Music Videos That I Like So Far.

1. "Her Morning Elegance"

Still the best of the best of the year.

2. "King Rat"
Dir. Heath Ledger

This video really comes across as scary, violent and that was the point. The music video is a protest against illegal Whaling that happens off the coast of Australia.


3. "Life in Technicolor ii"

Genius

4. "Welcome To Heartbreak"

I still have no idea how they could have done this. The glitch look still confuses me to this day, and it makes the video look broken. Which is the point, Kanye is trying to pull himself together through out this album but this is the song that starts the heartbreak. The video looks like there is something wrong with it, and that feeling applies to Kanye. Him and his Cosby sweater.

5. "The Reeling"

Passion Pit's "The Reeling" is really nothing unusual. The song sounds like a cursing song for white twenty-somethings. The kid chorus, the three synthesizer keyboards, the falsetto voice, all scream indie-pop that should really only be appealing on a subconscious level, you shouldn't really focus on the lyrics or the instrumentality but how the song makes you feel, e.t.c.

The video knows this. The video is pretty much about a party, and some young kinds going to it along the while there's a paper motif as to say that this song is somewhat see through. And so is the video.

The video is aware of what the song is, and brings us nothing else than what the song is trying to do. This song is fun, the video is. Cept the video adds the layering paper editing technique to blow people out of the water, cause they aren't expecting such work to really go into a piece this shallow, and to this day I still don't know how to do this.

Conclusion: This video knows what it is, so it gives us the song, the feeling of the song, along with something extra for us to gawk at. And for that I applaud that the bells and whistles are some of the best ones I've seen in a while.

6. "Let The Beat Build"

Nyle is somewhat new. He's in college, he makes an EP or two sometimes when he's not busy with school, his stuff is okay, it's like a lot of indie rap artists but mixed with the playfulness Busta Rhymes had back in the 1990's.

So, with the talent this kid already posses - which, don't get me wrong, is great for his age - a long with the talent of the director make this video that is all done in one take, it was mixed in the studio, during this one take...

Fucking astounding.
These are college kids too.
Probably in their really early twenties.

Damn...

7. "Treat Me Like Your Mother"

Okay, now this video is just badass.

8. "Strawberry Swing"

I know two Coldplay songs in one list. Well, they're both really good. And they even made an iPod Touch/iPhone app about the music video so there's that as well. The chalk congers up ideas of elementary school playtime merriment which works with the feel good/romantic vibe of the song. Plus to add a cherry on top to this, the design for the video is spectacular and think about all of the hours that went into this video. I think it would have taken months.

9. Day 'n' Nite (Crookers Remix) (Versions 1 & 2)

I feel that these two videos really need each other. The first one is the earlier one, and lets face it, it's shallow music video and the only great thing about it is the editing as well as the party vibes you get from it.
The second one has the editing as well but in a different way, the film is layered upon another take of the scene and it makes the view seem like we're experiencing something that we've already seen before (which works out of context with the music video narrative and in context with the narrative) and it's just a fucking cool video. Whatever. I hate you.

10. "Two Weeks" (Fan Version)

This guy must be a big fan of Grizzly Bear cause this is straight up devotion.

Worth mentioning:
1. "Run This Town"
2. "Make Her Say"

Fantasy

When I think I was about 15 or 16, I had this on and off thing with this girl named Lyndsey. To this day she is the hottest girl I have ever met. Like there is no comparison. She is my Charlie from High Fidelity. I put her on a pedestal after she dumped me or I dumped her.

There was one day where she asked me to come back to her house.
She told me her parents weren't home.
She wanted to make out and have sex.

I was sheltered and nervous. We were less than 3 blocks from her house and I chickened out.

I walked home.

I often think about what it would have been like if we had sex and think of it as a life changing experience.

We lost touch. The last thing she said to me is a promise that we'll hang out soon and the last thing I said to her was that I'll give her back the stuffed animal she gave me.

I wonder if she thinks about me.
I don't think she does.

I wanna make a film that starts with a character like me who chickens out and leaves this girl. He walks home and writes what he thinks would have happened. His narration is over the entire film.

But in the end this is just a fantasy.
He's at his computer looking at pictures of her and as he closes his laptop he turns away.

Maybe I should make this about a girl.

I kind of already did the "this is my story" kind of thing. I think it's time I did a story about a girl.

