Brian Friedman | Through the Shattered Lens

Remember that whole Mayan calendar thing that we kept hearing about from 2009 to 2012?

Basically, some people interpreted an ancient Mayan calendar as saying that the world was going to end in December of 2012 and, of course, there were people who believed that it had to be true. Of course, back then, you could still make jokes on twitter without some self-righteous dumbfug attempting to “cancel” you so we all had a lot of fun with the speculation. Still, I think everyone signed a bit of relief when we reached the final hour of 2012 without the world suddenly coming to an end.

The video for Britney Spears’s Till The World Ends comments on the whole Mayan calendar thing by specifically telling us that it’s taking place on December 21st, 2012. While the world appears to be ending above ground, Britney Spears has a good time underground. Buildings burn. Rubble falls from the sky. It’s probably safe to imagine that a lot of people ended up dying. But, at least Britney survives. Which is only fair because, after everything that Britney’s been through in her life, she’s earned the right to survive the apocalypse.

This video was directed by Ray Kay, a Norwegian filmmaker who has done videos from everyone from Justin Bieber to Beyonce to the Backstreet Boys. The video was choreographed by Brian Friedman and was filmed in a basement in Los Angeles. So, if the world’s ending, head for Los Angeles and break into a basement. You won’t be sorry.

Enjoy!

Leaving this out of a week of music videos that feature dancing would be a crime. I could leave it at that, but let’s talk a little bit about this music video.

Much like the mid-90s swing revival seemed to come out of nowhere, so did this video. We were all familiar with Fatboy Slim’s Praise You whether we wanted to be or not at this time. They played that song to death. Then came Mr. Deer Hunter and Gold Watch up your butt Christopher Walken dancing around a hotel like he was suddenly possessed by the spirit of Fred Astaire. Leave it up to Spike Jonze to think this one up, or at least I assume he did. This is one of those music videos that we not only know the director and producers, but the cinematographer, choreographers, the production designer, the 2nd camera operator, costume and wardrobe, visual effects, stunts, and it apparently had a “Philosophical Consultant”.

The choreographers were Spike Jonze and Christopher Walken themselves, but also a Michael Rooney. His work can be seen from as far back as Saved by the Bell to this year’s The Jungle Book.

Of course you’ll recognize the 2nd camera operator. That being director Roman Coppola.

The cinematographer is Lance Acord. He worked on Being John Malkovich (1999), Adaptation (2002), Lost in Translation (2003), Marie Antoinette (2006), etc.

The people you’ll recognize goes on.

Eric Zumbrunnen was the editor on this video a along with some notable videos such as Buddy Holly, Cannonball by The Breeders, and Sure Shot by Beastie Boys. He too would continue to work with Spike Jonze being the editor on Adaptation and Her (2013).

Producer Vincent Landay would continue to work with Jonze, but Deannie O’Neil doesn’t appeared to have done much of anything beyond this music video.

Production Designer Val Wilt would go on to do 96 episodes of Bones. Not bad.

Costume Designer Casey Storm would also go on to work for Spike Jonze and do Zodiac (2007) with David Fincher.

Visual effects person Ben Gibbs would work some more with Jonze, but I’m not sure about Jeff Kim.

As for the stunt people, Keith Campbell is one of those people who has done stunts on everything. Brian Friedman is apparently very well known as a dancer/choreographer on TV Shows. He also worked on several Britney Spears music videos.

The “Philosophical Consultant” K.K. Barrett worked with both Jonze and the Coppolas.

Wow! Now this is a well documented music video. This makes me happy. It also makes me happy watching Christopher Walken channel his inner Astaire. I love how Walken at first isn’t sure where the music is coming from and notices the little radio. Then he is overcome, and must dance. It’s true what Gloria Estefan said: “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You”.

This video is pure fun. It’s also funny that we got 70s cop shows for Beastie Boys, Happy Days for Weezer, 50s musicals for Björk, and then Walken doing a more expansive version of Fred Astaire’s number from 1951’s Royal Wedding.