Mister Heavenly - Bronx Sniper

What this video is

Released in November 2011 on Sub Pop Records, 'Bronx Sniper' sits at the intersection of indie rock supergroup culture and the early-2010s music video renaissance driven by YouTube distribution. Mister Heavenly — formed from members of Islands, Man Man, and Modest Mouse — self-described their genre as 'doom wop,' blending 1950s doo-wop harmonics with dark, urban subject matter. The video's stop-motion toy gang…

Why it matters

A key artifact of the 2011 indie supergroup moment, the video exemplifies the 'doom wop' subgenre's visual language: warm, tungsten-lit surrealism married to urban narrative violence. Its stop-motion/live-action hybrid technique positions it within a lineage of craft-intensive, low-budget…

The director

Corey Adams is a Vancouver-based film and commercial director known for the skateboard fantasy feature Machotaildrop (2009, co-directed with Alex Craig), music videos for Death From Above and Jacuzzi Boys, and stop-motion commercial work for major brands.…