I got the Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry dvds last week.
They were equally great. There were 5 great videos missing from the Jonze one and 1 or 2 on the gondry, but they are great.
I'm not too interested in the chris cunningham.
Are they making other ones? Anything to say?
Haven't seem 'em, will get 'em all. As for who's next, I posted somewhere else that there are sets from Fincher and Mark Romanek due in the near future.
Great DVDs... I could live without the Cunningham one though. Gondry has a great body of work. I can't think of any other video directors that would be worth making a compilation for.
I think Shynola would be good for this series, although since they're still creating a lot of work it'd probably be best to wait a while.
Worst possible scenario (or one of them, at least: a David Meyers collection. Errggghhh.
i wish it was possible to get all the Beck videos on a disc.
New Pollution is probably my favorite video ever.
another favorite (All about the Benjamins rock remix) isn't
in the Spike collection and this makes me want to rage.
Speaking of Michel Gondry, I'm getting tired of studios jerking
the people around with release dates on movies they're not too sure about.
I read that Eternal Sunshine OTSM is getting a limited release in Nov. and a wide release in february. if this is true I will continue to rage.
I would stage a boycott if I didn't want to see it so fucking badly.
Anyone notice that there are different beginnings to the Gondry disc the very first thing?
I just bought the Spike Jonze and the Chris Cunningham discs. They did not have the Gondry disc in stock. I heard that there is some short film on the Gondry disc featuring David Cross. Is this true?
I picked up the Spike Jonze DVD last weekend. I thought it was great -- I had only seen a few of his music videos prior to this, so it was all fairly new to me.
Magazine articles always mention how he seems to have a speech impediment, but he was pretty articulate whenever you'd hear him on this disc.
At any rate, he is less of an enigma now.
~Teen Wolf
I saw the Spike Jonze DVD at Suncoast for $16.99 for anyone who cares.
yes it's true there is a short film featuring david cross
it's pretty funny too. (at the end)
Quote from: BigBadDeathI'm not too interested in the chris cunningham.
You will be.
Quote from: Slick ShoesMagazine articles always mention how he seems to have a speech impediment
That's cause he messes with the interviewer
Hey, didn't
Gondry do the video for Radiohead's Knive's Out?
The Michel Gondry one is amazing. A good primer for his film coming out soon.
btw Amazon.com has all three in a set for like $36
I wasn't going to get the Spike Jonze disc until I saw he did the "What's Up FatLip" video.
I was kind of disappointed that the video for Ween's "Freedom of '76" wasn't included on the Spike Jonze disc, especially since there's a picture of it in the little booklet that's included in the DVD. I wonder what the problem was with including it.
Why doesn't anybody think the Chris Cunningham DVD is worth getting? My local video store doesn't even stock them.. is he a stinker or what? :?
Michel Gondry kicked my ass. Love his work. Can't wait for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
i bought all 3 and i love them. i wonder if they're gonna make anymore of these great dvds?
Quote from: meatballWhy doesn't anybody think the Chris Cunningham DVD is worth getting? My local video store doesn't even stock them.. is he a stinker or what? :?
HE IS THE BEST OF THEM ALL.
Well, so far the Michel Gondry's my favorite, with Spike coming in second. I'll check out the Chris Cunningham.
what i think is great about this series is that the 3 directors chosen all have very uniques and individual style. and the set works together to show the differences between each director. it's like there is a DVD for everyone's personality. personally I am a Michel Gondry type. I like Cunningham, but I think a lot of people view his work as overtly dark, and perhaps more polarizing because of this. Spike Jonze is a crzy cat, but in my opinion a bit pretentious. the whole 'messing with interviewers' thing, wile fun and cute, is a damm bit annoying b/c he rarely offers insight into his work. Plus, at least for me, knowing he is the heir to the Spiegel Catalog fortune and that he is married into Hollywood royalty inbues his work and connections with less validity. As weird as it sounds. It's like the band Phantom Planet, or Roman and Sophia Coppola's films. While they are great filmmakers and artists, they wouldn't be anything without papa Francis footing the development money.
Plus Spike's best work, IMHO, has been with the Beasties and I already have their Criterion DVD.
At any rate, they all look awesome, but it's kind of like an ice cream shop to me. You may like all the flavors, but one is your favorite.
yes, Gondry directed Knives Out....i love that video
apparently there is a Radiohead DVD in the works for 2004......rumored to have some live stuff and the Radiohead TV episodes from their websites.......andi think possibly all the videos since 7 TV Commercials.......here's hoping!!!!
Quote from: SHAFTRI wasn't going to get the Spike Jonze disc until I saw he did the "What's Up FatLip" video.
