BUZZ Clips
By Annie Poon
‘Gizmodo.com’ posted the first ever music video shot entirely on Nokia 3650 camera phone. Creators say, "It’s kind of lame, but it’s still a first".
Everybody wants in. What makes music videos one of the most envied and seductive forms of art? The ambiguous gap between the band’s original concept and the artists’ agenda creates a space for a mysterious mixed message. Music videos are conceptually accessible yet remain cool and aloof. Their condensed form promotes wild experimentation.
From fine artists to, DJ’s, from rockers and computer geeks, everybody is getting a part of the action. Young graphic designers see the music video as a perfect length to strut their stuff. Loners with no budget can still pull off a convincing video from their home computer. The allure of reaching a new audience thrills artists, who attach themselves to music groups or form their own. (See Kristen Lucas’ Celebrations for Breaking Routine, 2003.)
Artist Pipilotti Rist has developed a powerful group of music videos that retains the poeticism of fine art yet has the raw edge of rock. She frequently uses her own body as a starting point. In ‘I’m a Victim of This Song’ (Bloodclip, 1993) her legs run with her own blood. In ‘I’m a Victim of this Song’ (Date?), she sings the vocals to Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game’ in her meek and squeaky croon. Toni Oursler made some pretty strange videos for Sonic Youth (Tunic:Song for Karen, 1990) Going to Heaven (band, date) which are definitely worth a look. And William Wegman’s ‘New Order: Blue Monday, 1988 still plays on MTV. Paper Rad, an Brooklyn based artist collective, also draws cues from music videos in its’ never ending videos of tweaked rainbow party graphics and appropriated imagery.
In Particular, bands like Linkin Park, Radiohead, Bjork, and the White Stripes seek out artistic visuals for their videos. Linkin Park’s videos directed by ‘Mr. Hahn’, will blow your mind. Mr. Hahn is Johnny, their DJ and ‘Breaking the Habit’ is his latest masterpiece. It’s an anime adventure that has spawned a comic book spin off. The White Stripes’ animated video ‘Fell in Love with a Girl’ by Michel Gondry was built entirely out of legos (not computer animated!) and won 3 music video awards last year. "To acquire this job, Gondry didn’t write a treatment. According to Meg, "One day he came to a restaurant and he had Jack’s head in Lego." Jack: "You couldn’t argue with that. When someone brings a Lego sculpture of your head to dinner and says this is what the video’s going to be, you pretty much say, ‘That’s it, go ahead. "1. Bjork is also notorious for her surreal music videos, including ‘Cocoon’ by Eiko Ishioka and ‘Human Behavior’ by also Gondry.
Radiohead made waves last year with their video ‘There There’, a masterful blend of stop motion and computer graphics. In this video Thom Yorke wanders through an enchanted forest and meets an unexpected end. A portion of Radiohead’s website is devoted to putting experimental music videos in the spotlight. The hourly broadcast appears on www.radiohead.tv.
Design team Shynola has quickly gained attention gets my vote for its’ innovative music videos. This team of art school grads got started in 1998 and since then has differentiated themselves with their experinmental animation styles. Shynola’s animation for the ‘Queens of the Stone Age- ‘Go With The Flow’ video garnered them an MTV award in 2003 for best special effects. The visuals resemble a Target ad but somehow it just doesn’t feel the same. Stylistically miles apart is their Blur ‘Goodsong’ video which would hold up in Chelsea galleries; Here crude little black and white animated drawings depict a tiny man who falls in love with a squirrel. The consequence is disastrous. (Artwork is by David Shrigley). Shynola thrilled music video lovers last year with their 80’s style pixilated colorful animation to ‘Junior Senior: Move Your Feet’. The team employed an old animation program called Deluxe Paint to create this super pixilated joy fest.
To find some of the most quirky and hilarious videos, you’ll have to turn to Blogs. For Example: milkandcookies.com. One of last years’ popular links was to a hilarious version of ‘Endless Love’ with Tony Blair and President Bush appearing to lip sync in the place of Diana Ross and Lionel Richie. Several blogs currently publish links to PBS.org which has a Series of Music videos by Saddam Hussein. They were made as political promotions and which were broadcast nightly in Iraq. In these videos, showing a man in a white suit resembling a newscaster lip-synchs to "Saddam Our Father". This scene alternaties with images of the Saddam in patriotic postures or hovering over a flag.
For video in the Flesh, Electronic Arts Intermix is a video archive on West 23rd St. dedicated to preserving artist videos. Curious viewers can make an appointment to view artist videos for free in private screening rooms. Around October, Resfest comes to town and brings us the most artistic music videos of the year. On getting into the industry, Shynola stated," There is no secret to it. If you work hard and have interesting ideas, then the music industry will pay attention. . . they’re desperate for interesting new directors" (Shynola.com).
