Caught a Ghost – Human Nature
2014 · Directed by Daniels (original Dogboarding footage)
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Best comments
1.“I came here for the music, but the video amazed me... so funny!”
More comments
- 2.“That dog has some amazing board skills.”
The story
Two things that were never meant to meet. The song is Human Nature, title track of Caught a Ghost's 2014 debut album. The Los Angeles band started as a project of singer, songwriter and producer Jesse Nolan and his kindergarten classmate Stephen Edelstein, and for a stretch the lineup included actress Tessa Thompson. Nolan pitched the song as a kind of postmodern parody of a modern pop hit: cynical words riding a light, catchy hook, over funk guitar, '80s synths and old-school soul.
The pictures come from somewhere else entirely. A YouTube uploader cut the song to footage from Dogboarding, a 2011 short by DANIELS – Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. Skateboarders grab their dogs, hop on and ride them like boards. No dogs were harmed. It's editing and effects, with stuffed animals strapped to real skateboards for the riding shots. The uploader calls it an amateur edit right in the description.
DANIELS made Dogboarding during a dry spell with no paid work, and it blew up online. It caught the eye of their future producer and led to official Foster the People videos, then Turn Down for What, then a decade later Everything Everywhere All at Once and Oscars for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture. All of it traces back, more or less, to people surfing on their pets.
