Filmed in Tokyo, New York and Berlin, filmmaker Adam Magyar positioned himself on trains as they pulled into subway stops, filming the waiting crowds at 50 frames per second using a high speed camera. The shot is steady and smooth, no shaking or swerving. His videos are 56 times longer than reality. The sound is the train’s sound, slowed down by the same scale. Visit his vimeo site for more videos.
High speed video recording in Berlin at U2 Alexanderplatz station (2011).
5. Is Tropical – »Dancing Anymore« directed by Megaforce (riffraff films). The future of teenager fantasy films may based on this clip. This is the story of a poolboy on the verge of puberty. His daily work slows down due to an unexpected thought with curious details. The dramatic climax reaches into a great scene: the boy gets a blowjob off a corpse in the middle of a warzone. Banned from YouTube just 25 minutes after airing. Definitely the freak out of the year.
4. Bonobo– »Cirrus« directed by Cyriak. The music video by New York-based producer Bonobo is animated in a most fantastic way, all of it layered into a kaleidoscope of pretty colors and vintage footage, with source material from the public domain video treasure trove, The Prelinger Archive. What starts out as a few simple repeating elements soon becomes a chaotic collage of video snippets that take on a life of their own.
3. Gesaffelstein– »Pursuit« directed by Fleur & Manu. This video is incredible, a rectangular array of symbols and arrangements, evil, and violently sexy. The camera is constantly backing away from a series of strange surroundings. A masterpiece of a music video. The concept behind the video in the director’s own words: »It is a trip through the quest for power, showing the bad aspects of it. Power, money, success should never be the goal otherwise you lose your soul.«
2. Jon Hopkins – »Open Eye Signal« directed by Aoife McArdle. The colors, the light, the depth of field and above all, the setting. Absolut fantastic. And additionally one of the best tracks of 2013. Directer McArdle describes it this way: »The track is really special. I saw it as a singular, hypnotic journey that’s almost endless. You get lost in it. I liked the idea of a city kid taking us on that journey… just one day suddenly deciding to escape his life and see more of the world in the only way he understands… via skateboard.«
1. Jon Rafman + Oneohtrix Point Never – »Still Life (Betamale)« directed by Jon Rafman. Filthy keyboards, digital pack rat interiors, fetish anime art and 8-bit video game graphics embedded in a loopy realness – the digital lifestyle of Jon Rafman’s »Still Life (Betamale)« collage is breathtaking, or as Brandon Soderberg said: »This collage of a clip invokes awe, empathy, sadness, and horror all at once, or one after another or who even knows, could receive, right?«. The world is a strange place. Even the digital world. A worthy winner in a tight contest!
10. Russ Chimes – »Turn Me Out« directed by Mathy & Fran. A fantastically choreographed music video to a powerful disco/house track. The London based directing duo have taken the vibe of that anthem and created a sophisticated performance video that combines modern dance with very atypical elements. By the way: Russ Chimes didn’t start the »Turn Me Out« craze. It all goes back to 1994 in Cutting Records Studios in New York City.
9. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – »Sacrilege« directed by Megaforce. Sacrilege is the epic and stormy first single from Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ fourth album »Mosquito«. Watch mindful: The video consists of chronologically reversed sequence. We slowly see a story pieced together of how a group of people end up shooting a man and burning a woman alive from end to beginning. Starring actress Lily Cole who stirs up a riotous witch-hunt among the outraged townsfolk.
8. Oneohtrix Point Never – »Problem Areas« directed by Takeshi Murata. Like the song, the video is completely artificial like an artificial still life. His colorful, immaculate hyperealistic digital pop art consists of apparently mundane everyday objects arranged in seemingly random compositions. Or as Lopatin said, »I wanted to characterize a linear world with cracks in its edifice.« Watch and enjoy the eye-catching music video for Oneohtrix Point Never’s first WARP single release.
