Tag Archives: music video

Music Video of the Day: This Lonely Heart by Loudness (1987, dir. Nigel Dick)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

According to my calendar, it is The Emperor of Japan’s birthday today. I’ve always wondered why that’s on United States calendars. Regardless, this gives me an opportunity to feature a music video by the Japanese heavy metal band Loudness.

I am not going to go into the history of the band. If you are interested in their career, then I recommend the Wikipedia article on them. I will mention two things though. They were the first Japanese metal act to be signed to a major label in the US. According to Wikipedia, they have released twenty-six studio albums (five in America) and nine live albums as of 2014, having started in 1981.

As for the music video, you aren’t hallucinating about the title of this post. This music video was directed by the same person who directed …Baby One More Time by Britney Spears. I’ve only done two music videos by Nigel Dick so far. The other one being Wonderwall by Oasis. I might have mentioned it before, but he seems to be the Michael Curtiz of music videos. He doesn’t have any distinct signature like Michel Gondry. He seems to be a director you go to with whatever you need made, and he turns in a quality music video.

At first I thought I had no idea why this music video looks the way it does. It makes some sense to me now.

It’s shot in what looks like the Mad Max universe, so you have the post-apocalyptic look to it. That probably represents the death of Imperial Japan via the atomic bomb. You have the American car, plane, and TV sticking out of the desert since Japan would rise again technologically. It also probably represents the quick turnover of American culture.

The flag behind them is The Flag of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force that has been in use since 1954. From what I can gather, it is the same as the Flag of the Imperial Japanese Navy that was in use prior to the American Occupation, but isn’t the same flag as the War flag of the Imperial Japanese Army.

The band is playing a genre of music that originated in Britain, then invaded the United States in the 80s with it in the same way that the British invaded the states in the 60s after taking up blues and early rock. Both countries having attacked the United States in the past before having close ties down the road.

We see a samurai sword plunged into the ground at about the midpoint of the song, which also seems to represent death of old Japan without having to abandon pride in their country as shown by the flag.

In the end, the flag is in shown in shadow and a guitar in flames. I see that as rock being a universal language that transcends borders and burns brighter than any flag.

There seems to be two forces tearing at the Japanese since the war. Symbols representing pride in their nation without actually celebrating the awful things done during WWII under those same symbols. That seems to tie-in with the lyrics of the song. I know it all ties together somehow.

That’s my best attempt at an interpretation without really reading up on a bunch of history of the country, the flag, and the band.

One more thing. I don’t know if it was a continuity error or not, but the flag appears to change positions are certain times in the video. It even looks like it has disappeared at about three minutes and forty-nine seconds. If the video weren’t filled with so much symbolism, then I wouldn’t have mentioned it.

This was shot by cinematographer Dariusz Wolski whose work you have most likely seen. He shot four of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, The Crow (1994), Dark City (1998), Alice in Wonderland (2010), Prometheus (2012), and The Martian (2015), among others.

I love that this is a Japanese metal band whose music video is made by a British director and shot by a Polish cinematographer for an American audience that covers similar issues that were faced by post-war Germany and Italy using the genre of rock that was seen as a savior for people living under Communist rule during the 80s that also happened to be a high point of the Cold War.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Da Funk by Daft Punk (1996, dir. Spike Jonze)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

Sorry for keeping this short. Just before I sat down to write this yesterday, I became so dizzy that I collapsed. I am going to try and stay in bed all day. Luckily, there isn’t much to say that I haven’t already in my posts for Dog Police by Dog Police and Old Timer by That Dog.

You have a music video that uses similar dog makeup and themes from Dog Police, but without the humor. It is played straight. You have Spike Jonze collaborator and drummer for That Dog–Tony Maxwell–playing Charles. Charles comes to the big city obviously different from everyone else because he is a dog person–much like someone moving from the country or suburbs to the big city. That makes him in the process of trying to adapt to a new place. He also has the physical handicap of a broken leg that that doesn’t really come into play except to complement the mental handicap that the radio represents. We see that not only does it have a sentimental tie to his youth as shown by the picture with his dad, but we also see that he literally can’t turn it off because of the missing buttons. He does run into an old friend and would be able to follow her on the bus were it not for the radio he can’t turn off yet and the bus doesn’t allow radios. It also means he will have a tough time getting people to accept him in much the same way that the band did to get to this music video that included a review of a pre-Daft-Punk album by Melody Maker that called the music they made as “a dafty punk thrash.” There’s more you can read in the “history” section on Wikipedia that ties into this video as well.