I'll get Mariah in on this.
Maybe.
OOH! LISA would be great at this.

Next Big Thing

Kerri Hilson is gonna be really big in a couple days. Just watch.

Maybe this will be big, a music video that treats rockstars like a customizable quantity. Everything today seems to be like this now a days. I think this would work really well with bands like Beck, The Arcade Fire...

Two Winners

I have two good film i.d.e.a.s. (I gotta find out what those could mean)

1. A feature film about a grown man who still has a imaginary friend. He never outgrew it and the realistic tole it takes on a grown mans life. Once its gone he feels something is missing and he can't get it back.
(I know we've seen a lot of these films recently so this idea isn't a winner per se but it's not that bad)

2. A documentary about how parents meet. They can be done in different ways. I plan of making a short animated film about how they met (only guessing), running the story by them, and then seeing how they met, like if I was close or not. But not just stopping at my family. Like, a two hour documentary about all the cute stories and such. I think people would pay to see that.

Sweet Music Video

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=53014424

Sick!

Like Me Trying To Create "Art"

A story about living in someone else's shadow is pretty good.

Almost Love

Film starts w/ narration over slug.

Main character talks about this girl who he wants. He describes her with a sense of poetry. However, he is talking to another man, so while his speech may be poetic to him, it is in fact just him listing off physical attributes of this girl that he likes.

Cindy.

He likes a girl name Cindy.

Picture starts with Rodger holding a cardboard cut out sign. The sign reads, "I Need A Friend." He stands on the street corner like a prostitute soliciting passer bys. However, Rodger, just stands and looks strangely optimistic. Occasionally people stop by and stare at Rodger and question his intentions but most of them just leave it at that.

time passes and suddenly a girl to be later known as Cindy appears next to him. She stands next to him as if she too was soliciting friendship. A smile appears on Rodger's face.

They introduce one another and she's excited and curious to meet a person like this. Cindy see's Rodger as something cute and pathetic. Like A wounded puppy or a kitten that has a bandage on his forehead.

Rodger and Cindy spend the afternoon together and when it hits dark, Cindy informs Rodger that she has classes at night. He gives some excuse as well and they part ways. As soon as Rodger turns a corner he whips out his cellphone. He calls Dan.

"She totally fell for it."
"You're horrible, Ian."

Cut to Ian (a.k.a. Rodger) in class with Cindy. They sit far apart and only Ian acknowledges Cindy. Cindy doesn't even look in his general direction.

We learn from conversations brought to us by Dan and Ian that Ian would love nothing more than to boff (sleep with) Cindy. Apparently he's tried to win her heart before but as different personas. Dan asks why he doesn't just talk to her like he would anyone. Dan says that he's a great guy and that any girl would be lucky to have him. Ian stops him mid-sentence.

I just don't have any faith in that idea and let me tell you why.
*pause*
I dress up in different people's in order to get into girls va-jay-jays. Why would they like this person, when I, myself, can not stand what I do.

Ugh I want her so bad. You know like how you wanted an toy during Christmas, and you'd be willing to do anything for it? I feel that, all over again.

Dan introduces Ian to the middle man, Kathy. Kathy is very much a blabermouth and tells Ian about the kind of guys that Cindy goes for. Pathetic guys. He hatches this plan.

Somewhere along there Cindy finds out what he's done and plays along with it but only so she can do some emotional damage to him in the end.

In the end we have Ian (a.k.a. Rodger) outsider her place, broken and looking at error of his ways.

Ian talks to

Favorite 2009 Music Video's...so far

Obviously their are not a lot of them right now but still a good amount.

I think I'm gonna do this for every month.

1. I'm On A Boat
by The Lonely Island

Dir. Robert Smyth

I can say without a doubt that I've watched this music video the most out of any of the other music videos displayed here. This video, is not only humorous, but so very professional and when you actually see them on the boat, you say, DAMN! I WISH I WAS ON A BOAT!

2. Spaceman
by The Killers

Dir. Ray Tintori

Oh, The Killers. You try so hard. Trying to recapture your lost fame that you once clenched to your 1970's/1980's rock music breast after the debut of your first album. However, after the unfortunate puddle of mess that is Sam's Town (I exaggerate) your fanbase looked at you with new eyes and left. Now you're back with your 3rd album that has received no press at all and you now have even less fan base then you did before cause you went back to your 1970's/80's synth rock sound and the Maroon 5 guy looks so much like you that it's just kind of hard to really come back to you, but anyway.