I didn't know he did it either and I was excited to see it. And all those Beastie Boys videos. Mmm.
Quote from: SHAFTRI wasn't going to get the Spike Jonze disc until I saw he did the "What's Up FatLip" video.
that is my favorite video on the spike jonze collection! viva la fatlip!! i love the documentary too!
Quote from: analogzombieat least for me, knowing he is the heir to the Spiegel Catalog fortune and that he is married into Hollywood royalty inbues his work and connections with less validity. As weird as it sounds.
you can't help which family you're born into or who you fall in love with. i really don't see how this makes his work or his skills as a director less valid.
chris cunningham has his own thread, u know.
this is gonna be sickkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk. i seen that clip of the dude spazzing with the shrieks and spine tingling buzzes before when they used it to advertise Drukqs.. apparently that's cc himself in that clip.
but do u realise how sickkkkk Ranx/Happy Birthday Lubna is gonna be? and here i was, foolishly thinking there was nothing left to live for. *dreamy sigh*
Yeah, I've seen all 3. The reason people seem to be disappointed with the Cunningham disk is that it has the least amount of work on it. I already knew most of Jonze's work. I think the Gondry disk is the real prize. He has an amazing sense of breaking music down to visual fractions.
Quote from: mutinycoI think the Gondry disk is the real prize. He has an amazing sense of breaking music down to visual fractions.
yes he's almost literal about it. the best thing he does is create mazes that the viewer must work through, (let forever be, star guitar, bachelorette) so in that sense he engages u deeply in a game. his work is brilliant, but i prefer what cunningham does in really owning the sound. he creates an atmosphere that not only literally resonates within the soundscape, but goes beyond the audible into the very essence of what created the sound. just look at this bit from Come to Daddy..
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.director-file.com%2Fcunningham%2F5266.jpg&hash=b32528dd4bcdf9e430f8677fbfe8d51a2094cd62)
that scream is seriously mindblowing/soulshattering on so many levels.
they hav similar approaches, i guess. cunningham is just sort of more ..human.
So I just got the Spike Jonze dvd. Worth the money just for the Fatlip video. I still have some exploring to do with the other directors. Is there a list of what videos are on each disc?
P, I've been looking for that pic for a while...the biggest image that stayed in my mind after seeing the video.
Who directed the u can't touch this......and ice ice baby video(s)....?????
are they one in the same?
Directors Share Stories from Behind the Videos
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Wires must have gotten crossed at the North Pole this year because under the Christmas tree at our house, we ended up with three copies of the Palm Pictures DVD series "Directors Label: The Works of Spike Jonze, Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry."
Not that anyone is complaining. Narrated by the three young wise men of modern-day motion imagery, the DVD compilations provide hilarious and heartbreaking tours through various production and postproduction nightmares that occurred during the making of some of the most iconic music videos that have aired in the past two decades.
In one of the darker moments, Cunningham provides a glimpse into a filmmakers' postproduction hell when he painfully relives viewing the dailies for the Bjork video "All Is Full of Love," a clinical yet simultaneously intimate ode to industrial robot romance.
"My strength is sculpting stuff up in post," Cunningham says. "(The footage) was pretty ramshackle; in the Avid, it looked awful . . . so cheap and nasty. I had a panic attack looking at the rushes in telecine. Only when (London post house) Glassworks was doing the (head replacement) stuff -- about six to seven shots in ... up until that point, I had no faith in computer graphics. Now I'm a convert."
In the 75-minute short film "I've Been 12 Forever," Gondry makes use of ink drawings, illustrated T-shirts, a hand-recorded phonograph, wall projections, velvet pin-hole skies, dioramas, flipbooks, historical re-enactments, an interview with his mother and, among other mediums, old Super 8mm family films to investigate what it is exactly that inspires him.
"I think inspiration comes in many ways," Gondry says. "You have your own way to solve problems -- that's inspiration."
It's a pretty low-key estimation coming from one of the most inspiring and magical filmmakers working today. And as an almost tacit admission to the absurdity of talking earnestly on camera about personal inspiration, Gondry's girlfriend streaks through the frame, pretty much on cue.
In his own DVD, Jonze says he first met Gondry at a Cibo Matto concert when, because of a mild language barrier and the high-frequency noise factor, the French director mistook Jonze for the band's bus driver and blew him off. When Gondry finally realized that Jonze also was a music video director, the two met up at Du-Par's restaurant on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles and ultimately decided to do the DVD directors series together.
One of the most telling aspects of the DVD series is hearing various musicians talk about the creative collaborations experienced during the making of their music videos. Bjork, whose videos are featured on each of the DVDs, is clearly a muse for all three directors, inspiring some of their best work.