It all sounds quite depressing. However, we know throughout, and at the ending, that the short time we have spent with him is only a rough patch–he’ll make it through. I guess you could look at the ending as him going out into the street as a suicide attempt. I don’t see it that way. I see tough times ahead for Charles. Tough times that Charles will be able to overcome as we can see that he has a strong spirit despite the barriers to entry that the big city throws at him.

A stylistic choice that is interesting here is that it is shot on the streets rather than the studio music videos people are typically familiar with even from Spike Jonze.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Winter by Tori Amos (1992, dir. Cindy Palmano)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

My calendar says it’s the first day of Winter today, so I figured I would spotlight this Tori Amos song. I have only talked about one other music video of hers so far. That being Silent All These Years. Basically everything I said about that music video applies to this one too. The only difference is that this time director Cindy Palmano populated the music video with coming-of-age imagery. It is even as misleading in that it also primarily sells Amos as a the girl with a piano, which is how they marketed her at the beginning. It looks like it took till Cornflake Girl and/or God, depending on whether you look at mvdbase or IMVDb, before they hit on the kind of music videos that get across what you are in for with Tori Amos.

To my knowledge, they continued doing work together photo-wise into the mid-to-late-90s even though they stopped doing videos after 1994, according to mvdbase. It makes sense since while Palmano’s videos are certainly beautiful to look at, they really showcase her talents as a photographer rather than capturing Tori using the medium of a music video. To be fair, her first album is different from her subsequent stuff, so it is kind of like complaining that a writer isn’t describing Francois Truffaut correctly when the only movie of his they have seen is The 400 Blows (1959).

For whatever reason, IMVDb has quite different information about her early videos. IMVDb says 1991 for Silent All These Years while mvdbase says 1993. I am trusting IMVDb since Silent All These Years was released as a single in 1991. It makes more sense to me.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Old Timer by That Dog (1994, dir. Spike Jonze)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

I don’t have much to say about this Spike Jonze music video. This was the same year Jonze did Buddy Holly, Sure Shot, and Sabotage. It’s a simple little indie music video. They probably had an afternoon to shoot in a little hotdog stand, so they made this video.

The reason I am spotlighting it is because I felt it was necessary to do this in between Dog Police and Da Funk. I am not sure whether Spike Jonze and drummer Tony Maxwell were already friends at this time. Maxwell would go on to do other things including playing Charles from Da Funk by Daft Punk that was directed by Spike Jonze two years after this video.

Let’s do the Erics in one batch. Eric Zumbrunnen edited the music video. He also edited Buddy Holly by Weezer, It’s Oh So Quiet by Björk, Where It’s At by Beck, and Weapon Of Choice by Fatboy Slim, among a couple of other music videos. He would go on to edit some feature films like Being John Malkovich (1999), Adaptation (2002), Where The Wild Things Are (2009), and Her (2013). Eric Matthies was the producer of the music video. He shot two music videos for Nine Inch Nails that were both directed by Eric Zimmerman. Matthies also has a bunch of producing and directing credits on IMDb. Yep, there’s three Erics tied to this music video for some reason.

Speaking of “for some reason”, Tony Maxwell is credited at the start of this music video as “Yoga”. You got me. However, that means Weapon of Choice had a “Philosophical Consultant” in K.K. Barrett, and this one had someone credited as “Yoga”. Maybe Jonze just likes to oddly credit people. Again, you got me.

That Dog would last till 1997 before reuniting in 2011. There are at least two more music videos for them where the band turns more and more into late-90s groups like Garbage and No Doubt in terms of looking polished and colorful. I feel like if I did Never Say Never and He’s Kissing Christian, then I’d need to do the two versions of Ready To Go by Republica and Don’t Speak by No Doubt respectively to go along with them.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Dog Police by Dog Police (1984, dir. Joe Mulherin)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

Seeing as Lisa requested I do Da Funk by Daft Punk, I thought it was appropriate to do a couple of other music videos leading up to it, including this infamous one.

Back in the 80s, there was a show on MTV called Basement Tapes. I can’t really find much information on it. As far as I can tell, they would air DIY music videos that were in a competition on the show. This music video was on it. Of course, decades later, YouTube got ahold of it, and now its truly the stuff of legends. This even spawned a failed pilot for a TV Show with Adam Sandler & Jeremy Piven called The Dog Police. Hopefully the video is still below.

