Andy_Alderslade Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 This is something i've been having a little thought about lately and as most people here have worked on music videos yet we rarely praise or critic them in discussions I thought it would be cool to have a thread where we can post some of our favourites, those of which personally stand out as being a little more special than the rest. So here are two of my votes, neither are very slick but I find them both charming and fun. Unfortunately I don't know the production details for either of these videos. Kiss Me - Sixpence None the Richer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tim Partridge Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 I personally believe music videos peaked about twenty years ago with Propaganda Films, but that's another thread... One of my all time favourites is this one, apparently shot on super8 in Switzerland by renowned photographer Anton Corbijn. It goes from looking like a bad home movie to eye popping within four and a half minutes: Here are some outtakes from the same video, that don't represent it as being a very efficient film shoot!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbFiZwpr1uM As far as animation goes, while everyone always goes on about Take On Me by Aha, check out the work Cucumber studios were doing between 1979-1984: (Elvis Costello - Accidents Will Happen, 1979) (Tom Tom Club Genius Of Love 1981) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb_fnRcmZK0...feature=related Both directed by Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel (who also directed the original Max Headroom film which is long overdue a DVD release)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_Alderslade Posted March 15, 2009 Author Share Posted March 15, 2009 I personally believe music videos peaked about twenty years ago with Propaganda Films, but that's another thread... You're probably right, music videos are so slick now its very hard to really to see them as anything but cold commercial exercises in style - slow-motion and anamorphic flares appear to be the current obsession. Enjoy the Silence is quite charming compared with what's typical today. I find Take On Me a real joy to watch still, but I always was a Steve Barron fan, especially The Storyteller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tim Partridge Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 I find Take On Me a real joy to watch still, but I always was a Steve Barron fan, especially The Storyteller. I'm more of a Sun Always Shines On TV kind of guy. You can't beat those handheld wide lens shots (DP was believe it or not Oliver Stapleton, btw). Barron also did a really good black and white apocalypse video for Heaven 17's Let Me Go. I'll say a little bit about Propaganda Films now because it might be the last chance we can have an educational discussion, given all of the WB records and Youtube/PRS controversy recently (and in both cases everyone loses, in my opinion). Before Propaganda, most music videos came off looking like wild, uncontrolled experiments with varying production values (unless you got to shoot Thriller). When Propaganda came along, all of sudden the music videos made by them consistently looked equal to (and often superior to) the slickest Hollywood features of the day with the highest production values. They were in an untouched league of their own. I could waffle on in depth about Propaganda but I think this speaks louder than any writing can: A JANET JACKSON "CONTROL" ALBUM VIDEO BEFORE PROPAGANDA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z0h_c9eH-8...feature=related A JANET JACKSON "CONTROL" ALBUM VIDEO BY PROPAGANDA Notice how the first video looks like something from a low rent kids television show while the second (directed by Dominic Sena) looks like Tony Scott and Adrian Lyne on ten million dollars. I still have no idea how the Propaganda directors managed to bolt through so many set ups on their shoots and yet still make every single frame look like showreel cream. I found this behind the scenes video of the Kylie promo What Do I have to Do by Propaganda (1991, directed by David Hogan, DP Simon Archer): TWO Eighteen hour days!! Every shot in the final video again just looks like the kind of material you'd bolt to the front of your showreel. David Fincher did lots of great vids at Propaganda, his best being for Paula Abdul, Madonna and Jody Watley. Unfortunately most of them have been removed because of the youtube/PRS and WB nonsense but I found this one, which is rather textbook: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yA5dHyNqak Contrasty art direction, smoke, long lenses wide open, extreme wide angles, diffused low fill, sexy choreography - that tapdancing break at 2.45 is the kind of creativity now unheard of in the medium. Yes, it could be argued that alot of Propaganda was stylistic excess for disposable pop stars but in my opinion the late 80s to early 90s era of that organisation created some of the finest mise en scene direction seen since the 1970s. Shame that only Fincher really made the leap from promos to features. I'd love to have a coffee table book ala the Storaro books about Propaganda Films. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_Alderslade Posted March 18, 2009 Author Share Posted March 18, 2009 I'm more of a Sun Always Shines On TV kind of guy. You can't beat those handheld wide lens shots (DP was believe it or not Oliver Stapleton, btw). I'm assuming your talking about the original A-Ha version (which i've never been able to find) rather than that modern ibiza styled dance version!? Good old handheld on wide lenses - don't see that a lot now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tim Partridge Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 I'm assuming your talking about the original A-Ha version (which i've never been able to find) rather than that modern ibiza styled dance version!? Good old handheld on wide lenses - don't see that a lot now! There's a cheese Ibizia version? Oh dear. :( The one I am refering to is indeed the original, directed by Steve Barron, which starts off black and white (after the nod to Take One Me) and then turns into a pastel, roto-coloured conclusion. I think the crane across the smokey backlit church full of mannequins on that, with shafts of light between the pillars, is simply awe-inspiring. Barron/Stapleton were so successful with the wide angle lenses on SUN because, if you actually dissect the shots, you'll see they never uses wide angle lenses when shooting the leading men in close up. Instead they uses telephoto portraits, but the real art is having those cut so well with the wide angle shots. Wide angles are used for the mannequin close ups though, which makes for a very dramatic (albeit subconcious) contrast. It's all very very clever stuff, in my opinion. I bet Barron's training as a 2nd AC in the late 1970s didn't hurt when realising these shoots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georg lamshöft Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 "Enjoy the Silence is quite charming compared with what's typical today." Really? Let's stay with Depeche Mode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bsXOcK9_Cw Ok, not exactly "charming" :lol: Patrick Daughters also made this fantastic one-shot-video for Feist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvOOegxKIoI And of course these two: and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8Z-DIAthbM...feature=related Wow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1wnOUH2jk8 Cool but more F/X: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgt_WDjbO0o Of course it must have become extremely hard te get a decent budget for more ambitous ideas, but even 20 years ago the mass-market was not really art, either... It's a shame that we have to watch these on tiny youtube-videos, because MusicTeleVision doesn't show music on television... :blink: It's worth looking for new stuff once in a while: http://cliptip.