Jonze also clearly finds inspiration in working with Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon. He also frequently cites Sofia Coppola, who, at one point -- thanks to some clever camerawork and an agile body double -- performs as a competitive high school gymnast in the Chemical Brothers video "Electrobank."
Each director's DVD also includes a 52-page booklet of original photographs, storyboards, drawings and interviews that are well worth a peek for anyone interested in a little insight into the filmmaking process.
Great Article Mac, I can't stress this dvd set enough. It's cheap and a good thing to throw on to watch and drink some beers, or just to throw on and put on mute while you have a bunch of friends over and are playing cards.
Quote from: StefenIt's cheap and a good thing to throw on to watch and drink some beers, or just to throw on and put on mute while you have a bunch of friends over and are playing cards.
Hmmmm...I don't drink, I have no friends and I can't watch it if I'm playing solitare. :yabbse-undecided:
Quote from: MacGuffinQuote from: StefenIt's cheap and a good thing to throw on to watch and drink some beers, or just to throw on and put on mute while you have a bunch of friends over and are playing cards.
Hmmmm...I don't drink, I have no friends and I can't watch it if I'm playing solitare. :yabbse-undecided:
Well then you my friend need to buy yourself a new baseball cap. Problems solved!
Quote from: StefenWell then you my friend need to buy yourself a new baseball cap. Problems solved!
Worst therapist ever.
I just re-watched some of the Jonze DVD and realized something: that part where Jonze is dancing with his troupe out in front of the movie theatre is less than a minute from where I live... I rule!!!
Quote from: Slick ShoesI just re-watched some of the Jonze DVD and realized something: that part where Jonze is dancing with his troupe out in front of the movie theatre is less than a minute from where I live... I rule!!!
yeah, it's in westwood, near ucla.
Yesterday I bought the Jonze-DVD and it's fucking great!
I simply love it!
The music videos are great, especially the Beastie Boys stuff, "California" by Wax and "Feel The Pain" by Dinosaur Jr.
I like especially the features on the B-side with Spike's rarities and documentarys. "The Oasis Video that never happened" was a quiet cool idea and "Amarillo By Morning" is a really great documentary. I also loved "What's Up Fatlip?", especially the part when Fatlip tells the story of him almost having sex with a man.
Did anybody else think that the Fatlip-documentary was sometimes really kind of sad?
And there's a trailer for a "Adaptation"-Special Editon-DVD....
Quote from: Spike
And there's a trailer for a "Adaptation"-Special Editon-DVD....
why!? why?! why?! btw, Spike , are you the guy who took a photo with Spike Jonze at a Skateboarding convention or something? it's in the Charlie Kaufman site.
Quote from: chuckhimselfoQuote from: Spike
And there's a trailer for a "Adaptation"-Special Editon-DVD....
why!? why?! why?! btw, Spike , are you the guy who took a photo with Spike Jonze at a Skateboarding convention or something? it's in the Charlie Kaufman site.
No, I'm not the guy, although I would do anything to meet Spike.
I'm so happy now that I haven't bought the "Adaptation"-DVD yet! Now I'm going to wait for the SE, which will hopefully contain a commentary with Spike, Charlie and Cage.
The series has opened my mind to some great songs and bands, so even if not for finding out abuot new directors, I have seen new music as well.
Quote from: Spike
And there's a trailer for a "Adaptation"-Special Editon-DVD....
It's just the Adaptation theatrical trailer with "Special Edition DVD Coming Soon" tagged on at the end.
yes, it would be great if there was a Mark Romanek one, or a Paul Hunter (legend) one, or a Hammer + Tongs one, (you can see all their videos at www.hammerandtongs.co.uk ,tho) and specially a Shynola one. or a Jonathan Glazer one.
EDIT: wait, i'm forgetting Brett Ratner.
Quote from: chuckhimselfo.yes, it would be great if there was a Mark Romanek one.
http://www.markromanek.com/faq.html
are there any plans to release a dvd compilation of your music videos?yes. a comprehensive dvd is currently in production and will appear in 2004. it will be released by palm pictures as part of their new 'director's label' series (the same label that just released dvd compilations of the work of spike jonze, michel gondry, and chris cunningham). there will be interviews with most -- if not all -- of the artists i've worked with, a full-color fifty page booklet, and an extensive assortment of bonus materials.
these dvd's are fantastic. i feel so proud of owning them. do you also feel proud of owning them?
Quote from: chuckhimselfothese dvd's are fantastic. i feel so proud of owning them. do you also feel proud of owning them?
i feel proud of seeing all the videos on the dvds before they even planned to make a collection and start the cunningham bandwagon. i also feel proud of leading said bandwagon.