It might seem crazy now, but remember that this was during the period when the cop-dog thing was at the height of its popularity courtesy of movies like Turner & Hooch (1989) and K-9 (1989). Other famous failed cop-dog TV Shows are the horrifying Poochinski and the short-lived Tequila and Bonetti.

Dog Police were a Devo-inspired band out of Memphis. To my knowledge, some, or all of the members now help teach music. At least that’s what one commenter on a 2008 article over on Stereogum said:

“Hahaha I just found out about this video, from the lead singer actually. I attend Southwest Tennessee Community College in Memphis, TN. As it turns out, the fellow who has been my mentor for a year on bass, guitar, and vocals is the bass player in pink, and the very knowledgeable drum/music theory professor is the lead singer. Trust me, this isn’t exactly something they’ve been bragging about, but Tom Lonardo (lead singer) showed it to a couple of students for some giggles this morning. The bassist is Sam Shoup. Both of these guys are very sought-after Memphis musicians in their respective talents. Sam arranges for the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the Orpheum theatre, and plays for the Memphis Opera when he’s not sessioning at Ardent Studios. Also, he is currently the director of the Jazz Ensemble at Southwest. I’m not sure what all of Tom’s endeavors include, but he is always playing around Memphis somewhere or lecturing at Southwest. Both of these guys have very generously set aside time to teach the eager young musical minds of tomorrow when they’re not doing their thing out in the world.”

There’s also a quote from the director there:

“I directed this video in Memphis in, I think, 1984. It was produced by Wayne Crook, the dog masks were created by an amazing guy named Bill Kopfler, and the cinematographer (16mm) was Larry McConkey, who overcame this experience to become one of the most revered Steadicam ops in the world — 100+ features and still going strong. Proof of his skill: the chorus shot at 1:32 is NOT fast-forward, it’s real time. Larry ran backwards with the Steadicam, turned a corner, then down 4 steps at the end of the shot, all the while keeping perfect framing. As I recall, he nailed in either 2 or 3 takes! Maybe not as unbelievable as Larry’s legendary two and a half minute Copacabana shot in Goodfellas, but amazing nonetheless!”

He isn’t kidding about Larry McConkey. Some of his credits include World War Z (2013), Django Unchained (2012), Hugo (2011), Shutter Island (2010), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & 2, Vanilla Sky (2001), Bringing Out The Dead (1999), Showgirls (1995), Free Willy (1993), Silence of the Lambs (1991), and a movie I still keep meaning to get around to seeing, Seven Minutes in Heaven (1985). At the time of writing this post, he has 129 credits in the Camera and Electrical Department section on IMDb.

Seeing as he was the steadicam operator on numerous Martin Scorsese films, that means Scorsese might have seen this music video. I love the image of Scorsese watching Dog Police. It’s not unrealistic. The third credit listed on IMDb in the Camera and Electrical Department is for After Hours (1985).

In addition, Larry McConkey worked on Three Kings (1999), which had Spike Jonze in it. Larry McConkey worked on The Good Shepherd (2006) that was produced by Francis Ford Coppola. This one is weaker, but since he worked on Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), it means he also has ties to Sofia Coppola since she got a “special thanks” credit. He worked on The Freshman (1994) with Marlon Brando. He also worked with Sofia’s cousin Nicolas Cage on four movies, including one of his earliest credits for the movie Birdy (1984). Since he worked with Nicolas Cage, that means that Dog Police has a connection to both the group That Dog and the music video for Da Funk through That Dog drummer Tony Maxwell and the character of Charles (Dog Boy) from Da Funk that he played seeing as he was also Cage’s body double in Adaptation (2002). Spike Jonze directed a music video for That Dog. McConkey worked on Little Nicky (2000) with Adam Sandler, which in turn means he connects the failed The Dog Police show into all of this. It all connects. He also won a lifetime achievement award from the Society of Camera Operators. You can go on and on with more McConkey connections, but I stop at the realization that The Godfather (1972) is connected to Dog Police.

I have mixed feelings about Dog Police. The song is like a cross between Devo and a Queen-like chorus. I just realized where that chorus comes from. It’s from the Spider-Man Theme Song by The Electric Company. Here is a particular episode of the show that also ties in with Dog Police and Da Funk.

