The Valley of the Pagans

The Valley of the Pagans is a song created by the virtual band Gorillaz in collaboration with Beck for the 2020 album, Song Machine: Season One - Strange Timez. The music video for the song was released on November 5, 2020 and was filmed almost entirely in Grand Theft Auto V using Director Mode.^[1] The music video on the band's YouTube page was set to private four days after it premiered.

Synopsis[]

The Gorillaz: Noodle (driver), Russel (front passenger), 2-D and Murdoc (back seat), are in the band's 1969 Chevrolet Camaro which has been renamed from STYLO to PAGAN. They are sucked backwards into an inter-dimensional portal that teleports them to Los Santos where the car is transformed into a Vigero with a license plate (and a modified front grille badge only visible in close-ups) reading PAGAN. They appear directly outside the Clinton Residence, where they reverse into a Patriot, before the video cuts away to scenic views of the Vinewood Sign, Pleasure Pier, Galileo Observatory, Interstate 2 and Legion Square. The band then take off with a 1 star wanted level. 2-D has Beck, Elton, Fatou, Moonchild, and Slowthai on his iFruit contacts list and calls Beck who is rendered in live action on the phone display.

There is no contiguous journey tracked as the band jump from location to location in each scene, although time of day (visible on the phone) and the wanted level overlay are somewhat continuous between each shot. The time on the phone is frozen at several intervals rather than progressing in the GTA Timescale. The wanted level is the only part of the HUD shown throughout the video.

Wanted Level	Timestamp	In-Game Time	Location	Direction
1	0:23		Forum Drive, Chamberlain Hills	Northbound
	0:44	09:19	Macdonald Street, Davis	Eastbound
	0:47		San Andreas Avenue, Pillbox Hill	Eastbound
	0:51	09:19	Strawberry Avenue, Chamberlain Hills	Southbound
	0:54		Davis Avenue, LSIA	Southbound
	0:55		Calais Avenue, Little Seoul	Northbound
2	0:58	09:19	Calais Avenue, Little Seoul	Northbound
	1:04	09:19	Greenwich Parkway to Dutch London Street, Puerto Del Sol	Northbound
	1:05		San Andreas Avenue, Little Seoul to Pillbox Hill	Eastbound
	1:09		Back to Davis Avenue into New Empire Way, LSIA	Southbound
	1:11		Back to Greenwich Parkway, Puerto Del Sol	Northbound
	1:16		Back to San Andreas Avenue, Pillbox Hill	Eastbound
3	1:21	13:00	Elgin Avenue, Pillbox Hill	Southbound
	1:27	13:00	Innocence Boulevard, Strawberry	Eastbound
	1:29	13:00	Back to Elgin Avenue, Pillbox Hill	Southbound
	1:32	13:00	Back to Innocence Boulevard, Rancho	Eastbound
	1:37	13:00	Back to Greenwich Parkway, Puerto Del Sol	Northbound
	1:39	13:00	Adam's Apple Boulevard, Mission Row	Eastbound
	1:44	13:00	Back to Innocence Boulevard, Cypress Flats	Eastbound
	1:45	13:00	Little Bighorn Avenue, Textile City	Northbound
	1:46	13:00	Back to Innocence Boulevard, Cypress Flats	Eastbound
4	1:50	13:00	Innocence Boulevard (jumping/crashing), Cypress Flats	Eastbound
	1:53	19:45	Vespucci Beach Sidewalk, Vespucci Beach	Westbound
	2:05	20:00	San Andreas Avenue, La Mesa	Westbound
	2:11	21:20	Davis Avenue, Chamberlain Hills	Northbound
	2:13	21:20	First Police Cruiser (plate 49BUH368) New Empire Way, LSIA	Southbound
	2:16	21:20	Back to San Andreas Avenue, Textile City	Westbound
	2:20	21:20	Crashing into a Police Cruiser Corner San Andreas Avenue/Elgin Avenue, Pillbox Hill	Westbound
5	2:24	04:20	Elgin Avenue, Pillbox Hill	Northbound
	2:25	04:20	El Rancho Boulevard, El Burro Heights	Northbound
	2:30		Police Cruiser Del Perro Freeway, Downtown	Westbound
	2:31		Back to San Andreas Avenue, Little Seoul	Westbound
	2:34		Back to El Rancho Boulevard, El Burro Heights	Northbound
	2:40		Back to San Andreas Avenue, Pillbox Hill	Westbound
	2:41		Davis Avenue, Davis	Northbound
	2:43		Los Santos Freeway, Downtown	Southbound
	2:45		LS Storm Drain - southern section, Davis	Eastbound
	2:48		Strawberry Avenue, Mission Hill	Southbound
	2:52		Back to LS Storm Drain - southern section, Davis	Eastbound
	2:53		Back to Strawberry Avenue, Mission Hill	Southbound
	2:58		Calais Avenue, Little Seoul	Northbound
	2:58		Back to Strawberry Avenue, Strawberry	Southbound
	3:00		Back to LS Storm Drain - southern section, Davis	Eastbound
	3:04		Innocence Boulevard, Strawberry	Westbound
	3:08		Back to LS Storm Drain - southern section, Banning	Eastbound
	3:09		Exceptionalists Way to Greenwich Parkway, LSIA	Northbound Westbound
	3:12		Carson Avenue, Davis	Eastbound
	3:18		Hits a road work barrel and flips in the air Near the intersection of Carson Avenue and Jamestown Street, Rancho	Eastwards

