Coffee & TV (music video)

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Animate milk carton from Coffee & TV video.

The music video for "Coffee & TV" by Blur was directed by Hammer & Tongs. It first aired in June 1999. It features a milk carton character named Milky made by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. It was also seen in an episode of The Sopranos.

The animate milk carton is one of the most recognizable figures on the internet. ^{[citation needed]} Many believe the carton is realised through computer animation, but this isn't the case. A live actor in the carton costume performed in front of a green screen and the shots were later composed digitally.

1 Synopsis
2 Continuity Error
3 Awards and accomplishments
4 External links

[edit] Synopsis

The video is about a walking, animate milk carton who goes in search for guitarist Graham Coxon, who has gone missing. The milk carton faces many hazards on his journey including a near-miss with a string trimmer. The milk carton gets a break when he is given a ride from a motorcyclist. He is dropped off downtown and asks around for Coxon, but comes up empty. He then goes to lady of the night "Big Suzy" for answers but is scared away when she attempts to pounce on him. He falls in love with a strawberry milk carton (which is female, pink being associated with femininity) but she is crushed to death by a passer-by's foot. The milk carton continues his search down a dark alley and, looking through a window, finds Coxon, who is playing "Coffee & TV" with Blur. The window falls into the room together with the milk carton. Coxon discovers him and takes the bus back home to meet up with his worried family. Once outside the bus, Coxon later drinks from the milk carton - in essence, killing him and dropping him in a garbage can. The milk carton waves goodbye and then goes to heaven where he is reunited with his love, the strawberry milk carton.

[edit] Continuity Error

When the strawberry milk carton is crushed, the camera shows a foot stepping onto the camera then cuts to the foot stepping off the crushed carton and continuing walking. The foot that is seen coming down onto the camera is not the foot seen standing on the carton in the next shot.

[edit] Awards and accomplishments

The video won several awards in 1999 and 2000 including Best Video at the NME Awards and the MTV Europe Awards. In 2005, it was voted the 17th greatest music video of all time in a poll by Channel 4. IN 2006 Stylus Magazine ranked it #32 in their list of the Top 100 Music Videos Of All Time.