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Lowe Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 Evanescence - "My Immortal" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idd_92ajjwY beautiful b&w photography in barcelona. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Francis Kuhn Posted March 21, 2009 Premium Member Share Posted March 21, 2009 I've been looking at this one trying to figure out what's going on, how it was shot. My guess it was photographed with a high resolution video camera or a still camera and the frame is cropped during the edit to produce the zooms and pans seen in some of the shots. Looks like somebody got a LensBaby for Christmas, too. I like it a lot. Good song, too. Kind of like Grace Slick fronting T Rex. The Duke Spirit, The Step And The Walk: http://www.mtv.com/videos/duke-spirit/2164...#artist=1919906 -Fran Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Serr Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 DJ Shadow's "Six Days". It's directed by Wong Kar-Wai and Chris Doyle does the cinematography. It's amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Jensen Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 I still have no idea how the Propaganda directors managed to bolt through so many set ups on their shoots and yet still make every single frame look like showreel cream. Cocaine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirsty Stark Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 I think this one is gorgeous: Her Morning Elegance (Oren Lavie) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vedran Rapo Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 (edited) What about this one? It is still, one of my favorites , directed by Jonas Akerlund. I really like this one too, it is really nothing special, just one band playing their song, but it has some spooky atmosphere. directed by David Fincher, DP was Allen Daviau. Very nice cinematography i have to say. Directed by Paul Hunter I am a big fan of Michel Gondry. There is an interesting DVD with Gondry's interviews about making some great music videos. and even more interesting making of --> This is great video done with MILO. Still talking about Gondry And a making of Ill think of few more i believe... this is what is now on my mind :) Hope you will enjoy :) Edited April 14, 2009 by Vedran Rapo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest will griffith Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 Aerosmith's "Ragdoll" is without a doubt the finest music video ever made.... ...well at least the finest one made in my small home town. :) Aerosmith - "Ragdoll" There are some shots from New Orleans as well, but it's nice to know that a street I drive on and our small civic center was given such magnificent cinematic treatment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhys Cooper Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 I loved My Immortal and Her Morning Elegance. This is a fan video of "I Kissed A Girl" by Katy Perry, I thought it was far better then the original. on Sesame Street, very cute. Sober from Pink Most Girls from Pink, a fairly powerful video, very cool. Excuse Me Mr from No Doubt, I love insane stuff. , it has awesome costuming and coloring. I love the club style. My all time favourite clip -- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elisabeth Nagy Posted May 2, 2009 Share Posted May 2, 2009 Haven´t watched the Six Days videoclip for a while. Wanted to revisit it. Geez, I am so tired of getting the "This video is not available in your country."-message. Same happens with the Pink video, Evanescence and Kylie Minogue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ram Shani Posted May 2, 2009 Share Posted May 2, 2009 i just love the new music video from depeche mode-wrong http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bsXOcK9_Cw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Roger Adams Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 Since we're talking about Fincher...i'll throw in his video for Who Is It by Michael Jackson. Which is a beyond slick video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjvoVpOrlbM I'll also throw in Diamonds by Kanye West. Director: Hype Williams. Anamorphic black and white is a rarity these days. Though I find the jet-black eyes of the children unsettiling. An exceedingly gorgeous video (shot in Prague) with a good message. Its the only music video i have on my iPod. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgqd80026xU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Whelan Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 "Enjoy the Silence is quite charming compared with what's typical today." Really? Let's stay with Depeche Mode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bsXOcK9_Cw Ok, not exactly "charming" :lol: Patrick Daughters also made this fantastic one-shot-video for Feist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvOOegxKIoI And of course these two: and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8Z-DIAthbM...feature=related Wow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1wnOUH2jk8 Cool but more F/X: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgt_WDjbO0o Of course it must have become extremely hard te get a decent budget for more ambitous ideas, but even 20 years ago the mass-market was not really art, either... It's a shame that we have to watch these on tiny youtube-videos, because MusicTeleVision doesn't show music on television... :blink: It's worth looking for new stuff once in a while: http://cliptip.blogspot.com/ Thanks for the education.........the bat for lashes video was excellent I love all the works of chris cunningham and think that he is one of the few that are taking the artform of music videos forward & i think are his best works to date..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A. Whitehouse Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Id just like to throw in one of my favorite hip hop videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czi5jC-bDx0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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