Quote from: PQuote from: chuckhimselfothese dvd's are fantastic. i feel so proud of owning them. do you also feel proud of owning them?
i feel proud of seeing all the videos on the dvds before they even planned to make a collection and start the cunningham bandwagon. i also feel proud of leading said bandwagon.
P you really inspire me, you really do. :wink:
"I'm fucking starving!"
-David Cross (Gondry DVD)
Quote from: analogzombiebtw Amazon.com has all three in a set for like $36
Yes, right here (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000E660E/ref=pd_sim_dv_1/103-7365139-5256649?v=glance&s=dvd)...
After Netflixing them, I'm finally going to buy the set. No one has an excuse not to buy this... $35 is really worth it.
It's just too bad the Gondry disc is missing two crucial Radiohead videos: There There and Karma Police.
i love the story björk tells when she and spike jonze met for the first time. classic.
I like Michel Gondry's stories and interviews, he gives his dad a lot of importance.
Quote from: Jeremy BlackmanIt's just too bad the Gondry disc is missing two crucial Radiohead videos: There There and Karma Police.
I'm disappointed by the lack of Knives Out too (especially since it's shown in the preview), but I think There There was directed by Chris Hopewell.
Didn't Chris Hopewell directed There There? Gondry directed Knives Out.
Edit: And Jonathan Glazer directed Karma Police...
but this is xixax, so all this could be sarcasm.
Quote from: cronopioDidn't Chris Hopewell directed There There? Gondry directed Knives Out.
Edit: And Jonathan Glazer directed Karma Police...
but this is xixax, so all this could be sarcasm.
My mistake. I was positive he directed There There, though, because of the stunning similarities to Human Behavior.
I read a tiny interview with Chris Hopewell where he talked about how nervous he was of directing There There, because of all Radiohead previous videos. Kinda like with Chris Cunningham and Björk.
....i recently bought the cunningham set....and i am glad i did ....his sh*t is dark but very cool....remeinds me if david lynch/bunuel/aronofsky had a kid together it would be cunningham....his images phucked me up....so he's cool...that flex sh*t is my fav. next to the AT vids....
I LOVE these things. They're like digital crack. I have the Gondry and Jonze ones and I'm going to pick up the Cunningham this weekend. Gondry is by far my favorite and it's just completely breaktaking to see the ideas, set production and execution of his work. Jonze is very loose and "idot savant" style to his stuff. His execution is no where near that of Gondry's but it's the way he comes up with the ideas that make if fascinating.
Also, if you've yet to purchase any of the three, go to Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000E660E/102-7545432-9840155?v=glance). They're only $34.87 for the set.
And I'm getting more and more convinced the search function is fake.
Quote from: RaikusAnd I'm getting more and more convinced the search function is fake.
the problem everyone has is they don't click "SEARCH FOR ALL TERMS" do that, and type in Director Label. tell me that doesn't work. and if u wanna get
really wacky, specify to search only in forum DVD TALK.
i'm getting more and more convinced i'm the only person who has ever used the internet.
I don't know what the hell I did the first time. I searched for "Works of Director" first with All Terms and just got a jumble of results. Now, however, it's the first one. I must have typoed or something.
Quote from: GhostboyWorst possible scenario (or one of them, at least: a David Meyers collection. Errggghhh.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Quote from: Pubricki'm getting more and more convinced i'm the only person who has ever used the internet.
Holy cow! Al Gore posts here!! :wink:
hey u, get back to work. :evil:
Quote from: themodernage02
http://www.markromanek.com/faq.html
are there any plans to release a dvd compilation of your music videos?
yes. a comprehensive dvd is currently in production and will appear in 2004. it will be released by palm pictures as part of their new 'director's label' series (the same label that just released dvd compilations of the work of spike jonze, michel gondry, and chris cunningham). there will be interviews with most -- if not all -- of the artists i've worked with, a full-color fifty page booklet, and an extensive assortment of bonus materials.
I heard rumors of a Fincher one as well, what others are being planned for later this year (or whenever)?
hopefully glazer
hopefully not joseph kahn.
be honest, you all want one of Paul Hunter's.
Quote from: meatwadhopefully glazer
other than Sexy Beast and the fantrabulictical Jahmayorickwhy vdo, whut el's did e doo?
Quote from: picolasother than Sexy Beast and the fantrabulictical Jahmayorickwhy vdo, whut el's did e doo?
blur - the universal
massive attack - karmacoma
nick cave and the bad seeds - into my arms (haven't seen that one)
radiohead - karma police
radiohead - street spirit
richard ashcroft - a song for the lovers
unkle - rabbit in your headlights
and a handful of ads and shit.
