…and if I don’t see Sexy Abraham Lincoln as the number one costume this year BLOOD WILL RUN IN THE STREETS.
Thanks, Bettina!
Posts tagged as “Video”
Long time readers of this site will know that I watch A LOT of music videos. Many more, in fact, than I post here. And no one can say that I don’t post a wide variety of videos. I love the music video as a venue for a band to promote themselves. Yeah, it just one step away from a commercial, but music videos are an excellent playground for people to experiment with imagery and animation and whatever. There is tremendous skill in being able to tell a story in 3 and a half minutes without the benefit of any dialog at all. Conversely, there’s tremendous training to be had in learning to tell a story in 3 and a half minutes sans dialog. No telling now! You must SHOW.
Well, I’ve been thinking about making a bunch of music videos for songs I like (so I don’t get annoyed listening to them a gazillion times in a row) for a while now as an exercise in editorial, vfx, writing, shooting, directing, color correction—you name it. The idea was born when I found out that the 5D Mk II I had pre-ordered supported video, and full 1080 to boot. Pretty exciting. And since I already own a fleet of lenses, I’m almost all the way there in terms of production equipment. All I’d really need is a tripod. But that expense can wait for now.
And since I’m already a proficient video editor, a decent photographer, a music buff, semi-skilled in After Effects, a decent colorist, and in dire need of some reel material, why not throw together a bunch of inexpensive (i.e., FREE) videos for random songs and use those to promote myself? I am FULLY confident in my ability to use the tools at hand to produce not only professional quality, but beautiful work. I have a sweet new computer, time on my hands, and the inclination to do so, so why not, right?
Right. Why not.
Consider this my statement of intent. Over the coming months I will be sharing with my fine readers the progress of these currently nebulous videos. I’m thinking of making at least three with no sort of deadline or guidelines beyond that they are awesome. I’m thinking of doing one metal song and one electro song at least to vary my visual palette a little. I don’t really know what songs I want to do yet, but I’ve got a hazy mental shortlist. The one constant on the shortlist is Genghis Tron. I don’t know why. Probably because they’re fucking awesome.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Want to help? Think I’m amazing? Leave a comment!
I am fascinated by the composition of electronic music. There’s something about creating something that can move people from nothing at all. And I really mean nothing. That is, music created from instructions sent by electricity to a piece of metal and plastic that performs calculations and then stored as chunks of magnetically charged bits on a circular piece of plastic. It’s like magic, man.
But, I think it’s important to make a differentiation here. There’s electronic music and then there’s electronic music. The former type is the type you hear on a daily basis, that is regular old music made with electronic instruments and hardware and software synthesizers. That stuff is fine, and I listen to a lot of it. However, that music tends to just be music we’re used to (disco, pop, whatever) made with electronic instrumentation. Nothing wrong with it, but not all that fascinating. There are parts of it that are interesting, little bits of electronic music leaking in, but overall it’s very normal, in the way that Rock and Roll is normal, in the way that Jazz or the Blues or Reggae is normal.
The latter, electronic music, is typically much less listenable fare, but much more artful in its deconstruction of what makes music music. Here the composer plays with a variety of different sounds, sometimes purely synthetic, sometimes real sounds culled from the everyday world. The emphasis is always on pushing what can be done with this relatively new medium of electronically created music, on exploring the boundaries of what can be created. And the technology is here so that the artist is not limited in his ability to create lush, unheard of synthetic soundscapes or sparse, technical droning. That said, these aren’t the types of records you’re putting on your iPod when you go to the gym to do 30 minutes on the elliptical. No one is jamming out in their cars to this stuff. I can think of a few crossover records—Art is a Technology by Anthony Rother, Foley Room by Amon Tobin, some others—and those stand out as prime examples of art-electro, yet still totally jam-out-able.
Curtis Roads is a pioneer in granular synthesis, a type of synthesis involving incredibly tiny chunks of sound. In the videos below, he discusses the current Golden Age of electronic music production, microsound composition, and a bunch of other pretty heady, pretty geeky things that you might or might not enjoy, but that I think is excellent. You don’t have to be a synthesis geek to get something out of what Curtis is saying here. I think there’s plenty of inspiration—musician, painter, writer, whatever—to go around.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
The promos that Tiffany and I worked on for the forthcoming MTV Movie Awards were posted to their site. Check them out. I think they’re pretty funny. Enjoy!
Way to cut the fuck out of these, Tiff!
Of course, MTV has put on the anamorphic masters into the wrong sized boxes again. Silly MTV!
edit\\\Way to cut the fuck out of some of these, Tiff!
Gardner has some very strong feelings on the passing of Prop 8 in California, the roots of which will become quite clear when you watch his video. And rightly he should. It’s an important issue back in my home state, one which has ramifications across the entire country. It’s a battle between rationality and fear, between fairness and cruelty, between allowing people dignity as human beings and taking away their rights based on the misinterpreted words of someone who I am pretty sure would have been in support of gay marriage.
I think my feelings on the whole thing are clear. It is not right for people’s rights to be taken away. Whatever you feel about gay marriage, the issue has deeper implications on our society and the casual erosion of our civil liberties over the last decade. Laws should definite people’s rights, keep people safe, and act as a guide for society to run smoothly; they should not REMOVE A RIGHT THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN GRANTED. Imagine if a group of people put an item on a ballot to take away women’s right to vote, or turned black people back into property. Totally absurd, right? Proposition 8 was the same thing, all in the misguided name of “religion” and “morality” and “family values”. What a crock of shit.
When I see fundamentalist Christians up in arms about issues like this, I have to wonder, “Have you ever read the Bible? Did you hear the message of Christ? You know, love everyone and all that jazz? Do you remember the part where Jesus was all, ‘Hey guys, don’t pay attention to that OLD Testament. I’m the hot NEW TESTAMENT’ and yet all of your fear-mongering, hate-spreading nonsense is based on like four passages buried deep in the Old Testament?”
GUESS WHAT GUYS, GOD DOESN’T HATE FAGS. I grew up Catholic, attended Catholic school between Preschool and 12th Grade, have a great-uncle who was a priest, a great-aunt who is a nun, and I’m pretty sure that the Christian God is a God of peace and love. He doesn’t hate anyone. At all. Anywhere. That’s the whole thing: GOD LOVES EVERYONE. Even if you don’t believe in God (I don’t), you have to admit that Christians believe that God loves everyone. No questions asked. Anyone who calls themselves a Christian and acts in a contrary way is wrong.
Also, God doesn’t hate science, so you guys can drop that idiocy too. Evolution is real. The Earth is older than 6000 years old. I mean, really, saying, “Well Gee, the world is very complex, so there’s no way that it wasn’t designed,” is not only stupid but it’s just plain bad logic. It’s all metaphor, people.
/rant.
Anyway, check out Gardner and help our brothers and sister get their rights back in the state of California.
This is the first time I’ve ever actually heard Isaac Asimov’s voice. This clip is pretty short, but I like the idea of science fiction becoming reality. Asimov describes it here from his perspective in the 1970s, a world of growing computational power, post-space travel, the emergence of the technologies that would change the world over the next few decades. But, for us living in the 21st century, we can see the way that films like Star Wars and television shows like Star Trek have affected the development of current technologies. I mean, what is an iPhone except a Tricorder that actually works? Have you seen the androids being made in Japan?
Nexus 6s, here we come.
Meditate on this.
Reminds me of another goat.