I do like The Killer's music videos however. Not "human" though. That's just boring and Shadowplay is more of a plug for the movie Control than it is anything else. But Mr. Brightside, When You Were Young, and Somebody Told Me are all winners to their own degree but here we are again, with Spaceman. Lead Singer Brandon Flowers is here again, in a weird outfit, walking around this strange structure and the music video was like, okay, fine, we'll just endorse the spectacle aspect of this. So it does. And because of that it's pretty damn cool.

3. Life In Technicolor ii
by Colplay

Hilarious. Puppets. Creative. Innovative. I couldn't ask for anything more.

4. February Air
by Lights

Now, to be honest. If it wasn't for the art direction on this music video I would see this as pretty lame. But the adorable direction makes this video hard to hate and easy to love.

5. Her Morning Elegance
by Oren Lavie

Dir. Oren Lavie, Yuval & Merav Nathan

I already commented on this.

Accidentally hilarious

So, the new Jamie Foxx video is pretty hilarious despite it having RON HOWARD IN IT?!

YES!

FROM HAPPY DAYS!

And let us not forget Bruce Springstein's "The Wrestler" god that music video is so full of sad images that it just ends up being hilarious.

Framing Hanley (what a horrible name)'s "Lollipop" cover is hilarious but when you add the video that has 2mins of NOTHING HAPPENING! And it just becomes retarded. Not to mention the southern accents that I thought didn't exist anymore. OH, AND the horrible acting...man...this is a terrific bad video.

Taking a bite out of war.

Soldiers come back to their respective countries only to see that the zomb-pocolyspe has taken suit.

Born Leaders

Pt. 1 Charles Manson

Pt. 2 Jim Jones

Pt. 3 Shoko Asahara

Just In Times For Valentines Day

Self-Aware Screenplay Character Movie

The writer, Aaron, must write a screenplay in order to pass his class. The teacher tells him that what he's done before isn't really impressive and frankly, Aaron needs to do something amazing in order to pass this class. The class is made out of children and when he says this they all laugh and point at him. He writes it about a girl in order to stretch himself as a writer.
There is a friend, Kevin who he keeps telling talking to about the writing process. They are in the same class. Kevin is a much better student. Kevin is much more knowledgeable about screen writing and helps Aaron out whenever he can but he's a little bit pompous than the av-er-age person. Something that Aaron has grown to resent and ignore at times.

Kevin will play our sense of reason. Anytime Aaron does anything great he chimes in a tells him to keep it up. When he doesn't Kevin tells him so but with a sense of self-righteousness.

So this protagonist Aaron creates a female protagonist, Abbie.

Kevin chimes in and says that every great screenplay needs a great protagonist. Tell's Aaron that Satoshi Kon doesn't even start writing a screenplay unless he has a cast of great characters.

When Aaron is writing for her he's just describing her and setting up her character. He describers her very poetically, and beautifully. However, wherever she goes, she has to repeat things and sometimes settings change, this demonstrates that he's writing on the fly. Kevin asks, when you give this to the director students where are they gonna film these scenes. Aaron says that he thought places around school would be great.

Abbie is now self aware what she is and where she can find Aaron. She randomly shows up at his door to his surprise.

I have in my mind a scene where he opens his door and she's waiting for him. She asks to come in and he says, "I can't I'm working." She replies, "I know."
And he gives a confused look.
She explains who she is and how he made her and she says that she wants to be the best character ever. No other movie character has ever really gotten this chance before and she's going to take advantage of it.

Aaron calls Kevin immediately and explains what just took place. Kevin says that all great screen writers have gone through this and this shows that he's really connected the script. He's very happy for him. He then exclaims that this has happened to himself many times. During this talk amongst colleagues Aaron explains how amazing this feels. He's created a life that is self aware. Also the fact that she is so inspiring is very attractive to him. It's now insinuated that he's fallen in love with his own creation. He makes more characteristics for her that flush out her personality including situations that she must live though. All of this is demonstrated in the form of a montage.

