The World’s Gone Nutz: A concept by Daniel Robert Cohn
Full disclosure: You’re about to read an article about a concept created by a filmmaker during a pandemic. And that concept involves squirrels. Lots of them.
It feels like a good advice considering Daniel Robert Cohn didn’t just shoot a couple of squirrels in his backyard and put them in VFX shots. The filmmaker has created a whole world out of a moment. A concept that’s useful if you just know what to do with it. Creativity is a must, and if you check out what the filmmaker did, you will understand that anything you read here is an understatement.
Yes, it’s that good.
First, a little bit of digging. When Cohn was locked in his home in 2020, he decided to do something about it (yeah, we all did, but went different ways). Looking for inspiration, he stepped outside and took a look. He decided on squirrels. What the filmmaker did was shoot a lot of footage including the squirrels, in every position possible. He even recognized when they were not the same (he cast them!), and gave them names.
Using this footage, he made a music video on the world going nuts. Literally. I believe you have to see for yourself.
All I had were questions at first. Then I just had tears in my eyes. I couldn’t stop laughing at everything that was included in the video for The World’s Gone Nuts by SMB (‘Squirrel me bad’ is the name of the band). When it ended, I was just smiling.
Sometimes that’s simply necessary. To let go of news raiding your home all the time. To lock your phone and extricate yourself from the web that is social media. Always biased, always making you think about something in particular.
Daniel Robert Cohn has winked at us with a portrayal of social irreverence that’s surely to be degraded by most only because it doesn’t seem as serious. This doesn’t mean it’s not a smart take script wise. Every single frame and scene of the music video, and the other videos included on the site, is shrouded in Cohn’s twist of using squirrels. From pop culture to politics. He’s made sure he included everything (the presidential debate is fantastic).
Some behind the scenes photos could help increase the interest in what you’re watching, because they show the effort by a filmmaker whose patience must have been great when making the videos. But it’s definitely not the only thing I would salvage from a product like this. There has to be more to the story. If only Disney wouldn’t mess with this man if he develops his version of Avengers, cleverly reassembled as Scavengers. Come on, that’s genius!
Needless to say, I don’t believe squirrels were hurt, manipulated or coerced in any way during the creation of Cohn’s world. However, I can’t guarantee you won’t want to spit at Cohn’s version of the ex president. Yes, even in the squirrel version he’s objectionable.
