Stories Via the Song

I might be a bit biased because I worked on this video, but I think it does a really great job of telling a story via the song with out being annoyingly overt in relation to what the song is about. Does that make sense?:)
Also, it's shot really well and the pacing is perfect.




I'm sure you all of have seen this video, but I really love it. The color, the camera work and performative aspects are all so cohesive.
The subtly of story is perfect and leaves a mysticism that very much compliments her voice and music.
And again the pacing of the edit with the rhythm of the music is great.

Some Music Videos for Thought

I really like the way this song has been remixed and the pace changed, but the melody still kept the same. I also enjoy the visuals that change with the beat. When all of these clips are put together they make a very beautiful, although random, assortment.

I remember the first time I ever saw the music video for "Follow You Into the Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie. My cousin and I were at a family get together and he pulled me over to our grandpa's computer and showed it to me. When it was over, he just looked at me and was said "isn't that cool? It's like what the heck? But it's really simple". I like that the story is mysterious yet simple, and at the end there is a twist. I also like that it fits the song, but at the same time it doesn't.

This music video is very simple and made up of drawings strung together that give it a very jumpy quality. I think it fits the mood of the song very nicely and makes for a visually interesting and intellectually relaxing piece of video.

I love this music video because it combines post secret with a driving alternative rock song. The song itself is good, and the secrets make the video very entertaining. It also forces the viewer to pay attention so they can read all the secrets on the screen.

This music video is one of my new favorites. I heard the song while I was sitting in traffic in Los Angeles and immediately fell in love with it. I've been looking for a music video that went along with it, and they have finally posted one. I love the use of scratched film combined with digital. The art direction is perfect for the feel of the beach, using lots of yellows, reds and oranges. The editing is also fantastic because it goes with the beat and allows for a variety of shots that focus on not just the band or the "lovers" but also the people and sights of the places they go. Overall the video just suits the song perfectly.

Music You Can Watch

I am really looked forward to the music video. A couple of bands I am thinking of are The Conquerors and Daughters of the Sun. The Conquerors are some of my friends from Kansas City, one of which I have already done a music video for. The other band I met earlier this year, they played a show in Kansas City then another show in Columbia the next day.

Here are some links if you want to check them out.

The Conquerors

http://www.myspace.com/theeconquerors

Daughters of the Sun

http://www.myspace.com/daughtersofthesun

Both of these bands have some really good music, I highly recommend giving them a listen.

Also, here are some music videos that I have found on my many youtube binges...

This one makes me feel like I am watching one of those classic Coca Cola commercials... I like that it is simple though and gives you a warm fuzzy feeling after watching it.

Bedding for this one was disabled but you should definitely check it out.

Peaches - "Billionaire"

This one is a video I did last year.

Beach House Music Videos

Beach House recently came out with a spectacular album, Teen Dream. A really fantastic component to their album is a full DVD of music videos by different artists. Each have a completely different style and are totally fabulous. Check out their website.

One of my favorite things!

So todays class to me was very exciting when we talked about sound and audio. I have always had an obsession with sound and how it can work with video. Michel Gondry has been one of my favorite filmmakers for quite some time now, his work was one of the key reasons I was interested in film in the first place (along with my critiquing talents!). Today seeing "Fell in love with a girl" was really awesome and got my wheels turning on some other videos that I would love to share. The first is by Mountain Man, they are a three piece of women and this is just a display of how sound can be captured and is amazing in a natural setting. The are singing in a tunnel in San Fransico.

Mountain Man "Mouthwings" [part 1 of 3] from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

Another video that is around the lines of syncing up audio to visual. This video is by Chris Cunningham, who is another that inspired me, but in a slightly darker way. The artistic talent he has in manipulating video images is quite cool. This is a video he did for Squarpusher.

Squarepusher - Come On My Selector

The final video I would like to share for the evening is just because I LOVE Liars, they are my favorite band, and this video, well I just like it and think you should watch it :).

Liars "Scissor" from A Bruntel on Vimeo.

Some notes on sound and music...

Luigi Russolo, futurist artist of the very early 20th century, was perhaps the first noise artist. In 1913, he published L'Arte dei Rumori (The Art of Noises), a manifesto about non-traditional instruments. The image here is of Russolo with his Intonarumori, noise-generating devices that he designed and constructed. Russolo assembled a noise orchestra with his instruments, and his most famous performance, the Gran Concerto Futuristico (1917) was met with strong disapproval and even violence from the audience (as he himself had predicted).