He tries to put her at a party and he writes that it's very crowded to show that she's the life of the party no matter how awkward the party might be. (Note: Everyone else it holding clear cups and she's holding a red cup.) At this party she generates someone who she's attracted to. (The camera quick pans to him and he's also holding a red plastic cup)

He deletes the character. And realizes that he didn't write that. He writes the scene he wants it to be but Abbie shows up at his door to talk to him. This time he welcomes her inside but she doesn't really feel like coming in. She's still excited to be in his script but she feels like he's going in a different direction. She wants this to be a romance or at least a romantic comedy. He explains that he doesn't have a concrete direction he wants the film to go in but he has several ideas. He tell's her about this dart board he's made that has a bunch of directions of where the film can go but all of this is a lie. He just wants to make this a film about her and him. He takes her romance idea however.

He starts writing again. He puts a character very similar to himself into the film. She realizes what he's doing and she blows him off. He tries again, with the same idea, and it doesn't work.

He then makes her fall in love with the actual screenwriter.
She's hypnotized into doing this and his heart just isn't in it. Kevin chimes in and talks about these stories where things don't really work out. How every time he manipulated a girl he felt horrible afterward. Every time he looks at her he's tortured by the fact that he's forced her into this.

She snaps her out of this. She becomes her old self and she knows what he's done. She leaves.

Now he can't write.
He thinks that Abbie was his best character and nothing he'll be able to do will be able to top her. He's lost the passion he got from his muse to write. He turns something into his teacher (how about people that never meet but they're in love with one another) and he says it's worse thing that he's ever written. He's going to have to repeat the class.

One night Abbie shows up with a script in her hands. One that she wrote. About a friend who bet away all of her friends earnings for him, this completely destroys her trust. She doesn't know how to end it and she suggests a collaboration. He sits down with her and apologizes. She doesn't want to hear it.

He suggests a happy ending.
She says, could you give these characters a happy ending knowing what the other one did?
"I don't know."
He gives it back.
She gives it back to him and just asks for him to read the script one more time.

End of the film

This could be my opener.

Youthless

Am I the only one who thought this music video was the shit?

Cardboard Signs Available

"I Need A Friend"

I think is a nice title for a film idea I have.

Romantic comedy guy goes around every day in different locations with the same sign, "I Need A Friend." Why?
Lonely.
Extremely lonely to the point where the has to beg for friendships.

On the back of cardboard sign is a list of his attributes and faults very similar to a Tohm Yorke photo shoot.

I think this creates a great archetype of a very pathetic, creative and lovable character. I think he was popular back in the day but his friends might have moved away and now he's looking to starting over. But he needs someone in return. Someone who's willing to take a chance on a stranger who advertises himself in a cute way.

I don't know. What kind of person would take a chance becoming friends with a stranger.

"We all start off as strangers. Then we get to know one another and soon enough we're best friends."

She's gotta be optimistic. Like, to the point where she's naive.

Anyway, good start.

Glangland

I love Gangland and every episode I've seen. Cept the Biker Gang episodes. Not as intense.

I wanna do a movie about a street gang that's very similar to the Aves.

Look them up. They slit a guys throat in the park just cause he was saying he was in the gang when he wasn't.

Do NOT fuck with them.

Roc The Mic

Not that bad. Not a good song, but the music video is very well edited and the lighting is pretty sweet.

Self Aware

A character that is self aware that he's a character and VERY self conscious.

He keeps bothering the author trying to make him the best character that can be.

Actors Playing Actors

Actors playing actors is an idea of interviewing famous actors playing the persona of other/opposite actors that are living.

Jack Black = Robert Di Nero

Life in Technicolor music video is--

AMAZING!

IT'S REALLY CUTE, ORIGINAL AND EVERYTHING BECK WAS TRYING TO DO WITH HI PUPPETS BUT BETTER.

Some One Knows What They're Doing

So this year of Music Videos was off to a weird start.
Meaning, there wern't any. Like at all. Until a week later.

Then the public received, "SouljaBoy Tell Em'" and "Freeze" the latest Auto-Tuner installment from T-Pain featuring the Dacing Feet of Chris Brown and the lack of him singing anything really. He sang, like, a sentence and then he was gone. Probably off to abuse his fame in order to get some red of LA Cooze.

Anyway.

Now some artsy music videos are starting to show their faces which means that you should color me excited. I am a big fan of treating music videos as an art so I'm really excited to show you guys this.

This video is directed by Yuval and Merav Nathan. I guess their Israeli brothers who've gotten into music videos. At least that's what I think their back story is.

So, as it turns out, they started out as animators doing 3-D cartoons and all that bidness then they were seens by somebody and one thing lead to another and you can watch all of their videos on their website here.

