4x3: Godley & Creme "Cry" (Godley & Creme, dir.)

Before there was Woodkid, there was Godley & Creme...

Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. Musicians, first as bandmates in 10CC — If you grew up with any contact with Lite-FM, you're likely familiar with "I'm Not In Love," or maybe the false, yet still amusing tall-tale about their name — and then as the duo, Godley & Creme.

Godley & Creme was multi-media before its time. They made the songs and they made their own videos. And the videos were so unique, they also made them for others, creating some of the '80s most iconic clips:

• Herbie Hancock "Rockit"
• Duran Duran "Girls On Film"
• The Police "Every Breath You Take"

But there's a video for their own 1985 single, "Cry," which was a hit in the U.S. thanks in part to its innovative visual: It starts with tears that expose a face, but then cross-fades into another face and another. It's the analogue precursor to the digital morphing effects which would come years later, used most famously in Michael Jackson's Black or White video.  

--> watch "Cry"

And a clip of Kevin Godley discussing the inspiration and the technique of "Cry" -->

WATCH IT: OFF! "Wrong" f/ Jack Black (Whitey McConnaughy, dir.)

Jalisco learns the hard way that Jack Black brings friends to a standoff in this snippet from the fake movie, Lethal Justice. --> watch "Wrong" 

OFF! "Wrong"
Whitey McConnaughy, director | Ryan Kohler, producer 

Drop It Like It's Hot (Pocket... or Intellectual Property)

There are hundreds of "Flava In Ya Ear" homages. But, there is only one "Drop It Like It's Hot" — an icily simple, yet sophisticated video by director Paul Hunter for Snoop Dogg. And it serves as a perfect barometer for judging a music video: If you can remember both the visual and the audio ten years later, it's an all-time great. And "Drop It Like It's Hot" is indeed that.

In fact, it's so memorable that it can be used as the basis for a Hot Pockets campaign Pocket Like It's Hot, with Snoop spoofing his own song/video with Andy Milonakis and other guests.

But, I wonder who owns the original video? Did they need to get permission from the original commissioning record label?  Or is it considered a parody? Should Intellectual Property and music videos be (sorry) a hot topic?

Here's one precedent, although it's the opposite situation: In 1996 there was a fantastic video for The Postal Service "Such Great Heights" and the directors of it were subsequently hired to create a near identical visual for an Apple/Intel ad. Except it wasn't sanctioned by the band, which was understandably unhappy.

Video Convo: Justin Bieber "Beauty And A Beat" (Justin Bieber + Jon Chu, dir,)

Justin Bieber had the Internet all a'tizzy over a stolen laptop and the possibility that some inappropriate photos were about to leak. Well, sorry kids. It was all a ruse to set up this music video that takes the found footage concept to water park.

In that spirit, if someone stole my laptop they'd uncover countless ichat conversations about music videos with Doug Stern, like the one below.

Doug: I feel dizzy

Steve: They're apparently at a Water Park called Ragings Waters in San Dimas, CA

Doug: Like Bill and Ted.

Steve: Not sure if I should be glad or bummed that the leaked Bieber photos were just a marketing scam. Also from a marketing standpoint, the date he shouts out should be something he'll be alive for, so he can get a big licensing score. Unless Bieber is immortal. Which is possible.

Doug: He is Mayan

Steve: Amphibian

Doug: He is Chauncy Bieber

Steve: Actually, there's a moment where he smiles while he's next to Nicki that's just effortless. #littlethings #kidsastar

Doug: Bieber looks natural in some of that stuff where he goes underwater and comes back up. He looks like a smiley, happy and handsome young guy

Steve: He does. He also listens to Phish apparently

Doug: I have trouble believeing he listens to anyone besides himself on a loop

Steve: I wish the video was one take, but that was likely impossible. And I wish it was more of a viral "flash mob" kind of thing, but again, likely impossible.

