Rat King - Music Video
Directed, designed and animated by Carl Whitbread
A Rat King is a rare monster created by nesting rats that through crammed and overpopulated conditions become entangled in their own tails, slowly starving to death unable to free themselves or work together to survive.

Traditionally seen as a poignant symbol for greed, plague and societal disease. “Consumption as a saviour” complex makes us all rat kings, bound together in greed. We have eaten beyond our means and we lust for more through capitalism and refusal to stop a feast that is coming to an end. One of the album's core characters is given its dues.
Stylistically the idea was to give the animation a hand drawn and gritty look, whilst keeping it simple and striking. This was achieved through a variety of rotoscoping techniques over stock video, animated elements and footage of Sam singing.
Animated Vignettes
Scattered throughout the music video are a series of looping animations which used plates from Eadweard Muybridge's 'Animal Locomotion' series. These were pulled out and used and small vingettes as teasers leading up to the music video's release.
Visual References
Style Frames
Animatic
Process
Thank you!
You can check out the full album 'The Gleaners' here.
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