So it seems that in the Oren Lavie music video they stuck to their style of stop motion with people. Which, I've had different feelings about over the years. I mean, I know it can look cool but I think the only time it's acceptable to use Stop-Motion with the living is in cases like this music video. Where the directors had something extraordinary planned but their budget is maybe $20. And then I could get into how I feel you should only use stop motion when the mood calls for it and if the mood calls for it then you're probably doing an indie movie.

I can say after watching all of their videos that the Oren Lavie music video is the best by far. Yuval & Merav Nathan have made maybe another really good music video with their stop-motion method but everything else they make is more klunky than cute and I have the idea that's not what they were going for.

This music video knows it's strengths and weaknesses. The main weakness of using stop motion with Lip-Syncing is that the entire movement of the mouth isn't really photographed but maybe 50-75% depending on the length of the word and when a view sees that this it kinda takes them out of the surreal world of whimsy and cute images. So how do they fix this. They keep the guy who is lip-syncing away from the camera. This way you can barely see what he's doing but you have the general idea.

The song is also well written and goes with the mood of the piece. The video is also directed by the singer Oren Lavie but I think it's co-directed in the nicest sense of the word. Like, maybe he had the idea to keep the whole thing on a bed instead of an actual sidewalk. I dunno. But it seems that the direction was able to mesh very well with the attitude given by the music and whenever this is attempted it doesn't always work so props to them.

And finally, I give final props for using clothes in your every day drawer as animals and set pieces. Not everyone would have thought of that and because of their imagination I can't wait to see what Merav Nathan and Yurav come up with next.

Emo

An idea that I just had was what if you had to eat all of the emotions you felt earlier during the day.

Full Length Movie ideas

Well, maybe.

So there is "Try And Catch The Devil" a movie idea that I have had in my pocket for a while now about a detective who is trying to get back on the wagon and climb the ladder of success in order to reach his former spot of glory that he unfortunately fell from because of a past girlfriend that left him in shambles. She wasn't really healthy for him and he didn't care because she was gorgeous and made him feel alive. Or whatever. God, the more I type out this plot synopsis the more film schooly and bull-shity I think it sounds.

Anyway.

He is then hired by some ordinary simple guy who thinks that his wife is cheating on him and when he starts to follow the suspected wife he starts to really fall for her. He lies to the wife and says that his husband is trying cheating on him, husband finds out that the detective did this and confronts the detective saying that he's gonna tell everyone what happened and this white knight crusade that the detective is trying to waltz through is just a mirage. The detective thinks that he can intimidate the husband into leaving him and his lover alone and thinks he can convince the wife to leave her husband.

Husband does have the balls after all and hires a rival detective to go after horrible villain.

After that I don't really know what happens. All I know is that I want this film to be a screaming victim piece and no one can be innocent. Cept the woman I guess. I mean. It sounds like she's just being manipulated.

Idea #2...

And Old man or woman looks back at her glory days and just keeps getting more agitated because she isn't as young as she was. She/he then says upfront that I was beautiful and amazing back in the day and now all I am is just an old woman waiting to die and she kills herself or something. Again, work in progress and the more I think about this one the more I think that I just need to see my grandma and leave this idea in the old brain box.

Lesser Ideas

The other ideas I had was the Desert Sci-Fi dream movie about the utopia that can only exist if people are separated, unaware of other peoples existence and live in a world where they have everything they want. All of this takes place in an abandoned hospital. That is a secret government program and blah blah blah it sounds really lame and I think it is, but if I had to make a film that I was just going to make for the exploitation it would be this one.

Lastly my Super Hero film.

A 2 Parter.

Pt.1
Two superheros try to bring down the forms of government and create a new system where they are in charge. They're ideas are extremely unorthodox and almost insane so they are not given the power they want. The superheros are still convinced that they are doing what needs to be done so they take what they think belongs to them. In the process one of them dies and the other can't do what the group originally intended.

Pt. 2

After the over throw. The one meta human is left and the world he tries to save is falling apart. He has no idea what he is doing, and his powers seem to be dissolving. Because of his loss of his super powers he goes...I hate saying this, but, insane with rage and uses his diplomatic powers to try and make everything the way he and his college once saw the world. He can't in the end and ends up killing millions.

A resistance grows.

The end.

I like all of them and I would love to flush them out more but I dunno at this time if they are even worth flushing out.