The video ends with the band flying through another portal that sends their car crashing into the ocean in front of their old studio.

Video[]

Credits[]

Director: Jamie Hewlett
Co-Directors: Tim McCourt & Max Taylor
Producer: Eva Dahlqvist
Production Managers: Lisa A. Smith, Samia Ahmed
Production Assistant: Laurence Moss
Animation Supervisor/Lead Animator: Venla Linna
Animation: Simone Cirillo
Clean Up Artists: Paola Costigliola, Kay Sales, Simone Cirillo, Venla Linna, Daniel Morales Ramirez
Compositing: Freddie Lewis-Walls, Bernardo Varela, Elliott Kajdan
Compositing Assist: Skye van der Walt
Matte Paint: Yann Benedi
Production Company: The Line
Gorillaz are managed by Eleven Management

Trivia[]

Despite gaining a 5-Star Wanted Level, the band is only pursued by one Police Cruiser.
2-D's iFruit is gradually damaged over course of the video.
This is the band's third song to directly reference Los Angeles either as a subject matter or as a music video location (the others being Humility and Hollywood).
The panning shots of Vespucci Beach are an homage to the Humility music video which was set in the beach's real-world equivalent.
The video ends with the band crashing their car into the ocean similar to the way they drove their Camaro into the ocean at the end of the Stylo music video.
There was speculation at the time that the video may had been removed due to possibly showing a spoiler for an upcoming Grand Theft Auto Online update.^[2] However, this was simply misinformation caused by Grand Theft Auto fans mistaking Plastic Beach for the then-rumored island of Cayo Perico, which was later added to the game on 15 December 2020 as part of the Cayo Perico Heist update.^[3]

External Links[]

Gorillaz wiki

References[]

↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez4Lwt5-ZM0
↑ Breslin, Richard (19 November 2020). GORILLAZ GTA MUSIC VIDEO REPORTEDLY REMOVED DUE TO GAME SPOILER. Retrieved on 24 November 2020.
↑ GTA 5 Online Island Expansion For The BIGGEST DLC Update EVER Teased In A NEW Gorillaz Music Video?.

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[1] ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez4Lwt5-ZM0

[2] Breslin, Richard (19 November 2020). GORILLAZ GTA MUSIC VIDEO REPORTEDLY REMOVED DUE TO GAME SPOILER. Retrieved on 24 November 2020.

[3] GTA 5 Online Island Expansion For The BIGGEST DLC Update EVER Teased In A NEW Gorillaz Music Video?.

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