Ninian Doff

Man's Best Friend winds up going where no man has gone before in this fantastical sci-fi video in which a dog gets trained and equipped to operate some high-speed machines to destinations seriously unknown.

It's a bugs life after all.

Director Ninian Doff drops you off in a strange wasteland that's part Wizards Of Oz, part Mad Max and part Terminator for this sometimes shocking new Chemical Brorthers video.

Ninian Doff, director:  "There are only a handful of bands that have a real iconic history with music videos, alongside their musical legacy and Chemical Brothers are definitely way up there on that list. So getting one of their tracks to write on was exciting, as I pretty much grew up obsessing over their videos.

The track is amazing — it keeps surprising you with pretty-out-there sounds and time changes; I think that actually really informed the development of the idea and directing style. The track almost works like a sound design in film, those huge clanging sounds or crazy rising builds progress throughout the track and you can't ignore them so you have to craft the idea to work with those elements. It’s probably the most any track has been visually linked in my work — pretty much every beat or sample directly matches what the camera or actor is doing.

Working with Ross McLennan — the DOP — I tried to approach this as a perfect score to a cinematic scene. The idea is pretty out there and also quite disturbing (well to other people, I don't think so!) but when you’re making a music video for the Chemical Brothers, I had to push my ideas and creativity as far as I possibly could. I had to make something that was unique, but also gripping.

Meet Stevie... a boy possibly engineered to save the world, if he doesn't get destoyed first.

It's OK if it takes you a couple minutes to realize this is genius. And it helps to know the backstory, although figuring it out youself is probably more fun. And the song is called "Figure It Out" after all...

But, if you're the type who loves a spoiler, here ya go:

Director Ninian Doff creates a nifty hidden image trick thanks to a specal blue/red filter placed in front of the lens. Yes, it bathes all the footage in either red or blue, but more importantly: The filter only reveals certain colors. Think of it like old-fashioned red/cyan anaglyph glasses, except instead of creating the illusion of 3D, Doff is revealing hidden messages and images. It's the same gag you've seen in various red reveal tricks you've seen in board games and elsewhere, but transported to video.

Oh, and by the way: You'll notice the video starts with a Parental Advisory warning. So, don't get too distracted by the tricks, otherwise you might forget to miss out on the bloody narrative fun.