That means Dog Police is connected to Marvel and Daft Punk had one of their songs used in Iron Man 2 (2010). That is also Morgan Freeman narrating who was in two movies that were worked on by Larry McConkey.

Getting back to what I was saying, the first thing I noticed about this song was how unbelievably catchy it is. It’s no wonder that you can now just listen to the song on that new YouTube topic thing.

I also noticed that if you watch the video closely, then you are seeing a woman who is persecuted because of presumedly liking to have sex like a dog. The bartender tips this secret police force that then comes in and drags her away to who knows where. However, since they are dogs themselves, it means they are not just a secret police, but a hypocritical secret police. A perfect fit for the 80s. I love how the waiter gives a short, but heartfelt performance in this.

It would be great if that was all there was to this music video. Da Funk has similar themes where someone who has always been different from everyone else, moves to the big city, and finds themselves dealing with having to get around on a broken leg, being a dog person, and being so tied to his radio because of its connection to his youth that he can’t get rid of it even though it means he has an opportunity to connect with an old friend in a new place snatched away from him. Unfortunately, while Da Funk does it right, Dog Police muddles the water. It doesn’t just have a clever political message. It was also meant to be funny in a crude manner and introduce the band to people. As a result, it gets its semi-offensive comedy mixed in with the other part.

Its still a lot of fun. I half wish they had fixed that issue. But that would also mean this amazingly ridiculous thing wouldn’t exist. I don’t want that.

The music video was produced by Wayne Crook, directed by Joe Mulherin, and the dog makeup was done by William Kopfler.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Dangerous by Big Data ft. Joywave (2014, dir. SCANTRON & Greg Yagolnitzer)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

At the time of writing this post, I only now found out that official lyric videos are a thing. I guess they figured that if enough people were making them, then they might as well do it themselves. There’s also at least two other semi-official music videos for this song as well. One is a remix and the other was constructed using concert footage. I’m not doing those ones.

If you’ve only seen the version of this where they used marketing most people are familiar with as an analogy, then this one is worth your time. It isn’t really a lyric video in the traditional sense, but one that gets to the point while also throwing in some lyrics here and there. Just like that other version, this one is also worth downloading and looking at carefully. They did a good job filling it with all kinds of subtle details to go along with the obvious stuff.

The thing I like best about this music video is that while I still find that it unnecessarily breeds paranoia and is counterproductive, it doesn’t feel patronizing like the other one. It relies on you using your brain and looking deeper into things that aren’t obfuscated by bashing heads, gay for pay, and other nonsense.

One example is that they go through several artists to show that they register on the Google Knowledge Graph until they reach White Sea, which results in a Wikipedia entry. They then cut to White Sea having a Twitter page and Joywave, that showed up in the Knowledge Graph, having a Facebook Page. The obvious part is that the Google Knowledge Graph pulls together all kinds of information including birthdates into a central location. The more subtle part, that is quickly glossed over by the runtime, is that it implies that the Knowledge Graph places more weight on an artist having a Facebook page than a Twitter page. It also reaches back to the overarching idea that “Big Data” is useful for predictive algorithms that allow things like autocomplete and targeted advertising.

Another example is that the video actually takes place over several days. They don’t really draw attention to it either. If you just watch the upper right hand corner throughout the video, then you’ll notice the different times, the changing battery levels, and other things up there.

At the end of the day, I am obligated to like this as an EECS major because it is probably the only music video I will ever see that has the kmalloc function in it. It is in one of the lines of code that pops up when they go to hackertyper.net.

The posting on YouTube tells me that this music video was directed by SCANTRON and Greg Yagolnitzer. SCANTRON has done numerous music videos, including several for Weezer. I am assuming it is a pseudonym, or a name used by different directors who work for Scantron Films. I can only find a couple of animation credits for Yagolnitzer on IMDb, but a quick Google search turns up a few other music video credits.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Dangerous by Big Data ft. Joywave (2014, dir. Brandon LaGanke & John Carlucci)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

I’ve sat through a bunch of paranoia “documentaries”/propaganda, movies where somebody thinks they are the first person to discover the sky is blue, and watched too many reviews of Internet horror films this year. In particular, I remember one piece of propaganda masquerading as a documentary on Netflix that said if you take your kid down the cereal aisle, then it is like shooting heroin into their veins. As a result, I am pretty apathetic about this music video.