Doug: i think it is a good move for him to be more 'realistic' and less iconic

Steve: All in all, I like it, especially when you contrast to the big serious videos he's done.

Doug: Are we missing a peeing in the pool joke?

Steve: Hopefully not.

--> watch "Beauty And A Beat"

Justin Bieber f/ Nicki Minaj "Beauty And A Beat" (Island Def Jam)
Justin Bieber & Jon M. Chu, director | Garrett Grant, Andrew Lerios, producer | Nick DeMoura, choreographer 

WATCH IT: Usher "Numb" (Chris Applebaum & Grace Harry, dir.)

Usher breaks out of the box (literally) in a glossy, yet emotional video that begins with a career lowpoint and ends in catharsis. The "on display" performance is broked up by a sharp and kinetic edit that rockets through a series of personal and universal experiences that reresent the song's maxim, "What don't kill, only makes you strong." --> watch "Numb"

Usher "Numb" (RCA)
Chris Applebaum & Grace Harry, director | Tara Razavi, producer | Believe Media, production co | This Is Frank, rep | Daniel Pearl, DP | Jacquelyn London @ Sunset Edit, editor | Bert Yukich @ Kroma, FX | Aakomon Jones, choregrapher | Jannie McInnes, exec. producer | Samantha Lecca, commissioner

WATCH IT: Lana Del Rey "Ride" (Anthony Mandler, dir.)

America is open roads, motorcyles and pinball. It's Jack Daniels, guns and flags. It's biker dudes, starlet girls, shots at fame and falls from grace. It's sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll. To paraphrase Lana Del Rey, it's fucking crazy. But even if it's disconnected from the actual country we live in, it's the glamorous and dangerous image that conquered the imagination of people areound the world — which I think is one reason Ms. Del Rey has found mass success in Europe, while remaining a cult artist here in the States.

Director Anthony Mandler works off a story by the singer herself, creating a sort of stream-of-conscious homage to everything from Terrence Malick to Oliver Stone to David Lynch, with pit-stops in the big rock video landscape mapped out by Wayne Isham, Andy Morahan and others. That form makes the storyline a bit hazy, but you can follow her journey from stardom to freedom, complete with a daddy issue subplot, murder and more than a touch of madness. It's also a ballsy music video, a 10-minute opus that doesn't give a damn what you think and is happy to get as crazy and over-the-top as it wants in the name of freedom. --> watch "Ride" 

Lana Del Rey "Ride" (Interscope)
Anthony Mandler, director | Lana Del Rey, writer | Heather Heller, producer | Black Hand Cinema, production co | Malik Sayeed, DP | Benji Bamps, production designer

WATCH IT: Youngblood Hawke "We Come Running" (Marc Klasfeld, dir.)

Shooting underwater in the Bahamas sounds like a vacation of a video shoot until you realize there be sharks in them waters.

Hopefully Quint was on-hand? --> watch "We Come Running"

Youngblood Hawke "We Come Running" (Universal Republic)
Marc Klasfeld, director | Judd Allison, producer | Rockhard, production co | Aaron Platt, DP | Bill Yukich, editor | Nicole Acacio, exec. producer | Kate Miller, commissioner 

Kick On The [MTV] Jams

If you're a hip-hop and/or music video fan who's not aware of MTV Jams, you should check your local listings. The 24/7 rap video channel airs in 29 million homes now, so you likely get it. And if not, bug your cable provider. Incessantly.

The Jams brand will be expanding to all of MTV's properties on October 23, with Jams.MTV.com as the digital hub for all things hip-hop.

 There's also other changes and developments in the works, including the new MTV2 series The Week In Jams (which replaces MTV2's Sucker Free Countdown).

Read more via Billboard and The Daily Swarm, plus the Press Release ...

Director Jesse Yules on Warm Myth "Working"

It's all in the folds for this beautiful video piece by director Jesse Yules for Warm Myth.