7. Major Lazer – »Bubble Butt« directed by Eric Wareheim of comedy team Tim and Eric. In this clip huge butts are getting injected into »bubble butts« – several women’s asses are injected with air like balloons! This clip is a totally insane, hypercoloured, rear-jiggling frenzy, featuring a giant Buttzilla lady and her dance companions. And don’t forget: Contrary to popular belief Bubble Butts are not big asses. »Bubble Butts are round like a globe, usually complement a slender body.«
6. Dizzee Rascal – »I Don’t Need A Reason« directed by Emile Sornin. Damn! Dizzee is the king. An excellent video completely twisted, based on video loops and animated GIFs. It’s the work of french director Emile Sornin, who gained acclaim last year for Alt-J’s »Fitzpleasure« clip. Watch and be amazed.
Take the following list as a relaxed supplement to the many best of’s of the past weeks. Take your time and relax, the public hysteria is already over. 2013 was again the big comeback of the music clip far away from MTViva (does anybody remember?). Viewed from each side – commercially, artistically, technically – the last year had a bunch of aha! moments and amazing ideas. It wasn’t easy, but I picked 15 of my favorite clips from 2013. Hope you enjoy!
15. Action Bronson – »Strictly 4 My Jeeps« directed by Jason Goldwatch. New York rapper Action Bronson shot this video with his friend RiFF RaFF in Queens and on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Bronson shows us that he knows how to drain jump shots, prepare feasts, and turn cartwheels even with a lot of pounds to lose. The lascivious shots of seriously overweight women is daring, but works wonderfully well.
14. Satellites – »Wasteland« directed by M-I-E. Yibi Hu and Joe Marshall have created a delightful animated video for Satellites‘ Wasteland, telling an allegorical tale of artificial intelligence – and the importance of batteries. Unfortunately the lack of promotion made this fine animation pass quite unnoticed: the man behind Satellites quietly released »Satellites.0.2« to no publicity.
13. Brandt Brauer Frick feat. Om’Mas Keith – »Plastic like your mother« directed by Daniel Brandt & Julian Schleef. »Plastic Like Your Mother«, featuring Om’mas Keith, was the first single from Berlin’s trio Brandt Brauer Frick’s third album »Miami«. For their video the German experimental techno trio have strapped cameras to the heads of 28 dancers and let them loose. The choreography was created by Kiani Del Valle. The song itself takes a while to fully kick into gear, but the whole thing suddenly morphs into a dramatic dancefloor anthem.
12. Django Django – »WOR« directed by Jim Demuth. The clip – for Django Django’s best song ever first released back in 2010 – doubles as a mini-doc about the phenomenally brave men who both ride bikes and drive cars on the »Well of Death« at the Maha Kumbh Mela grounds in Allahabad, India. Based on an original idea by Django Django’s drummer, producer and defacto band leader, Dave Maclean.
11. Kanye West – »Black Skinhead« (stylized »BLKKK SKKKN HEAD«) directed by Nick Knight. If there were a special »Post Production« category, Black Skinhead might win. An computer-animated Kanye runs shirtless across the screen, wearing leather pants and the best gold chain you have ever seen in a HipHop clip. West and Knight have made the video interactive, allowing the viewer to speed up or slow down the video, or take screenshots, using a cursor that gives you the finger. Watch it at YouTube and get the full experience!
In Dreams is an experimental documentary that visualises the dreams of ordinary individuals. Director Samuel Blain asked four people to discuss their most vivid, memorable dream.
Part film screening, part art installation and part urban exploration – Empire Drive-In is possibly the world’s first no-drive drive-in movie theater. Artists Jeff Stark and Todd Chandler have created a fantastic cinematic experience using junked cars and salvaged materials. Here is a brief description from the project’s website: »Empire Drive-In is a full-scale theater made out of wrecked cars and a 40-foot screen constructed of salvaged wood. Audiences climb in and out of cars rescued from the junkyard to watch films projected on the big screen. Low-power radio transmits stereo audio directly to each car«. The project was first commissioned for the 2010 01SJ Biennial in San Jose, California and since then repeated at different locations.
This video is incredible, a rectangular array of symbols and arrangements, evil, and violently sexy. Envisioned and directed by Fleur & Manu, the camera is constantly backing away from a series of strange surroundings. French techno producer and DJ Gesaffelstein has contributed his great techno banger »Pursuit«. A masterpiece of a music video.