At the end of the day, it’s well-done. There is another version of this music video that uses the Unfriended (2014) screenshare-style that even references Chatroulette in 2014 like that movie did. I prefer that version. I think it’s more clever and to the point.

I think films like this are counterproductive, but if are going to watch it, then download it so you can look at it more carefully. They stuck in some Easter eggs that you are likely to miss if you can’t take it frame-by-frame. YouTube just doesn’t have that kind of fine-grain control. A couple of examples are the board they are writing on that says “Sustainable Earth” at the top of it and the actual words on the notepad that the guy is drawing a penis on.

I wish I had more to say. It’s one of those things that you’ll either love or think is pretentious garbage. There isn’t much middle ground in my opinion aside from appreciating the attention to detail that went into making it.

The directors of this music video are probably best known for their pornographic music video they did for Taggart And Rosewood called Drone Boning that was shot using a drone. It earned them a nomination at the SXSW Film Festival.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: The Saga Begins by “Weird Al” Yankovic (1999, dir. Al Yankovic)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

I was going to try to get clever with Yankovic’s lyrics when it came to my own personal experience watching The Phantom Menace (1999) in theaters to start off this post. However, the best I could think of was that they might as well have locked the doors because the film was certainly trying to kill us. All these years later, the best thing about the prequels is still this song.

I haven’t seen The Force Awakens yet. It is currently at 187 in my Netflix queue. I’m not that excited. Mission: Impossible III (2006) was pretty bad. Star Trek (2009) was good, but I have no desire to see it again. Super 8 (2011) was fun in theaters, and when The Force Awakens (2015) came out, I had to look up the name because it was that forgettable. Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) was certainly a movie. I can’t say anything about it because it went in one ear and out the other too. Still, just like the other two prequels, I will see it and the other ones that Disney is going to make because…well…nostalgia and all. They can’t possibly have an actor in them that gives Alan Bagh a run for his money in the wooden acting department like the second and third prequels did. I am expecting it to be a Marvel movie, just like the live-action remakes of their old animated IP.

As for the music video and song, I don’t need to add anything. If you haven’t seen The Phantom Menace, then just listen to this song. It sums it up nicely in about five-and-a-half minutes while also being a fun parody of American Pie by Don McLean.

If it is still up, I have included some concert footage of Al from last year for The Force Awakens that includes this song and the one specifically about Yoda.

Beth LaMure and Craig Armstrong were producers on the music video. I can only find a few credits for LaMure, but her IMDb page tells me she worked for many more artists. Armstrong has gone on to do TV Series producing such as on Supernanny and Extereme Makeover: Home Edition.

Clyde Smith is credited for photography. He has worked as a cinematographer on many music related specials.

Dan Butts was the art director. He has worked as a production designer on TV stuff. He has also been the art director on a bunch of Playboy movies. No, that doesn’t include the one directed by Michael Bay.

Matthew Mungle did make-up. He seems to have been the most successful one and has been working in movies since the early 80s. We aren’t talking small movies here either. The list of his some 230+ credits go on and on. He won an oscar for Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). He even worked on Monster High (1989), which I reviewed for October 2015. I only bring it up because it has a scene that parodies the Emperor lightning hands scene from Return Of The Jedi (1983).

Enjoy both the music video, and the new Star Wars movie.

Music Video of the Day: The Walker by Fitz And The Tantrums (2013, dir. Warren Kommers)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

Did you know that if you are waiting in a long line in the heat with a guy that kind of looks like a cross between Martin Fry, Tony Hadley, and Philip Oakey, then you will become a dancing version of Michael Douglas in Falling Down (1993)? Director Warren Kommers knows. I like that it is a DMV line seeing as our hero has a Sammy Hagar moment with a cop before involving the other zombies from the DMV line in a dance that reminded me of Thriller. If your song is already called The Walker, then there has to be some Thriller reference in the music video.

I stopped listening to the radio a few years ago when I discovered my phone could play whatever I wanted in the car. However, I was still listening to my local alt-rock station a few years ago when this song became one of what seemed like five songs they played on an endless repeat. Thank goodness for our on demand world. It means that if a good song turns to crap from being overplayed, then you only have yourself to blame. Now that I am hearing it on my own terms, I like the song.

