french new wave, independents, next?

[Pubrick]

So I'm waiting for a backlash of, I dunno, a different set of folks to start making films. The anti tv, anti video game, anti music video wave.

Let me know if I'm still missing the point...

hah it looks like u are waiting for the Amish to make movies.

dude, hav u even seen any jonathan glazer videos? Rabbit in Your Headlights is a masterpiece to rival Windowlicker. have u ever seen videos outside of what is shown on MTV? u denounce video directors for one set of reasons and hate the ones who hav made it for another set. make up ur mind.

maybe ur just saying that the majority of music videos are shit and unimaginative "commercials". that is obvious and true. the same can be said of movies. the point was made and confirmed that new artists emerging from the field of music videos hav the potential to revolutionize film making. if that notion frightens u than it is ur own fault. cos the stuff we've seen so far from the best vid directors only promises better things to come.

i feel sorry for anyone in advance, who won't acknowledge cunningham as the savior he will be. and aforementioned mv directors (gondry, jonze, glazer) as the most exciting thing since opposable thumbs.

[SoNowThen]

It's certainly fair for you to think they're gonna revolutionize, and it's true, I don't see many vids outside the mainstream (though I have seen some of Jonze's), but nah, the directors I'm putting my money on are still PTA, Wes, QT. I can't really think of anybody younger who has struck me as amazing.

Am I forgetting somebody (besides the folks we already mentioned)?



EDIT - oh, after re-reading it three times, now I see what you meant. You're saying the only good mv directors that cross over are gonna be the ones who pretty much reject the mv style, yes?

[cron]

there's already a title for  the Wes-type of directors. I think it's called "The New Sincerity".


blah , if you ask me.
from this day on, i won't use the words "New" and "Wave" . i'm having flashbacks to when i used to like Korn, but then everybody started to like them. You know where i'm going with this.

[grand theft sparrow]

so GT, how do you hold the music video generation in following the same trend of tarantino-esque films?  the thing w/ taranintino-esque films that they exploit his style and structure.  if you pay close attention to a few of these music video directors, they're very passionate about carrying their feelings, personality, and ideas over to the story. i really think a few of these guys are going to revelotunize film because of their vigorous approach to experimenting with the medium. besides, the directors don't exploiate content, structure, or ideas that's what writers do.  as long as these music video directors (jonze, gondry, fincher) make the right choices for story they won't cheat the medium or themselves.

Filmmakers can most definitely exploit. They can use an over abundance of style when it isn't needed. An example of this (though not a video director originally, but influenced by still) is Rob Marshall and all his unnecessary camera angles and edits in Chicago. Stylistically, it made no sense to have because it took away from the performances which should have been the backbone of the film, but of course, none of the main actors could really dance either so Marshall may have been trying to hide that fact. Filmmakers post-Tarantino have exploited on style when not necessary and so have music video directors (actually, by their nature, they do it most.) This is also a hard topic to really argue on because you see greatness from someone like Spike Jonze. I have yet to like a film done by Spike Jonze so there's a whole 'nother argument right there.

Anyways, if you haven't heard it yet, welcome to the board! Hope you stick around and good first topic.

You nailed exactly why I didn't like Chicago.  I enjoyed the Broadway show but really disliked the movie and, until now, I blamed it on excessive hype and my dislike for Renee Zellweger.  But you got it exactly right.

And concerning Spike Jonze, you'll notice that most of his videos have a very specific story, or bare minimum, a specific theme.  He is a natural storyteller which made him such a popular video director in the first place.  

But yeah, most video directors do champion style over substance; as you pointed out, it's the nature of the work.  You'll notice that a lot of videos are rehashes of familiar scenes from movies (like P. Diddy's preoccupation with John Woo's doves, or Eminem riffing - oddly - on The Hudsucker Proxy).  And, sadly, that's why we have more movies like Torque or Bulletproof Monk, that themselves are rehashes of movies we've already seen rather than films like Adaptation or Fight Club.

But the joke's on us because just enough people go to see these crap movies to make it profitable.

[Pubrick]

EDIT - oh, after re-reading it three times, now I see what you meant. You're saying the only good mv directors that cross over are gonna be the ones who pretty much reject the mv style, yes?

sort of. instead of 'reject' i would say "evolve their own" style to suit the new medium.

i strongly urge u to watch at least the director label dvds to further ur knowledge of what music videos can be, that is often just as powerful as movies. one could easily compare Come to Daddy with the essence of The Shining.

[soixante]

If music videos are unworthy of artistic respect, why would PTA and Jonathan Demme and Scorsese direct music videos?  It is not the medium, it's what you do with it that counts.

[Gold Trumpet]

If music videos are unworthy of artistic respect, why would PTA and Jonathan Demme and Scorsese direct music videos?  It is not the medium, it's what you do with it that counts.

Its weird for me. I dislike most of the films from music video directors but I like many of their music videos. I think the problem is that there is so much gloss to these films because of their nature of style that they usually don't prove to be good enough to last 2 hours. So far, with a few exceptions, the experimentation of music videos seems to be short film material only. But, really, whats bad about not having to spend 2 hours to watch every film? I think the business is screaming for theatres to open up to short films, discount the prices and leave one theatre open out of a multi plex to replay 5 short films over and over all day long. It just hasn't happened yet, but its a nice hope.


To get back to some general issues: Romanek and Glazer felt to me that they were normalizing their approach to film and losing a lot of the identity of the music video style, but I didn't like Sexy Beast or One Hour Photo all that much. Spike Jonze feels like he is trying to transmit his style to film and actually go for it, but I think the writing has failed him everytime and he hasn't tried to really impress in his filmmaking the way a City of God did for material that is already stock for Hollywood.