with the music creators and the show's developers, Big Bear Entertainment, to craft new animations and scenes especially for these video mods.

For example, one of the latest pieces of virtual art showcases the Beastie Boys song ‘Oh Word' with their NBA Street 3 basketball player likenesses (created by EA Big) rapping and dancing. While the B-ball players were already in the game, the developers animated these virtual characters to act just like the B-boys would in their past videos, breakdancing and posing in their usual old-skool style. Funny thing is, you don't see the actual B-boys in the video at all, just their computer likenesses.

Obi Wan Kenobi strums along to Franz Ferdinand's song Take Me Out.

Another video mod shows the popular song ‘Everybody's Fool' by Evanescence with the sexy half-human half-vampire star of Bloodrayne 2 (from Majesco) acting as the lead singer of the band. She lip-syncs the words and moves around just like you would expect a lead singer to do while her in-game friends and enemies make up the rest of the band. In addition, most of the backdrops are from actual locations in the game. The result is a high-quality music video that just happens to star a dhampir vixen and her entourage rather than the actual performers of the song.

Perhaps one of the most surprising video mods is Franz Ferdinand's song ‘Take Me Out', which stars characters from the LucasArts game Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith. It is very surprising to see Anakin Skywalker happily singing a song rather than bathing in evil. He is joined by Obi Wan Kenobi and Mace Windu on guitar as well as the lovable Yoda banging away on the drums. The audience is made up of rows and rows of clone soldiers in formation that applaud the arrival of dancing girls on a hovering platform. Fortunately, Jar Jar Binks is MIA.

I applaud the modesty of each band's performers in not requiring their actual appearance in these alternative videos. That is why you will probably never see a video mod with a Jessica Simpson or Pdiddy song (thank goodness!), because their egos are just too big.

MTV2 airs their Video Mods show at various times throughout the week. Any gamer, whether hardcore or not, should check out the show to see the unusual mergence of music videos and video games. I am very anxious to see what songs and games will be combined for the next season.

To see some of the existing cutting edge creations, check out this link to the special Video Mods section of MTV2's website http://www.mtv2.com/#series/13696.