Promoting Good Animation: “The Wolf” Music Video by SIAMÉS

I’ve always been a fan of music artists that integrate animated storytelling into their music videos to emphasize the meaning and symbolism that they intend to portray in their songs. The official animated music video for “The Wolf” by SIAMÉS is no exception. The entire video consists of a strictly black and white world, only occasionally accented by red. This is not easy to pull off, especially in animation. A strong understanding of lighting and form is required to bring such a monochromatic world to life and this animation goes about it spectacularly. There are several instances of long, continuous shots, such as when the girl is being chased down the slope by the wolf (1:50), and almost every scene is framed in a way that makes the main subject clear and easy to read. The animation also utilizes changing numbers of frames per second for different actions. When the girl hits the wolf with her skateboard at 1:40, the animation slows down to emphasize the impact and the fact that skateboard had shattered. It remains at a slower pace in order for the audience to process the action and the surprise on her face before it jumps into a much faster chase scene.

The style is surprisingly simplistic and utilizes a minimalistic approach to simple shapes and lines in order to not complicate the overall fast paced action of the animation. This also makes smaller actions easier to read since there are not so many details to focus on. The action itself is timed well with the music, racing ahead as the tempo picks up and slowing down during the more mellow parts of the song. This allows a scene to build anticipation for the next pick-up. One such scene is when the girl is sitting in the tunnel smoking, watching the wolf emerge from the shadows (1:34–1:40). The story itself is told through visual symbolism and the lyrics of the song. The video and the song play hand-in-hand in telling a story about the struggles of addiction. The Wolf in the video is a symbolic representation of the various characters’ addictions, such as the man’s alcoholism or the girl’s smoking habits. The animation portrays these struggles through how each character chooses to interact with the wolves. They initially try to fight back, but to no avail, or run from their addictions until they are very literally backed into a corner and are forced to face them head on.