10 Best Music Videos of 2008

DISCLAIMER: I HAVE NOT SEEN EVERY MUSIC VIDEO OF THIS YEAR, BUT I DID TRY AND DID NOT SUCCEED. THIS IS WHAT I GOT OUT OF IT.

I also encourage people to look up music videos for this year from artists they like, post a reply and say why you liked this music video. It's a little bit more friendly that way. Yay.


10. "If I Ever See Your Face Again"-Maroon 5 Feat Rihanna


Dir. Anthony Mandler

One of the only music videos I've ever seen shot in Widescreen. Now, let me explain why I picked a Maroon 5 song before no one takes me seriously anymore (not that most of you did). In this world that we live in now, where most music videos aren't really seen as works of art anymore there aren't many directors that see a typical pop song as something else. This is a song about a one night stand and in the back you can hear some of the worst synth you've ever heard. But here's what the directors did. He used Maroon 5's huge amounts of money to not only make this video look professional but the background looks like it came from a Park Chan-Wook sex film. The editing is done in a way where you don't really pay attention to Maroon 5 but to Adam and Rihanna and the huge amounts of sex that they are producing through out the music video. It's just nice to see some directors making something incredibly professional out of a pop song about a one night stand that isn't the best.


9. "Dancing Choose" - TV on the Radio


Dir. Micheal Kuhn

You don't see a lot of music videos like this anymore. Music videos that just go off the wall with anything they can get away with. Here we see some sort of collage animation stumbling around this iconic world and since the song is about materialism and society today I think it fits. Kind of. Anyway. I just think it's nice to see something really risky in making music videos today. It's not the best video but the song is good enough to keep you interested and the editing it just fascinating. Sure, this animated story is a little cluttered and a little too confusing but just like the song you have to use your brain to really understand it. Never really seen too many music videos approached from this angel before.


8. "He Doesn't Know Why" - Fleet Foxes


Dir. Sean Pecknold

A great thing about Fleet Foxes is that their sound is old and folkish which reminds me and a lot of my friends of xmas. But the best setting for this music video would be like, an abandoned torn down room of yesteryear or maybe a barn. WHAT?! DONE BOTH?! BUT HOW?! GOATS?!
While the song is so Melancholic here we have a director who looks past that (???) and just thinks what would be funny. How about them playing a really serious song in a room full of goats. With this change the tone of the entire songs changes and the words loose meaning. The song is no longer so depressing and the viewer falls into a world surrounded by the folksy floaty sound of Fleet Foxes. Which also sound a lot like Xmas.

7. "Mr. Pitiful" -Matt Costa


Dir. The Malloys

The "Backyard Rock" or "Mellow Music" genre is dying and I can't wait for it to go. With the over hype of Jack Johnston and the annoyance of hippies from art schools playing his songs and other like it most of the time they sit out in the quad, most people have grown bored of the simple style and moved on.
I was surprised to see the Malloys direct this catchy, hollow, indie backyard pop song. They're most famous for working with The White Stripes and other Alt-Rock bands with heavy rock influences. Last thing I would associate them with is some Back Yard acoustic guitar player who seems like he's so chill 24/7 That if he was given any responsibilities he would just drop them and go back to...doing nothing, I suppose.
But because it's Matt Costa and he does everything himself The Malloys saw an opportunity. They thought, you know what people don't see anymore, one man bands on the street begging for change while they play six difference instruments at once. While some would refuse to call that a lost art, the video makes that one man band look like the next indie movie and with the Malloy's style of stop motion and clever use of puppetry we have a music video that has a cute little heart while I still stand on saying that it's nothing more than a little indie pop song. Nice job guys.

6. "Violet Hill" - Coldplay


Dir. The Malloys and Tim Wheeler

Music videos now a days really forget what people like me want (but why should they remember really). We people who love music videos and see them as another artistic medium are always interested in the potential that a director could do with a song. Usually it's nothing more than make a person stand around and sing they're own song but from different angels and those are the music videos I hate the most. Why? Because they're not really interesting are they. I'm not a tween girl. I don't need to pay $10 to see a movie I know will be bad because the lead actor is dreamy and I fantasize about him whisking me away to some kind of vampire land of dreams. I want something interesting. Here, we're given the usual music video but the catch is the editing is really sharp. The editing is so to the rythm of the music that it blends together very well and you can't look away past the first 45 secons. After that the video owns you.