:-D
oh nice.
way to get me all fan'd up.
I have a confession to make: Amarillo by Morning made me cry . :(
Quote from: picolasoh nice.
way to get me all fan'd up.
haha, yeah... but i think it's not enough of vids to compile on a dvd though.
Quote from: mogwaiQuote from: picolasoh nice.
way to get me all fan'd up.
haha, yeah... but i think it's not enough of vids to compile on a dvd though.
Thats about how many videos the cunningham disc had. I'd love to see a Glazer dvd.
They should make a Hammer and Tongs (http://www.tongsville.com/cinemahtml/cinema.html) Director's Label DVD set. It would be cool to have all their videos on DVD, their short films and commercials are interesting too.
Maybe they will do it closer to when the Hitchhiker's film comes out.
Quote from: FishbulbThey should make a Hammer and Tongs (http://www.tongsville.com/cinemahtml/cinema.html) Director's Label DVD set.
absolutely agree, supergrass's "pumping on your stereo" is one of the best vids.
Quote from: mogwaiQuote from: FishbulbThey should make a Hammer and Tongs (http://www.tongsville.com/cinemahtml/cinema.html) Director's Label DVD set.
absolutely agree, supergrass's "pumping on your stereo" is one of the best vids.
speaking of hammer & tongs, has anybody seen their short film they did about Bon Jovi's pool cleaner? It's pretty funny, and i think Garth Jennings (1/2 of H &T) plays the pool cleaner.
I also doubt they would do thier Directors Label DVD anytime soon, since they are working of the Hitchhikers film.
Quote from: meatwadspeaking of hammer & tongs, has anybody seen their short film they did about Bon Jovi's pool cleaner? It's pretty funny, and i think Garth Jennings (1/2 of H &T) plays the pool cleaner.
YES! oh man, that thing is hilarious. when i saw badly drawn boy about 2 or 3 years ago they played that on a big screen before he came out. it was extra funny because they didnt even use the screen the rest of the show, they just put it back up and he came out. it seemed so random at the time, but really funny.
I really hope they release a Dayton/Faris collection. Some of their notable work includes Jane's Addiction "Been Caught Stealing", Smashing Pumpkins "1979" & "Tonight, Tonight", Oasis "All Around the World", Red Hot Chili Peppers "Otherside".
Good stuff.
I got the Director's Label DVDs in the mail yesterday.
Michel Gondry has won my heart. It's love. It really is.
Here is our most recent photo together: (https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stonetemplepilots.com%2Fubb%2Fgraemlins%2Finlove.gif&hash=2f7e6f164fac93431fa3d05e01ccaa68c47e39a9)
Has this been posted elsewhere?
From www.director-file.com (http://www.director-file.com/gondry/B.html):
We can now confirm that the Directors Label will release another trio of DVDs in the summer of 2005. The honored directors will be Mark Romanek, Jonathan Glazer and Anton Corbijn. Stéphane Sednaoui - of whom Shots reported - will likely get a DVD after these three.
Besides having quite a profound career as a photographer, Anton Corbijn has directed at least 72 music videos, according to mvdbase.com. He has worked with all sorts of bands and musicians over his 25+ year career, most extensively with Depeche Mode and U2. He and producer/director Richard Bell created the UK production company State in 1986.
Jonathan Glazer is a music video and commercial icon. He has created so few, a mere 9 videos (mvdbase.com) and 20-odd commercials, but each work has revealed his gift for intense visual ambition. Appropriately he has jumped to feature films, having directed the stunning film Sexy Beast in 2000, and Birth (released Nov 5, 2004 in USA and UK). The Guardian has a new interview here.
Mark Romanek's work (including 33 music videos) is just as iconic as Jonathan Glazer's. He has directed some of the most distinctive music videos since 1990, including nine inch nails' "closer," Michael and Janet Jackson's "Scream," Madonna's "Rain" and "Bedtime Story," Lenny Kravitz's "Are You Gonna Go My Way," Fiona Apple's "Criminal," Johnny Cash's "Hurt," and Jay-Z's "99 Problems." Like Glazer, he jumped to features with his production team at his side for One Hour Photo (2002).
Stéphane Sednaoui has also made his career a mixture of photography and film. He came up as an assistant to photographer/mv director Jean-Baptiste Mondino. His video career took off in 1991 with his videos for U2's "Mysterious Ways" and Red Hot Chili Peppers "Give It Away." In total he has done 70+ videos (mvdbase.com).
Palm Pictures has also announced a box set of the first three Directors Label DVDs, to be released Nov 16, 2004 in the USA.
