Music video winner: Sour - "Hibi No Neiro" (Tone of Everyday)
“Hibi No Neiro” is a music video for a Japanese band called Sour that was filmed entirely by webcams and starred more than 80 cast members, many of them designers, sourced from the band’s international fan base. Each animation sequence relies on precise choreography of up to 64 people at a time, a major challenge. “We had to plan every movement and action in each square based on how it related to the surrounding grid,” says Masashi Kawamura, one of the video’s four directors.
The song, he says, is about discovering one’s own voice and embracing individuality in order to open up to the world. “The webcam provided the perfect medium in which to explore this notion,” he says. “Not only did it alleviate the challenge of the non-existent budget, but it also overcame the fact we couldn’t film the band in person, given that the band live in Tokyo and we all live in New York.”
When it launched last July, the video became a viral hit, getting more than 1.5 million views. Phil Pinto called the video “astounding. … It all comes back to one simple, good idea.” It's an idea so good, in fact, that it's been
copied numerous times.