Happy Holidays!
What is really under Santa’s Hat?
Why is it shaped that way? Why is it always on?
From the same twisted mind that brought the world the Little Baby’s Ice Cream videos, come two bizarre new Holiday videos that provide an answer to those age old questions. Just in time to wish a Scary Christmas to all, Doug Garth Williams of bitesizehumans.com has created these seasonal spots for Ooh La La Records.
Statement From creator Doug Garth Williams:
Working with Ooh La La was a great experience. They gave me complete creative control and I took full advantage of that. It’s a unique and really valuable opportunity to be commissioned to make a video and then be left to your own devices to see it through.
I started off with number of questions: ‘What is really under Santa’s Hat? Why is it shaped that way? Why is it always on? What if it turned out that Santa’s distinctly shaped hat was not actually full of empty space as one would assume? What if it was actually a fairly tight form-fitting hat contoured to a roughly hat shaped mysterious appendage below?
I wanted to play with the existing legend and present this non-traditional possibility that can actually still fit with a lot of the historical visual representations of Santa Claus. I wanted to present the concept while retaining a little ambiguity to leave questions remaining for viewers: Is Santa an Alien? Is he a human with some kind of parasitic alien creature latched on? Is this new? Has that always been there under his hat? Is that why his hat has always been that shape, or is the alien mimicking the look of a santa hat in order to blend in as part of a clever scheme to control the mind of a powerful earth creature? What is happening!? etc.
Part of the idea was to stretch the budget out to deliver 2 videos rather than 1, and that created the challenge of coming up with different ideas that incorporated the same character but had a distinctly different feel. The first is really an introduction that allows the viewer to focus on the concept. And the second is a sort of condensed Christmas special in terms of it’s tone and storyline. The first introduces this disturbing vision of Santa Claus and the second is a catharsis where we see him bested by what initially appears to be a helpless child in peril, but is in fact a badass Evil-Santa slayer.
A little about the Ooh La La Video Artist Series:
The Ooh La La Video Artist Series was created to give video artists a platform to experiment with short form video projects. Launched in May 2012 with director Michael Lawrence’s “Ooh La La Life Lessons” series; starting in 2013 Ooh La La plans select a different video artist every quarter to create a trio of digital shorts that will then be released once a month via the Ooh La La Recordings YouTube channel. Each “artist in residence” is asked to submit a brief treatment of their idea, but is essentially given complete creative control with the only parameter being they incorporate an Ooh La La recording into their video creation. Artists are given the freedom to create a sequential three part series, a single piece edited into three parts, or three unrelated spots.
Founder, Theo Aronson, explains, “As a huge fan of both music and film I wanted to give video artists a fun excuse to experiment and work on new ideas and concepts. It’s also my own excuse to have some fun and work with some of the most creative people I’ve ever met!”
Ooh La La 2012 Holiday Videos:
What’s Under Santa’s Hat?
http://youtu.be/RIEAfQHsEp0
What’s Under Santa’s Hat? Part 2: Slay Bells
http://youtu.be/WC4MoK8UYks
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