Great news. I want to rock a Glazer DVD so I can meet politically active college chicks. I can not wait. I'll post pics.
Jonathan Glazer, yes!
"Rabbit In Your Headlights" like a MF.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00065AXTM/ref=ase_dvdtalk/102-6803734-4420951?v=glance&s=dvd
dammit!! now i have to sell my old ones and buy this new one. damn capitalism!!!
At Romanek's site, his Quicktimes have been seriously upgraded. Most likely remastered versions for his disk. http://www.markromanek.com/videos.html
wow! this is a great fuckin' site. i wish more filmmakers had sites like this.
Romanek, awesome....i need to get the first three sunuvabitch
Buy them off of rudieob
anyone has a link or a scan of the exquisit corpse that comes with the new bundle of these dvd's?
Still no Dayton/Faris collection? Their work with Smashing Pumpkins and Red Hot Chili Peppers led to their videos being some of the most seen of the 90s.
At any rate, the fact that they are continuing the series is good news.
HOLY SHIT! This will be awesome...
An Evening with Anton Corbijn, Jonathan Glazer, Mark Romanek, and Stéphane Sednaoui
Tickets: $12 FSLC members/affiliates, $15 general public
In 2003 the newly formed Director's Label released three DVD collections dedicated to the work of Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, and Chris Cunningham. The discs contain music videos, short films, documentaries, commercials, video installations and other rarities. Newsweek promptly proclaimed the titles, "some of the best cinema made in the last decade." The New York Times hailed the artists as "directors who transcend music." And, most importantly, rabid fans sent the lavishly designed DVDs into certified gold and platinum orbits. Film Comment Selects, Palm Pictures, and the Director's Label present a special event celebrating the release of the next volumes in the series by four of today's most innovative filmmakers: Anton Corbijn, Jonathan Glazer, Mark Romanek, and Stéphane Sednaoui.
The evening's 90-minute program will sample highlights including rare director's cuts and previously unseen content, such as Sednaoui's short film inspired by Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side"; Romanekian, a short film on Mark's work featuring Ben Stiller, Chris Rock and Robin Williams; and an excerpt from NotNa, Lance Bang's new documentary on Corbijn. Both Romanek and Glazer have already ventured into features (Romanek directed One Hour Photo and Glazer Sexy Beast and Birth), Corbijn is working on his first (based on the life and death of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis), and we assume there will be a preproduction announcement any day now from Sednaoui. Following the night's screening, all four directors will be present for a roundtable Q&A. The inimitable Michel Gondry will be on hand to MC the event. Join us to mark the release, meet the makers, and make merry!
Oh Christ...I'd do anything to go...You think there would be any chance of "An Evening" in LA...
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fsuicidegirls.com%2Fmedia%2Fauthors%2F1678%2Farticle.jpg&hash=830957c91ad9cdaebddc6207f21626e7da212750)
That first time I noticed the name Mark Romanek was the Nine Inch Nails Closer video. I remember how annoyed I was that it was censored by the damn MTV. I was super happy when I got a bootleg that had the uncut version. Romanek is a perfectionist and you can truly see that in his music videos. Each one has its own distinct style that is clearly Romanek’s but yet at the same time it fits in perfectly with the band and the attitude they were trying to get across with their song.
Chicago born Romanek has received numerous awards and accolades for his innovative music videos. Now, like the auteur directors Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry, he is finally receiving his due with the new DVD, The Directors Label Vol. 6: The Work of Director Mark Romanek.
The DVD set features many of Romanek’s best videos such as Scream by Michael and Janet Jackson, 99 Problems by Jay-Z, Closer by Nine Inch Nails, Novocaine For The Soul by the Eels, Hurt by Johnny Cash, and many others. It also includes a documentary on Romanek's career, a conversation with Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, and Robin Williams, video and audio commentaries with Romanek, making-of segments, a 56 page booklet with photographs, an interview, and more.
Daniel Robert Epstein: I have some specific questions about the Nine Inch Nails Closer video. I heard it was shot on some really old film, is that true?
Mark Romanek: We did use a slightly out of date film stock but it was still a contemporary film stock. They had stopped making it three years before and we found some of it. All the new color film stocks have this T-Grain, like little Ts that are interlocking. The film stock we used had the original old granular grain. The new stocks are just really modern looking, really sharp, really contrasty, very fine grain. We didn’t want that. Normally you don’t want to use that kind of stock because the colors will be off. It does have a shelf life but in this case we didn’t care, the more fucked up it was the happier we were.
DRE: Did the uncut version of the video ever get released?
MR: I think it’s on Nine Inch Nails’ compilation and it’s on this one obviously.