Jesse Yules, director: "For Warm Myth I wanted to continue playing with some of the peekaboo shots I used in my previous video for Of Montreal | Spiteful Intervention. I like the idea of an alternate video lurking under the video we’re watching. I began thinking of ways that an image could morph or fold out of the way to reveal a new image. I visited some simple origami blogs looking for ideas. After a while I started to think the origami folds could be used not just as transitions, but to animate a paintings. The same trick is used to make the head of state on a paper bill appear to be smiling... Don Hertzfedt's classic Rejected also comes to mind although Rejected takes the idea much further.

As with the Of Montreal video, I did a series of paintings I thought fit the vibe of the song, then experimented with folding the paintings in various ways. From there, I decided to play off the geometry of the folds created, which led me to experiment with kaleidoscope images. I knew that the kaleidoscope effect had been done to death (it’s an After Effects filter) so I thought it might be interesting to try and do the effect practically. 

Bellow is a rough set up from the shoot. I shot the folded paintings near a window in my house, to take advantage of the natural light."

--> watch "Working"

WATCH IT: Death Grips "World Of Dogs"

The spirit of "Close To The Edit" will never die as a music video trope. --> watch "World Of Dogs"

Video Static Panel @ CMJ 2012 - UPDATED

Due to scheduling conflicts, director Jake Davis will be joing our panel. Jake's directorial work includes videos for The Walkmen, Wiz Khalifa and lots more...

Hope to see you there!

I'll be moderating a muic video panel at this years CMJ Music Marathon. If you're in NYC and have a festival pass, please come be sure to come on down!

CREATING A [COST] EFFECTIVE MUSIC VIDEO

WHEN: Wednedsay, October 17 @ 2p
WHERE: NYU Kimmel Ctr. Room 905/907, 60 Washington Square South New York, NY

A music video – in all its multiple platforms and forms – remains one of the most compelling and effective tools for today's musician. What are the costs and line items inside a music video budget? Hear great advice on story plots, planning and executing, as well as salient advice on how to avoid pitfalls.

PANELISTS:

Steven J. Gottlieb, Video Static [moderator]

Kerri Kleiner, HELLO!
Doug McVehil, VEVO
Eytan Oren, Eytan And The Embassy

Jake Davis, director

WATCH IT: Hammock "Cold Front" (David Altobelli, dir.)

It's ghost story of sorts in director David Altobelli's latest video for instrumental post-rock duo Hammock, as a woman realizes that you can't be in love with a memory forever. --> watch "Cold Front"

Hammock "Cold Front" 
David Altobelli, director | Sarah Park, Ryan Kohler, Ross Girard, producer | Burbank Gamma Ray, production co | Larkin Seiple, DP | Ethan Feldbau, production designer | Sue Yeon Ahn, exec. producer 

R.I.P. Harris Savides, DP

"Music videos are so stylistic. It’s about the beauty of the image- it’s like a commercial. Features are the opposite of that. If you do that in a feature, you’re actually downplaying what’s important- the story- and taking away from it." — Harris Savides, DP

Word is spreading that the great cinematopgrapher Harris Savides passed away yesterday...

Savides was the DP on some classic music videos, including several by frequent collaborator Mark Romanek:

• R.E.M. "Everybody Hurts" (Jake Scott, dir.)
• Nine Inch Nails "Closer" (Mark Romanek, dir.)
• Fiona Apple "Criminal" (Mark Romanek, dir.)
• Madonna "Rain" (Mark Romanek, dir.)

His feature film credits are extensive, including Milk, American Gangster and Zodiac.

WATCH IT: Thee Oh Sees "Lupine Dominus" (John Strong, dir.)

Don't be too quick to assume you know what the young man is looking for in this sketchy strip club. (Also: Never trust anyone in a Jets jersey. Especially Mark Sanchez). --> watch "Lupine Dominus"

Thee Oh Sees "Lupus Dominus"
John Strong, director | Not So Strong, production co