The Pigs!
The official music video for 'Pigs' by 'Dog Rotten. The band approached me in 2025 with a vague idea of what they wanted, but were more than happy for me to take that concept and run with it. Working on this project was an absolute labour of love, from concept to final version.
The starting point
When the band first approached me, they already had a rough concept in mind, along with storyboards that hinted at the world they wanted to build. The imagery was evocative and compelling—like a fever dream, leaping from one unsettling image to the next. While the mood was clearly established, I felt that in its current state the video lacked a narrative. Without a narrative, there were no characters to connect with—no one to root for. As a result, there was little opportunity for viewers to become emotionally invested in the events unfolding on screen.
Expanding the concept
The same night I received the brief from Dog Rotten, I happened to be watching Pulp Fiction. Inspired by Tarantino’s iconic trunk shot, an idea began to take shape. I could blend a touch of ’90s crime cinema with the evocative imagery from the band’s storyboards. The next question was: who would populate this world? I turned to the song’s lyrics for inspiration. Once the Tarantino connection was established, I looked further into his oeuvre—this time drawing from From Dusk Till Dawn, particularly its desert setting and seedy locations. From this emerged our protagonist: an unfortunate butcher, besieged by a host of creatures determined to turn the tables and replace him at the top of the food chain.
Animatic
The next step was to map out the main narrative beats and align them with the structure of the song. It was during this process that the full story began to take shape, along with its supporting cast of characters. Characters like the rat emerged out of necessity—I needed a way to show the butcher being actively menaced while confined in the boot of the car. This required a creature that could move freely within such a tight space. What began as a practical solution became a happy accident: the absurdity of such a small creature behaving in a threatening way added a comical edge that helped bring the sequence to life.
Lip sync tests
Once the band approved the animatic, the focus shifted to figuring out how to deliver the level of quality I had promised. I had been ambitious with the number of lip-sync sequences, so I needed a smart, efficient solution to achieve a polished result. Adobe Character Animator proved to be the answer. By rigging a series of puppets (initially created in Procreate) I was able to sync them directly to a vocal track provided by the band. Once exported, the scenes were composited in After Effects and prepared for integration into the final edit.
Animation process
With the puppets in place, maintaining visual consistency across the project became essential. I was determined for the final piece to feel fully animated, but I also had to be realistic about what could be achieved within the available timeframe. The band were working to a fixed release schedule, and as the sole animator on the project, I needed to work efficiently.By looping key sections of animation, I was able to create the illusion of continuous movement without animating every second of the song by hand. While more time would have allowed me to push the boundaries further, I’m immensely proud of what was achieved and of the final result.
The reception
The response across YouTube and Instagram was overwhelmingly positive. Viewers repeatedly highlighted the creativity of the execution and praised the video’s “gnarly” visual style. Overall, audiences felt the animation was a strong and exciting addition to the band’s output. Working with Dog Rotten was a genuinely rewarding experience, and I hope the video helps introduce the band to new audiences—encouraging them not only to explore their music further, but to experience it where it truly thrives: live.
