As you can see above, the video for Judas Priest's "War" from their latest album, Nostradamus, suffers from the same problems as the album; a really awesome idea, some cool moments, but overall, not something your thrilled with and knows it could be better.
The video uses CGI animation that looks like the animators got a copy of some stripped-down version of Maya or just moved figures in Poser in order to created the animation. The models and characters, especially in rendering, can range anywhere between laughably bad to incredibly awesome.
Yes, these are the maidens.
Yes, this is war... the best rendered thing in the film.
The music used for the video is actually a really cool and interesting choice. It's a mix of classic Judas Priest with a much more classical element, something that really lends well to the overall tone and direction of the video. The problem, though, is that the use of 3-D rendering is just so abysmal at times your stuck wondering what happened in the animation department.
The video starts with a fairly lack-luster opening and, for a video like this, you need something resembling a storyline. It's basically this: A group of evil men wearing gas masks control something while these two hot chicks practice witchcraft. Apparently, that's forbidden and is also evil as they burn them at the stake. While that's happening, it triggers the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse to rise out from the ground and kick the evil guys asses. In the end, the guy is revealed to be Chtulu (which is, frankly, why copyrights were invented; to prevent the perversion of some to use something kick-ass for something... meh) which War, the coolest and best-rendered thing in the video, kicks his ass and peace is given to the world.
I'd rather had seen this thing animated by hand... I always say that, but really, it should have. This reminds me of the film "Heavy Metal" that was released in 1981, as well as "Heavy Metal 2000". The entire thing is would just be perfect in a more stripped-down style with CGI-overtones.
My thoughts? Judas Priest saw a chance to not have to star in a music video and spend 3 days or more on some sound stage when they could be practicing (most bands hate making videos) and saw this as a chance to do a video without having to do anything, save approve a script and storyboards, if that.
"Hey, Rob, did you see the new CGI for the music video?""Yeah, I love it! It's amazing what these kids can do with those computers these days! Just awesome! Very, very metal!"
"But, Rob, do you think this is really good? The rendering just seems kinda... I don't know, bad."
"Bollocks! The bloody thing is in 3D! That's just amazing in and of itself!"
Of course, none of this is an actual shot at the band or even the director. I understand that there are, and always will be, the pressures of doing something within a time-line and, not only that... but seriously, who really watches music videos these days and even then, who cares? This is really just me nit-picking by and large, but what can I say, I honestly thought this video could have been a lot better.
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