5. "Electric Feel" - MGMT

If the link doesn't work
http://court13.com/electricfeel.mov


Director Not Listed

Ah. Here we have a song from a band that looks like they just came out of Neverland with other lost boys and girls. With the bands indie synth pop sound MGMT decided to go with a Peter Pan theme that they're stayed true to in two of their videos (Time to Pretend and Electric Feel). At first the video really reminded me of a bunch of different club music videos that are all about dancing and making out. You know, usually club music video. But then MGMT's lost boys theme comes in as well as there LSD/Ecstasy fueled imaginations. Not only is a CG bear playing a long with them, but they crack open the moon and paint the girls with a kind of pain that looks like it's made up of Microchips. Because I am a fan of seeing what one can get away with I was very please to see how they used the usual club music video, but then made it the more imaginative video I have seen in years.

4. "Champion" - Kanye West

Dir. Neon
(I know, right?!)
Nabil Elderkin and John Pina

Kanye West has made, about 4 humorous music videos including Champion (Heard Em' Say Directed by Michel Gondry, Can't Tell Me Nothin' Directed by Zach Zach Galifianakis and Kanye West's Workout Tape directed by the stangely named "Lil X") and Champion is the second one that has been picked as the official music video. During the end process of making a music video the record label watches the music video and rates it's appeal. If the record heads don't think the music video advertises their singer/musician/product well and they still want to throw money at the artist, then they just ax the music video and never talk about it again. The two times they've done this, the videos that have replaced the so called "lesser" music videos, have been awful. (Can't Tell Me Nothing's video quirky video was turned into Kanye walking through the desert which made the song seem 10 times longer than it actually was and Herd Em Say remake seemed like the production team didn't have a lot of money left so they just made it in an hour).
So here we have Kanye's puppet music video and not only is it funny, but just like the Zach Galifianakis version of Can't Tell Me Nothin the video treats itself as a real music video. This isn't like, a Foo Fighters joke music video like "Learn to Fly" or "Long Road to Ruin." "Champion" has the idea of, "okay, what if a puppet made a music video to a Kanye West song, but the video is really good." Realizing that the joke isn't in the actual humor, but it's in the fact that it treats itself so serious. Honestly, try to replace the puppet in this music video with Kanye and it seems like a real rap music video.

3. "Phantom Pt. 2" - Justice

Dir. Roman Gavris, So_Me and Justice

Now, while I'm a sucker for dance music and the genre. I also love it when editors and directors try to mimic the style of short beats a with their own tools. Some times it's colors but in this case it's editing. Here the editor really played with slug and how it would effect the song that is pretty much fantastic all around. The editor used footage from the new Justice doc, "A Cross The Universe" and made that into it's own little song with the help from Justice and So_Me. Not only do we have a music video, but we have a whole different thing all together. We have a song that the movie is playing as well as the song the video is trying to advertise. I've never seen anything like this before.

Oh, and yes. That was Kanye West for like, 0.5 of a second.

2. "Handlebars" - Flobots

Dir. Dirty UK
(Seriously?)

The summer hit of 2008 also made a fantastic music video (suck it "Paper Planes"). Because Flobot's songs are so political that you wounder if they've ever heard of the term subtlety, the music video takes a slightly different approach to the song. While the song itself is about a nice person turning corrupt over new found power, the director decides to split up the message into two people instead of one and almost make a short film out of a song. Very clever since the song is so likable and catchy. I read an article in a Stanwood news paper and heard this music video blurbed on NPR. Both saying that this music video is the best music video in years. And people wounder why I call this form of medium an art.

1. "House of Cards" Radiohead

Dir. James Frost

No music video has ever experimented like this. Ever. No camera or film were used when making this music video. Everything that was captured was done by a computer and all of the images that were taken were from a scanner. Radiohead has always been at the front of the media world, but I'd never thought they would go this far. I honestly think that if we start to look into this kind of technology film and cameras wont be needed at all in the future. If that's not revolutionary I don't know what is.