What is Sound?

Sound can be described as a traveling wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas. These vibrations are sensed by the organs of hearing and interpreted as sound. Using electrical or mechanical inscription, sound waves are recorded and then can be played back. Recording and reproduction can be analog or digital. Typically, sound is recorded using a microphone, a device which has a diaphragm that can detect changes in atmospheric pressure (acoustic sound waves) and can then convert them into an electrical signal that can be recorded. Digital recording and reproduction converts an analog sound signal from a microphone to a digital form by a process of digitization where audio is translated into series of binary numbers in a way that the human ear perceives the result as continuous sound. Digital recordings are considered higher quality than analog recordings not necessarily because they have higher fidelity, but because the digital format can prevent much loss of quality found in analog recording due to noise and electromagnetic interference in playback, and mechanical deterioration or damage to the storage medium. 

Terms and styles to explore:

Noise Music

Musique concrète

Sound Art

Sound Collage

Soundscape

Sampling

Electronic music
Radio plays / Radio dramas

Hiphop

Chopped & Screwed

Crunk

Baile funk / Carioca funk

Below are some links to works or references from class:

First Sound Recording Ever Made?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4-Bm6tAM00

I Am Sitting In A Room (by Alan Lucier, 1969): http://ubu.artmob.ca/sound/source/Lucier-Alvin_Sitting.mp3

Mashing/Remixing:

DJ Kool Herc talks about break beats: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw4H2FZjfpo

Ms. Jackson Chopped & Screwed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z0H4UEwhCM

Greg Gillis (Girl Talk) shows how he samples: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KykbPtRb0K4

Some music videos:

White Stripes: "Fell in Love with a Girl" (dir. Michel Gondry): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRDi67G0Siw

Lykke Li: "Little Bit" (dir. Mattias Montero): http://www.lykkeli.com/films.htm

Radio programs:

Radio Lab: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/
* We listened to an excerpt from the "Musical Language" episode

This American Life: http://www.thisamericanlife.org 

Other related sites:

Free Music Archive:  http://freemusicarchive.org/genre/Experimental/

OpSound: http://opsound.org/ 

Last FM: http://www.last.fm/

Below: DJ Spooky (Paul Miller) talks about the history of media and shares his thoughts on the roles and challenges of media in contemporary culture. He discusses and demonstrates the unexpected side effects of free speech, law, and copyright while showing the power of remixed art. He ends with a discussion about the future and meaning of remix culture. 

Striving to create another reality with Experimental Media

I recently returned from Australia. I went with visions of adventure, prepared for cultural awakening and excitement. I returned slightly disappointed by the Australian mode of operation and the identity crisis that much of urban Australia seems to be facing. However, the Australian art community was far from a let down, and I've found it continues to infiltrate my world two months later and a half a globe away.

While in "Oz" I picked up several art publications one of which is the comprehensive Artlink. I was immediately drawn to the magazine and have carried it with me most days, pulling it out whenever I find a spare second in my day to concentrate on it's well written articles. But it wasn't until recently that I found new pertinence for it in my life...
"The Underground" is the focus for this quarters publication, and this theme compliments many of the ideas and projects that we are exploring in Experimental Media. Experimenting with various mediums, pushing artistic boundaries, and art as a radical means of cultural excavation are present themes, and lend to an understanding of the larger community in which experimental media exists.

As we were given our first class assignment, the creation of a zine, I flipped to an article I had recently read in my underground Artlink, "Discovery and adventure in the zine world". Author and zine-artist Vanessa Berry poignantly describes the value of these unique creations within our techno-driven society. But what struck me was the way in which she described the below ground world in which zines exist. The Underground is likened to Alice's adventures in Wonderland,

"Discovering the rabbithole is only a small part of the story. What follows is Alice's adventure, and it is here the strange, mixed-up world she has entered is revealed. It's power comes from its comparison with the everyday... She is found in a place that where things are not as they seem, yet is also free from the constraints of conventional logic."

Her description of entering Wonderland and the unique perimeters and philosophy embedded in the space deeply parallels my thoughts on penetrating and working in the realm of experimental media. Furthermore, the alternate reality that can be constructed in the Underground is similar to my perception of what is possible in the Experimental, "another reality that exists alongside the expected, everyday one... places where conventional time, laws and linkage are subverted." To my mind this is what experimental media strives to work with and create.
It isn't everyday that you're invited down the rabbithole, ... I'm excited to discover the world that will be constructed from turning the key.