Animated Music Videos

Animated music videos emerged as a creative alternative to live-action filming, offering artists a way to visualise sound through imagination. Early examples in the 1980s and 1990s. Since then, animation has become a staple for musicians seeking to push boundaries.

2Pac's "Do For Love" music video, directed by Michael Jurkovac and featuring animation by an unnamed team (possibly with input from Shock G), uses a distinct animated style inspired by manga/anime to tell its story, showcasing Tupac's journey through life with iconic cartoon imagery rather than traditional live-action. 

Britney Spears' "Break the Ice" music video was animated by South Korean animation studio Studio Animal, directed by British graphic artist Robert Hales, and features Britney as an anime-style superheroine, continuing the character from her "Toxic" video.  

Kanye West's "Heartless" music video was directed by Hype Williams, but the distinct animated, rotoscoped look was achieved by a large team of 65 animators in Hong Kong who traced over every frame of live-action footage, inspired by Ralph Bakshi's American Pop. Visual effects company Chomet and post-production house Optic Flavor collaborated on bringing this vision to life, creating the cold, dynamic feel. 

The iconic "Feel Good Inc." music video for Gorillaz was directed by Jamie Hewlett (Gorillaz co-creator) and Pete Candeland and produced by Passion Pictures, with significant 2D animation by Robert Valley, Heath Kenny, and the Passion Pictures team, blending 2D with stunning 3D visuals for the windmill and landscape. The visual effects were a collaboration between Niamh Lines, Johnny Still, Ed Salkeld, Duncan Malcolm, Marcus Wood and Brian Carbin with art direction from Daniel Cacouault.

The animation for The Parlotones' "I'll Be There" music video was done by Claudio Pavan and Lung Animation, a collaboration that brought the colourful, story-driven visuals to life, as noted in the video's description and related promotional materials. 

The "One More Time" music video was animated by Japan's Toei Animation, with legendary anime artist Leiji Matsumoto (creator of Space Battleship Yamato, Galaxy Express 999) providing visual supervision, tying it into the larger anime film Interstella 5555, which featured all of Daft Punk's Discovery album. The video's storyline (abducted alien band) continues in the full movie, with direction by Kazuhisa Takenouchi.

Animated music videos embody the perfect marriage of sound and vision, offering artists a limitless playground to express emotion, narrative, and identity. From hand-drawn classics to cutting-edge CGI, they continue to captivate audiences and redefine what a music video can be.