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I feel like an element of filmmaking that often goes underappreciated is the music video. Often times they’re a place where up and coming directors can work on refining a visual style and test out new ideas, but established directors frequently step in to create shorts that can tell stories, trip you out, or just be really neat visual feasts. We’ve been seeing directors get more and more playful with this idea recently - despite many decrying the death of the medium as free video hosting sites provide the services MTV once did - with even entire albums by artists like Beyoncé, Frank Ocean, and Tove Lo getting long-form music videos in a resurgence of “visual albums.” There’s gonna be hella YouTube embeds in here, so pray for your tablet. For some more traditional fare, Rian Johnson’s video for “Oh Baby” by LCD Soundsystem tells a complete sci-fi story in a little under six minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gIhrPGyu6U For an appeal to authority, Paul Thomas Anderson has been getting chummy with Radiohead, and directed a video for their 2016 single Daydreaming. The video acts as a kind of visual representation for the ennui that the band has defined themselves with - Yorke has recently separated from his partner of 23 years, and it’s not a coincidence that he walks into 23 rooms he’s apparently not meant to be in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTAU7lLDZYU (If you were into that, PTA is also doing a visual accompaniment to Thom Yorke’s next solo album, “Anima.”) Michel Gondry, though, is probably the king of this thing. Most know him for his work with The White Stripes, where he cloned the band repeatedly for The Hardest Button to Button, or played with Legos for Fell in Love with a Girl. But I’m more fond of the sheer choreography on display in his videos for Sugar Water by Cibo Matto, or Let Forever Be by The Chemical Brothers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN9auBn6Jys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5FyfQDO5g0 So anyways, here’s a general purpose thread for music videos. While the music and the filmmaking are intertwined, I would encourage you to focus on the filmmaking cause, y’know, this is the movie forum, and not just posting whatever video of songs you like. Pirate Jet fucked around with this message at 15:34 on Jun 20, 2019 |
# ? Jun 20, 2019 15:27 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 05:49 |
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I love music videos. I was born right before MTV launched, so I'm squarely in the MTV generation. This riff is so good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N3NC6gx-wg This is the first 4 hours of MTV: https://archive.org/details/GoogleDrive-0B35OiQOkDml9eHFuTVVJMm1Ub3M Must watch.
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# ? Jun 20, 2019 16:11 |
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I was going to share another Gondry, namely Lucas With the Lid Off because I love the appearance of the one-take effort on top of the lighthearted tone, but the video is blocked in the US now! So here's Gondry creating a visual round with Kylie Minogue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63vqob-MljQ Sure, there's tons of little cheats to prevent the different rounds from slamming into each other but I love how much detail and consideration is put into following a woman who walks in circles as the camera slowly pivots to follow her.
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# ? Jun 20, 2019 19:21 |
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Totally forgot to mention my favorite shot in any music video, from Dave Meyers' video for Humble.
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# ? Jun 21, 2019 06:03 |
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how are you gonna talk about PTA, Gondry and Rain Johnson without talking about the true king of the 90s video, Motherfucking Spike Jonze Whether he's showing his love for classic television... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kemivUKb4f4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5rRZdiu1UE Telling a sweet story about music... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmi60Bd4jSs Working with some of the biggest names in hip-hop... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yt849wJyVk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ila-hAUXR5U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoEKWtgJQAU Or the kings of indie rock... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Euj9f3gdyM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwnuRkZqApE Or of course, the iconic pair of Fatboy Slim videos he made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiXg_70rMeM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ7z57qrZU8 edit: fun fact, that Praise You video actually beat out Thriller (and everything else, for that matter) in MTV's 20th anniversary "Best Music Video Ever" rankings. DC Murderverse fucked around with this message at 04:49 on Jun 22, 2019 |
# ? Jun 22, 2019 04:42 |
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Beirut did this music concept video and it's pretty drat awesome. It's done so it looks like one complete take, going from room to room and song to song and has a really peaceful and relaxing vibe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6TCjgeD8Us
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# ? Jul 22, 2019 05:41 |
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I think it's worth talking about the art of music videos more, but before I do that, allow me to show you all the greatest music video of all time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl9KQ1Mub6Q I love explaining this video to people, and just seeing their minds try to comprehend what's going on.
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# ? Jul 24, 2019 04:54 |
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I was reading the interview on the side of Armond White's(?) Letterboxd and I thought it was interesting that he ran a presentation on music videos in a theater for 12 years most of it seems to be gone to time but found a release where he goes a bit into it (& what he sees as the value of music videos) quote:I subtitle it “An Introspective” because this visualized form of pop music, when widely broadcast and enthusiastically sought out by viewers who want to repeat the audio-visual excitement in heavy rotation, provides insight into the private fantasies and pleasures of the pop audience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCvOhGLTiCQ (also in the same interview he says he thinks Fincher peaked with this one) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te6VBiRjhqA &...bonus https://twitter.com/3xchair/status/962409820354727936
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# ? Jul 29, 2019 10:52 |
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Martini Ranch, Bill Paxton's new wave band in the 80s, had two very "cinematic" music videos. Reach is a great example of a music video as a short film with a storyline. It's a modern western directed by James Cameron himself and featuring cameos from Kathryn Bigelow and several of Cameron and Bigelow's staple actors, including most of Paxton's Near Dark co-stars. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1612767 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBKxwLRSLHs The other video, the delightfully titled How Can the Labouring Man Find Time for Self-Culture?, is an homage to German Expressionism directed by prominent photographer and music video director Rocky Schenck. This one also features cameos from some of Paxton's fellow actors. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4977736 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnxOY4soITM
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# ? Aug 12, 2019 00:51 |
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DC Murderverse posted:how are you gonna talk about PTA, Gondry and Rain Johnson without talking about the true king of the 90s video, Motherfucking Spike Jonze I'm glad you brought up Spike Jonze but how are we gonna sleep on his video for The Pharcyde's "Drop" https://youtu.be/wqVsfGQ_1SU Fun fact: the video's being played in reverse and they filmed the whole thing walking backwards
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# ? Aug 12, 2019 02:14 |
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I recently found out that David Lynch directed an initial video for Chris Isaaks "Wicked Game". The song would probably not have gotten as big as it did with this version of the video, but I enjoy it a lot - it highlights how the song in fact is very Lynch-like and easily fits with his sensibilites. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cV0IL2Dtok Capturing the same types of vibes, I think Orville Peck's "Queen of the Rodeo" is very Lynch-inspired, especially in the second part of the video at the 3:00 mark, which seems to directly reference Blue Velvet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VoHzlALxp0
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# ? May 2, 2022 11:47 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 05:49 |
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Eric Wareheim makes incredible music videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq_aSzDhlBU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toG4bHjPLEU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV7VNhzFLOQ There are others but I don't want to spam to hard. I was super surprised to find out he was the director the first time someone told me it was him.
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# ? May 17, 2022 04:38 |