I find it funny that Michael Fitzpatrick does bear a resemblance to the very 80’s singers that he sings like. He was quoted in an interview describing the band’s, and his own, musical tastes:

“We [the band] all have a love affair with soul and funk music. For me, it’s obviously Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, the Supremes, all that stuff. My musical taste runs the gamut from Radiohead to Zeppelin to Major Lazer. My older brother was really into ’80s new wave, so a lot of the first records I got to borrow and steal were his.”

When I read that, I think ABC’s When Smokey Sings:

It looks like Warren Kommers is relatively new to doing music videos. He’s been working in movies and television since at least the early-2000s, but the first music video credit I can find is from 2013. He seems to like disconnected body parts, whether that be via gore, or laying bare the special effects that allow that to be done. Two of his videos for Big Black Delta showed the behind-the-scenes stuff. He also appears to like playing with flashing bodies that may change or just distort in some fashion. You can see changing in the video he did for When You Were Mine by Night Terrors Of 1927. Out of all of them, The Walker is my favorite.

James Fitzpatrick edited the music video and has worked with Kommers on three different music videos. He is responsible for the visual effects on the two Kommers’ directed music videos for Big Black Delta. He also edited a couple of music videos for director Megan Thompson. He was nominated for a VMA for his editing on this music video.

Candice Brittain did costume and wardrobe for the music video. She has around 30 credits for music videos, mostly in the department of wardrobe stylist according to IMVDb.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Let Forever Be by The Chemical Brothers (1999, dir. Michel Gondry)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

I recently decided to pin a tweet to my account saying I’ll take requests for music videos to do here. Lisa jumped on it in short order. Of her requests, I decided to go with this one first.

I was originally planning to go back and try to put this music video in some context, but I have a bad habit of biting off more than I can chew. If I were really to do that, then I would probably be going back at least as far as 1978, if not back to the 1960s. Forget that, I’ll get to those music videos in time. You don’t have to know anything about where elements of this music video come from to enjoy it.

The Chemical Brothers were probably my first introduction to this style of music. It never really stuck with me. I remember there being some show on MTV that generated screensaver-like patterns to songs such as Block Rockin’ Beats. That was enjoyable to catch late at night. But like I said, this genre of music never really became a thing for me.

I like the song, but it’s the music video that interests me. I won’t lie. I took one look at the thumbnail for the music video, and thought of Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush. Then I hit Michel Gondry’s IMVDb page and a few music videos caught my eye. He has done some for Björk because of course he has. Two other music videos that jumped out at me were Blow Me Down by Mark Curry and Les Jupes by RoBERT.

There’s a constant theme of distortion of reality in Gondry’s work. For example, you can see this in 1995’s Like A Rolling Stone by The Rolling Stones. You can see the spinning of reality to reveal fantasy in his version of Sheryl Crow’s A Change Would Do You Good where it’s a viewfinder rather than something you would expect in a musical. You can see the clock in Feel It by Neneh Cherry. Another interesting one to look at is Hou! Mama Mia by Les Negresses Vertes.

You can go on and on here piecing this music video together from Gondry’s previous work, but I won’t. To really do it justice would require doing a full retrospective of Gondry’s music videos.

You can go through and interpret the video. I’ll leave that to you. Gondry doesn’t make it cryptic. My favorite part is the television test pattern. I like how the clock is normal at the start when she wakes, blank when she goes to sleep, and giant when she buries herself under her covers at the end. The hour hand does a horizontal flip between the way it is shown at the start as opposed to the end. Also, the blank clock has the drum set on top of it that progressively moves from the sidewalk across the street to being in her apartment.

Just enjoy it! I did. Thank you for the recommendation, Lisa. Someday I’ll get around to going through all of Gondry’s work that I can get my hands on.

Georges Bermann and Julie Fong produced the music video. They both worked mainly with Gondry.

K.K. Barrett was the art director. I can only find a couple of credits, but three of them happen to be ones that have already been done here. He was the “Philosophical Consultant” on Weapon Of Choice by Fatboy Slim. I still have no idea what that means. He was the production designer on Elektrobank by The Chemical Brothers. He was also the art director for Tonight, Tonight by The Smashing Pumpkins. That means they hired an art director who is famous for working on a remake of a classic example of Cinema of Spectacle (A Trip To The Moon), would go on to do a Fred Astaire inspired music video, and had already done a music video with The Chemical Brothers. Even more so, he was doing music like this known as electropunk back in the 1970s with a group called The Screamers. You can see him on drums in the video below–assuming it is still up.

He has also worked on famous films like Her (2013) and Lost In Translation (2003).