The Gentle Good
Yr Wylan Fry
An animated music video (made in 2014) for The Gentle Good to promote the lead single Yr Wylan Fry.
The video follows 8th Century Chinese poet Li Bai as he sails along the Yangtze River for work leaving his wife behind waiting for his return. Yr Wylan Fry (The Free Seabird) is taken from the album Y Bardd Anfarwol.
“Having made his decision Li Bai finds his way onto a ship and begins a period of travelling along the great rivers of China. The title of this song comes from a poem by a contemporary of Li Bai’s, a poet called Du Fu, who said that the life of a traveller is like that of a seabird flying overhead; it’s easy to see going by but once gone he is gone forever. In this song Li Bai sings to his wife who he has had to leave behind, wishing that he could be with her but forced to travel in search of work.”
Gareth Bonello (The Gentle Good) on the song’s narrative
My approach to video was to follow the story of the song, but to do that; I needed to understand who Li Bai was. Seeing as he is a real person, I wanted to make as much of the video as ‘accurate’ as possible, making sure that the visuals represent the period of time and location.
In my research of Li Bai’s life, he wandered for many years and did it more than once. It’s never said that he had his own boat and decided to go downriver, but for this story, I took some creative licensing to adapt his tale as one man and his boat looking for work, rather than him buying passage on a transport or work ship which is what he probably did.
The video also includes extra references to the legends of his life and his poems.
Credits
- Direction and Animation by Matthew Creed
- Artist: The Gentle Good
- Label: Bubblewrap Collective
Animatic
This was essentially a short film and needed planning out.
This was an early animatic (with super rough sketches) that mostly stayed in tact. You’ll notice that it opens with a falling star which was taken out for the final video in favour of a more scenic and gentle start.