Reel Big Fish And Evanescence Visit “Jurassic Park”

I like to think that, in a way, Objects of Affection pays tribute to the tributes, especially when the videos are about movies. In working with a medium where soundtracks are a given, it must be tempting for tribute-video creators to use a song already associated with the movie, creating a continuity of tone between one’s video and the film to which it pays tribute. It’s just plain logical. But today’s feature is dedicated to the individuals who can see beyond the walls of the soundtrack, who gaze into the horizon of possibility and boldly reject “Circle of Life” in favor of something just a little bit sexier. This week, CGI dinosaurs get in touch with their piano goth side and learn to ska dance.

Song: “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence Concept: Jurassic Park as story of one T-Rex’s struggle with, and eventual triumph over, clinical depression. From the first shot to the very last , this video just screams “delightfully misguided.” Pretty much the only congruity here is the tone of the song in combination with the dark and stormy setting. One can imagine Amy Lee at a grand piano, bellowing about some kind of heartache or sadness and getting rained on out by the Raptor pen. So in that aspect this video is a total success; the last half hour of Jurassic Park does, in fact, look like an Evanescence video. But the logic stops there. Perhaps the most amusing aspect is that the clip choices and the way they’re edited suggest that we should be experiencing this song from T-Rex’s point of view. For instance, the slo-mo sequence starting at around 30 seconds is very dramatic and surprisingly emotional–it’s as if T-Rex is asking Sam Neill to find his spirit and “lead it back home.” Overall it’s definitely fun to watch, though almost uncomfortably absurd. (Thanks to commenter RickSlick for the link.) Best music-to-image sync-up moment: Something about the those Raptor claws creeping along to the tinkling piano is just so perfect. That moment is both amusingly ridiculous and (probably unintentionally) masterful. There’s a sort of dual foreboding in motion; the twitchy movement of the claws indicates that we should brace ourselves for the impending Raptor attack, while at the same time the morose piano warns us: Evanescence song! Straight ahead! That’s a lot of panic packed into five seconds. Silliest music-to-image sync-up moment: Take your pick, really. I’ll go with the decision to sync up the dramatic ending of the song with the lawyer-gets-eaten-while-on-the-toilet scene. Classy!

Song: “Sell Out” by Reel Big Fish Concept: Jurassic Park as fast-paced romp through a rockin’ party at T-Rex’s mom’s house. Raise your hand if you were totally into Reel Big Fish in like ninth grade. Woo! Ska phase! In the spirit of the genre at hand, I will try to keep this short and exhaustingly snappy. Everything about this video rules! Conceptually it’s a fucking masterpiece, and the execution is flawed, but determined, much like every single high school ska band to ever play a marching band’s casino night. And that’s really all I have to say. This one pretty much speaks for itself. Best music-to-image sync-up moment: Music ends, Sam Neill says, “We probably won’t get off this island alive.” Silliest music-to-image sync-up moment: At 2:10, when Sam Neill and Téa Leoni realize they’re probably about to get eaten by Raptors as that maniacally upbeat horn riff blares in the background.

Verdict: Both contenders this week really go above and beyond in all categories of tribute video inexplicableness, so I won’t exactly declare a winner, but I will say that if they were both dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, the Evanescence video would be a Raptor, while the Reel Big Fish clip would be T-Rex.