World of Weird Al Yankovic

So I'm gettin the vibe that a lot of you were disappointed in the music video for Mission Statement. Calling all creative types - what would you have done instead? Say Al came to you tomorrow and was like "dude we're smurfed our video sucks, got any ideas for a new one?"

Go!

Eh, didn't much care for the video, but it was definitely the right way to go for the song.

I like the "Mission Statement" video. But if I had to come up with an alternative, I'd do a combined live-action/animation one that sort of dips its toes into both the corporate jargon and CSN aspects of the song. Al sits at a conference table, surrounded by fellow workers, and everyone's attention is turned to their boss as he unceasingly spits out all these meaningless terms. The other workers nod and take notes, but Al is our silent, confused voice of reason, utterly perplexed by what's going on. As the song continues, we see things through his eyes, and it gets increasingly trippy and this is where the animation kicks in, like during the "mooooooooooooonotize our assets" part the boss starts melting.

Actually, I just came up with another idea I like more: it's at a Woodstock type show, and the video opens with some guy who looks like Jimi Hendrix, playing some wild guitar part. The adoring crowd of hippies cheers for him as he leaves the stage, and then Al and TBITB enter, dressed in suits and ties, complete with a projector and accompanying PowerPoint. The audience is baffled, booing and yelling various complaints about The Man invading their turf. The song begins and Al uses a laser pointer to go through the PowerPoint along with the lyrics. As it goes on, the hippies start getting into it, culminating in one of them stripping off his flower power shirt and bellbottoms to reveal a neatly-pressed business suit, then removing his wig of long hair and stomping on it. By the time it gets to the "do do do do do" part, the entire crowd is on board.

My treatment for a Mission Statement video:

You have four guys, played by Al and the band or Al and three comedian friends, dressed as CSNY in the 70s. Full on hippie attire like this photo. They enter a very corporate boring-looking office environment and we zoom way out and see the whole bit - cubicles, fax machines, secretaries, boring office stuff, all very modern. It's like these CSNY guys somehow time traveled to 2014 corporate America, but no one else in the office cares because they're a bunch of drones. Then the rest of the video is about the CSNY guys trying to fit into the corporate environment but they're still big hippies so it's awkward. Lots of potential for Zucker-style visual gags, cameos, cultural references (The Office, Office Space, etc). During the guitar solo, the office environment goes psychadelic; something along the lines of the Big Lebowski musical number. Then there's a twist ending at the end, but I can't reveal what it is. Al, if you want to do this, !

LETS MAKE THESE GUYSSSSS

Jon nailed it. It has to, in some way, weave hippie culture and the modern corporate world together. I would add that during the trippy solo segment, we have some flashbacks that re-create pivotal moments in the counter-culture movement but with a business twist, so Vietnam protesters would be holding Yin-Yang signs that say "synergy" and stuff like that.

Jon's sounds good yeah
Idk I just want a My Own Eyes video

All these ideas are great. The counterculture thing. Imagine all the cameos it could have too. Actually having CSNY in the video would be rad or other musicians from that era.

RE: Jon's twist ending. Please tell us what it is Jon.

I think we could dub this track over Lonely Island's "Like A Boss" video and it would be quite appropriate.

quantumerror wrote:I think we could dub this track over Lonely Island's "Like A Boss" video and it would be quite appropriate.

meh