DRE: Are you a big fan of the DVD compilations Palm Pictures has put out?
MR: Yes and there are more people that deserve one.
DRE: Who else?
MR: Roman Coppola, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Farris, Jake Scott, [Jean Baptiste] Mondino, David Fincher. A lot of people.
DRE: I was just spoke to Julien Temple because they just released The Great Rock and Roll Swindle on DVD. I said to him that, when you watch a Mark Romanek video you could tell it was your work. But Julien’s work wasn’t like that. Does it come out looking like a Mark Romanek video because you try or just because you did it?
MR: I just sort of do what I do. I try to do it as sincerely and as purely as I can. I try to be the one to make all the decisions so that it feels like there’s a single author behind it.
DRE: So you believe in the auteur theory?
MR: For a little four minute video yeah. It’s still wildly collaborative and there are still lots of things you can’t control and don’t want to control so you either embrace or jettison.
DRE: How do you come up with the idea of a video?
MR: I have a backlog of ideas on a file in my computer so if I don’t get an idea I can go into a backlog and see if any of them can be retrofitted. Sometimes I’ll have an idea that I think is really good and the other people involved don’t like it or can’t afford to do it properly so I’ll just put it in the file. Sometimes I’ll just be driving around and get an idea for a video that’s not connected to anything and I’ll put it in the file. I try to have the idea for the video emerge from listening to the song but sometimes nothing comes. Sometimes I’ll get a bunch of ideas that are kind of obvious but you don’t get beyond that.
DRE: Is that a scary feeling when nothing comes?
MR: In the beginning of my career I guess that would be scary. But now I have the confidence that either I’ll eventually think of something or one of those old ideas will work. If I don’t get an idea I’ll wait for another song. I’m not going to force a bad idea on something just because I want the job, that would not be very fair to the artist.
DRE: The Closer video feels very in tune with the song.
MR: In retrospect but at the time it was a tough sell. Because it said fuck in it, it caused a little bit of a ripple. When I suggested making it look like an old silent movie to Trent [Reznor]. His reaction was, “Why? Why do you want it to look fucked up?” I showed him some old movies and some old photographs and played the song for him and he went “Ah, I see what you are after.” Back in 1994 it was a pretty unusual idea to make it look like a silent movie.
DRE: The videos Criminal and The Devil’s Haircut don’t seem complex conceptually on the first viewings.
MR: I’m fascinated by two things. I’m fascinated by what makes one image resonant and another image flat. That which makes an image have teeth and all these layers and what makes another image just banal and have no interest and resonance. Knowing the difference is a really interesting dynamic that I always struggle with. I think it’s because the film that made me want to be a filmmaker was 2001: A Space Odyssey. That was this big spectacle film made by MGM on a grand budget but it was like a riddle, everyone talked about what it meant. I had never seen a filmmaker that had made a film on such a grand scale that was so obtuse and such an enigma to people. So I became fascinated by the idea of just never really explaining much and just putting little things, little enigmas and little details that make you think. I try to put those two ideas together, resonant imagery that seems to be layered and just enigmatizing things. That’s what I think draws you in.
DRE: Back when I saw One Hour Photo the production notes never mentioned your first film, Static, and from what I read you’re not very proud of it.
MR: Well it is embarrassing juvenilia.
DRE: I remember some really cool shots in it such as when the camera pulled back from a band onstage.
MR: You saw it?
DRE: Yeah I saw it about eight years ago on VHS.
MR: Wow, you are one of the few people.
I made that film prematurely. What happened is that I read that all the great filmmakers made feature films before they were 25 and I thought “Oh I have to make a feature film before I am 25 like Orson Welles and Kubrick did. But I wasn’t technically ready to make a film. I wasn’t a mature enough person to have anything of interest to say. I got the opportunity to make it and so I did. Some people like it but I just find it incredibly embarrassing.
DRE: I never knew that Keith Gordon would become such a great filmmaker. I knew he was a great actor.
MR: He always wanted to be like John Cassavetes. He wanted to be able to make films and act and have the two things feed each other.
DRE: That doesn’t work out unless you look like Tom Cruise.
MR: Or John Cassavetes.
DRE: When did you do your first video?
MR: Back then there weren’t really video directors so if a band had a friend who was a filmmaker they’d ask him to do their video. I used a bunch of pop music in that film [Static] and some music from Steve Jansen [of the band Japan]. Japan then asked me to do videos and so the first video I did was for them back in 1987 or 88.
DRE: Does the DVD compilation include those videos?
MR: No I didn’t go that route. I didn’t do the generous and courageous comprehensive body of work because I just find the early ones too humiliating. I started it when I thought I started to get decent with Constant Craving by KD Lang.
