WoW Moviewatch: Surfing with the Alien

Today's Moviewatch is another music video. Surfing with the Alien is a song performed by guitarist Joe Satriani, who's about as well-qualified a musician as you could hope to hear. Kakashisan built this video as a backdrop to the instrumental, giving action to Satriani's song.

This video is going to be one of my long-term favorites. In my opinion, it's damned near perfect. Satriani's music is astoundingly good, and Kakashisan didn't try and overwhelm that music by over-producing his video. The imagery is basic, streamlined, and not complex. The action doesn't distract the audience from what we're hearing.

While Kakashisan does use the same L70ETC models that every other music video uses, he made a very key change in the lead guitarist. The blood elf is bald, like Joe Satriani himself. It's a subtle touch that lends a lot of credibility to the video, backing up Kakashisan's homage to the original artist. The carpet chase mirrors Surfing's sense of motion, without trying to add false narrative.

Sometimes, "simple" works best. I would not say Kakashisan's work is "simple," of course, but I will say that he kept his context appropriate to the work. I look forward to seeing more like this.

If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.

Previously on Moviewatch .