Filmmaker inserts himself into stock photos for this hilarious music video

I’ve been a big fan of Joe Penna (aka MysteryGuitarMan) on YouTube ever since I saw his stop motion rendition of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro about 7 years ago. With over 2.8 million subscribers, he doesn’t post as often these days as he once did, but when he does, you know it’s going to be entertaining. His latest video is no exception.

In the video, Joe inserts himself into a number of stock photos while he mimes along to the song Believer by Paper Lions. We’ve seen this done before with stills, but this is the first time I’ve seen anybody do it with video. As well as being well made, it’s as entertaining as we’ve come to expect from MysteryGuitarMan.

Matching the lighting for each shot, then cutting out and compositing video onto stills isn’t usually that easy. Colour, tone, contrast, all have to be spot on for it to be believable. There’s a couple of shots that are rather obvious, but overall, it works really well. You might even spot one or two images that you recognise.

I always find it fun to see what people do differently with stock imagery. Whatever takes it beyond the boring illustrative uses they’re typically destined for.

What other fun, creative or amusing uses have you seen for stock photography? Let us know in the comments.