Philip Rates YouTube Boards Of Canada Fan Videos (Part One)

Hello and welcome to the blog. I will normally be posting in the Trebuchet typeface. Now down to the business at hand. BoC's music has, over the years, inspired many fan videos of varying quality. Now that there is YouTube, we can now have most of them up in one place. I will be using a normal grading scale to rate these in three categories:

1. Technical - quality of the editing/fitting well to the music, etc.
2. Interpretation - Does the general feel of the film work well with the mood of the music?
3. Dismount

Here we go:

"Music is Math" by nonameno5


This is a relatively new fan video, and I think it is a very nice effort. I'm not very keen on the extremely old footage, and I don't think it works that well with the very nice space/rocket footage. I absolutely love the first minute or so. Technical: B+. Interpretation: B. Dismount: C+.

"An Eagle In Your Mind" by AmericanEric


Heavily sampling from just one source never really impresses me. Visual shifts do work nicely with the beat, however. This is just not how I or probably most listeners visualize this song at all. Technical: A. Interpretation: D. Dismount: D+.

"A Beautiful Place In The Country, Ataronchronon" by Neil Krug


Predictable BoC imagery, but I think the layering in this video is very nice. The kaleidoscope footage is much better than in most videos and edited very well. I especially like the ending.
Technical: A. Interpretation: B+. Dismount: A.

"84 Pontiac Dream" by turnstiled


I retract my previous statement about using only one sampled source, only because this is so perfect for this particular BoC song. Who else puts humor into BoC videos? Definitely one of my favorite fan videos. Technical: A. Interpretation: A+. Dismount: B+.

"Everything You Do Is A Balloon" by interimlover


Again, more nostalgic 16mm footage. I'm not sure that the footage alone does this song that much justice. More effort needed. Note the reason for the video at the end. Technical: C. Interpretation: C. Dismount: D.

"Chinook" by ???


Ah, one of the old watmm contest videos from like 5 years ago. I like the uncomfortable feeling of this effort, not technically that dramatic, but well thought out. Really wish a higher quality version was up. Technical: B-. Interpretation: A-. Dismount: B+.

"Over The Horizon Radar" by fividtelefuzzerator


Very nice video, another watmm contest entry. This song makes me think of a beach as well. It's a good example of using just one clip very well. Technical: B+. Interpretation: A. Dismount: A.

More videos next time.
-P.