In the world of music videos, vintage effects are utilized in a number of ways to achieve the overall coherence between music and motion. It could be the costumes and setting, ambiance, editing effects such as lighting, or props reminiscent of those bygone times. Whatever the case may be, below are some of my picks for best videos that borrowed some element of our beloved vintage eras.
1. Clubbed to Death by Rob Dougan
If you think you’ve heard this somewhere before, you are right. Does this ring a bell?
“The Matrix is a system Neo, that system is our enemy. Were you listening to me Neo? Or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?”
Yeppers, this was featured in the Matrix – the “woman in the red dress”, during the Morpheus-Neo training sequence.
The artistic reach of this video cannot be overstated. Set on a high street in an 50ish western town, a man races against time, breaking physical laws of time and space. He ran through out of the town, through the high way and into the desert, is pushed to the sky in by fiery ball. He crashes, lands back in the same spot he started. The special effects are supposedly only to mirror the subtext of breaking free and running against the norm. Thoughts?
2. Frontier psychiatrist by the Avalanche
If you manage to stone yourself into a half hallucinative state, start seeing and hearing things that aren’t there or don’t exist, and start to play with word association, this might be the result. This is as crazy as crazy can be, with ghost singers, talking dentures, crazy coconut muppet, and an old guy in a turtle shell. WTF? Exactly. What’s even crazier than the work of art, are the fans, one of which has expounded through a full essay arguing how the cast of Lost was inspired by this video.
3. Remind me by Royksopp
This video by the Norwegian band Royksopp features a day in the life of a woman working in the London’s Square Mile solely through infographics. This includes labelled close-ups of everyday objects, product lifecycles, schematic diagrams, charts, and is generally illustrated in a simple isometric visual style. Every minute action of her day was de-constructed and animated with bracketed notes. Reality bites! For anybody who has pulled a M-F, 9-5, oh, the chuckles. From the creation of BTV and morning weather, to “connecting, connecting, connecting, FAILED”, to the various rows of suits streaming in and out of the buildings three times a day, our conformed, consumerist and controlled existence are mirrored back to us with no sympathy. I expect that should aliens one day invade our planet and wishes to understand the life and habits of an office worker, this video should suffice.
If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, then we can count Areva and Geico as Royksopp’s admirer, as both retained the same animation studio to produce their respective commercials.
4. Breathe Me by Sia.
Haunting, desperate, and vulnerable, this song by the lead singer of Zero 7 was featured on both CSI and the series finale of Six Feet Under. If she sounds familiar then it’s no surprise, Sia was featured prominently in indie movie darlings such as like Garden State. The video itself utilizing stop-motion in addition to some 2500 Polaroid photos, and the effects are, well, judge for youself!
5. Where the wild roses grow by Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave
“Love is much like a wild rose, beautiful and calm, but willing to draw blood in its defense.” Could this explain the haunting turn of events in this video? Cave’s character becomes entranced with Minogue (Elisa Day aka Wild Rose), and kills her in order to preserve the memory of the beauty. Twisted and sadistic? Perhaps. But it sure does make great art.
{ 0 comments… add one now }
You must log in to post a comment.