AWARDS:
Most ADD Video:
"The Age of the Understatement" - The Last Shadow Puppets

Nice Job With Found Footage:
"Violet Hill" -Coldplay (Dancing Politicians Version)

Wasted Potential:
"No One Is Ever Gonna Love You More Than I Do" Band of Horses

Horrible Video but AMAZING Ending:
"Viva La Vida"-Coldplay

A 2008 Video Disguised as a 1990's Video
"Rhode Island Freakout" - Kinski

Most Unsetteling Video I've Ever Seen:
"Molten Light" - Chad VanGaalen

Least Favorite Video of 2008

"The Youth" - MGMT
Dir. Eric Warehiem of Tim and Eric fame. Yes. That one. Has now decided to take up directing music videos. Now, I don't know how this started, but I bet it started the same way Zach Galifanakis's career in directing did. Some guy (KANYE) called him up and told him, "I FIND YOU HILARIOUS! MAKE ME A MUSIC VIDEO!" Before Zach could explain, "Wait, I barely know how to work a camera." Kanye hung up and went back to doing Kanye things. So here we have a director that is know for doing poorly produced skits on purpose and taking the only talent he has (making something horribly awkward) and trying to mesh that with music. I can only assume since MGMT is know for taking LSD and Ecstasy that they would call Eric Warehiem up and ask him for a favor because the only people who I know that think Tim and Eric Awesome Show. Great Job! is funny are those who do copious amounts of drugs.

I just hope people keep calling this guy if they want to make a funny video. What happened to Spike Jonze or Michel Gondry? Where they busy, and you had to use your 44th choice? Or do you just refuse to do anything that doesn't seem to be hipster kind of.

I don't know. All I know is that I hate Tim and Eric Awesome Show and anything else Eric Warehiem touches. Cause lets face it, what he just touches is shit. Maybe funny shit on the off chance that it is, but it's still shit cause he makes it that way.

If I Had to Pick One Girl Pop Singer Who I Thought Made Good Music Video:
"Just Dance" - Lady GaGa

She's not great. But better that most. Also, this is to show that I'm not too into the Seattle alternative scene that I haven't been watching Britney videos. I have been. I just think this one is better than Pieces of Me, Womanizer and Circus. And like X-D6 times better than Katy Perry. I hope that person dies in a plane crash and is then constantly stabbed in hell. Like, with 20 knives. Sorry. I got a little wound up there.

Runner Up:

"Touch My Body" - Mariah Carrey

Let's face it Ms. Carrey. You've never really gotten the entire crowd on your side. You've always been upstaged by Jennifer Lopez or some other lady pop singer that looks similar to you and here, your album, E =MC2 is you last feeble attempt to grab the spotlight and you try to make yourself look like the diva you want to be seen as. Heads up, I don't think that's gonna happen. Sorry. Now with the trend of being Hipsters which seems to go hand in hand with being a music elitist. Not only do you have a crowd that couldn't care a shit about you, but the popular kids that listened to you as young people have grown up and turned their backs to you because who wants to sing along to you when they're audio radar has broadened so much. Also, your popularity has plummeted so much because of new talent like Rihanna and Beyonce that not only are you seen as old hat but unfamiliar and oblivious to what your demographic wants. Pumping bass, boom-chick drums, and robot voices. So, you tell your stand by audience that you're making a new album, and what do you hand them? An album that is so bland it's amazing. If there was a grammy award for "Blandest Album of the Year" I'm sure not only would you win but you would be the only one nominated. But some how, this album is so bland, and so pointless that your audience and it's popular friends eat it up and asks for more. Because, if anything, that's all that pop music fans like, right? Bland shit that they just want to sing along to so they can pretend that instead of you chewing out your back up singer it's them.

So, because your new album is surprisingly popular what do you do, Mariah Carrey. Direct a music video. Obvious really. You take other things that you seem to think are popular and funny. You get that guy from 30 Rock and tarnish him up the Kenneth character, a nerd who is so bewildered by celebrities that he just has fantasies on the spot, which, since you directed a large portion of the video, just seems like an ugly form of masturbation to me.

Great job, Ms. Carrey. Not only have you taken a horrible and strangely creepy song (the verse, I will hunt you down always seems to follow me wherever I go) but you put it up with the most cliche idea of a fan meeting a star that you yourself have co-directed. Nice. I'm so astounded by your want-to-be-diva-ness. You've just...just made something already horrible and made it worse.

So I ironically appoint you second best pop-diva music video because even though you try to paint yourself as something different, that's what you'll always be Ms. Carrey. Second rate, and overall forgettable except when some clever DJ uses a sample of one of your bland songs in the background.

Wow, that went on for a while.

A List of 2008 Movies Coming Soon. Cause I know you guys love lists.