British kids’ heavy metal band Slay Duggee have shot their latest music video for “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” entirely on Nintendo Switch’s lockdown smash, Animal Crossing: New Horizon. All scenes in the video were shot in the director Nick Hearne’s 8 year old son’s Animal Crossing island. The biggest set-up was creating the replica festival main stage.
Director Nick Hearne commented:
This year Download Festival was cancelled. Glastonbury is cancelled. Bloodstock is cancelled. So we wanted to capture the epic atmosphere of these events and make Slay Duggee the headline act (move aside Metallica!) It took us a few weeks to buy enough human models to build a big enough crowd, and to stock up on the lights to create an epic stage show. There is enough fire to rival Rammstein, and a model of Stonehenge as a nod to the mighty Spinal Tap.
https://youtu.be/5kCGA2snGL8
When Slay Duggee invited their fans to their island to experience the festival and take part in the video shoot they became overwhelmed with visitors. They provided download codes for their merchandise so visitors were wearing band tees. Just like real festivals, there was a long queue to get in, longer queue for the toilets, and a random shoe left in the mosh pit.
Download codes for band merch in Animal Crossing:
Slay Duggee Logo tee – MO-M3G7-9L4R-QSSJ
Slay Duggee Ricky Bow-Wow cap – MO-R8GR-JN7C-HVHX
A glitch in the Animal Crossing interface made it possible to direct the action and create dynamic camera moves. Players can hide their Nook Phone camera overlay to achieve more controlled captures (press + as soon as you press A to select Camera Mode). Director, Nick Hearne utilised this hack to break away from the standard in-game camera angles and movements. The heavy metal results are not what you’d expect from the cute chilled world of Animal Crossing.
Nick Hearne, director:
The hardest bit about making a music video on Animal Crossing is getting distracted by Animal Crossing.
Slay Duggee member, Black Shuck commented:
Missing gigs and festivals has been the hardest part of lockdown for us. The virtual festival was fun, but you can’t digitise the smell of a real mosh pit on a summer day. It’d break the internet forever.