DRE: I got a chance to talk to David Fincher when Panic Room was released and I brought up the fact that George Lucas says he wants to go back and do experimental films again.
MR: He’s been saying that for 20 years, I’m waiting for him to do it.
DRE: What’s interesting is that music video directors get do their experimental films, you guys get to try everything. I imagine that when you finally get to make the movie you wanted to make, One Hour Photo, you had all this knowledge handy.
MR: The great advantage is that I’ve shot so much film in so many different kind of aesthetics that I have this real ease and confidence with the technical part of filmmaking. At this point I don’t have to think and worry about that kind of stuff. That allows me to think and worry about the more important things in making a feature film which are telling the story, making the actors comfortable, helping the actors give interesting and true performances. Those are the really hard things. Knowing where to put the camera and how to do good lighting effects or making it look good or bad or whatever you want it has become second nature so that’s the great advantage. If you were to make a first film without all the experience you would have to deal with all those things at one time and that is probably why a lot of first films aren’t so hot.
DRE: I read One Hour Photo had a 12 million dollar budget. But the Scream video, with Michael and Janet Jackson, cost six million dollars.
MR: One Hour Photo had its limitations but it was written to be made affordably. The Scream video was bloated for a lot of different reasons that weren’t on camera. They wanted a huge video but they only gave me two weeks to prepare it. So when they give you two weeks to prepare something that they want to be huge and you have no time afterwards to do the visual effects you just have to throw money at every problem. A lot of that money didn’t really go on the screen
DRE: It certainly looks like it did.
MR: We tried to but a lot of it was just to get it done.
DRE: Maybe half of it went on screen.
MR: Yeah and One Hour Photo was designed to be a smaller film. I wanted it to look good, but it wasn’t that important that it look a certain way as much as it was important that the story be engaging and compelling to people with tension and the actors were giving good performances.
DRE: It is funny how people say that Robin Williams in One Hour Photo was his creepiest performance ever but in Insomnia he killed like ten people.
MR: We actually made One Hour Photo before Insomnia so the idea of him even doing a creepy role was pretty weird. Insomnia came out first because it took forever to cut One Hour Photo.
DRE: [Nine Inch Nails’] Hurt is such a personal song for Trent. I remember reading that when he first heard it played in clubs it kind of freaked him out a little bit. But in your video, hearing Johnny [Cash] sing it made me realize that the song was obviously very personal to Johnny as well.
MR: Oh he knew, we talked about it
DRE: How did that influence making the video?
MR: We talked about it in the course of making it. But with that video I jumped on a plane went to Nashville and just made it without having anytime to think about it. Johnny was only available for a very brief time. We had no money so I could only use locations that were free. Because I didn’t really have a concept, I wanted to film Johnny Cash singing. Johnny was about to go off to Jamaica to his ranch for the whole rest of the year so we wouldn’t have another chance. So I just scouted around his house and said we’ll shoot here and here and here and I went to the museum and saw it was in a state of disrepair. I went “Well Johnny isn’t looking that vital. He’s getting quite old and the museum is also in a state of some disrepair maybe I should just film what’s here and not try to prettify anything.” I was emboldened to do that by the way Johnny had treated his whole career of music because he was extremely candid and straightforward. I’ll just film the way he looks and maybe I’ll actually extenuate the lines on his face by this hard subset kind of lighting.
DRE: Where did you shoot that Audioslave video [Cochise]?
MR: It was shot on slab of concrete in the San Fernando Valley but we built this scaffolding and attached that construction elevator to the side of it.
DRE: What do you know about SuicideGirls?
MR: It’s linked from some site that I go to all the time. I kept seeing these images and I just clicked over to see what it was and I thought it was brilliant.
DRE: You’re not tattooed or pierced though.
MR: I’m not a suicide boy in that sense but I don’t find it unattractive
DRE: The SuicideGirl style, partially came about because of the work you did. What kind of culture do you feel you subscribe to, if any?
MR: I don’t think I do. Techie, maybe. I’m just this Midwestern guy who grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, pretty straight.
DRE: A lot of directors especially big music video directors don’t write, they develop. When did you realize you could write?
MR: Well I wrote the script for One Hour Photo out of sheer frustration. I tried to do a bunch of other movies that I didn’t write and some that I did write. But they were just either too expensive or they couldn’t figure out how to market them or they just didn’t come together. I started getting really frustrated and the frustration resulted in this three week burst of writing where this whole idea came out. I think subconsciously I figured out how to write something that they couldn’t say no to because I learned all the ways that they could say no. Either it’s too expensive, it’s a period piece, there’s not a good star role, it’s too much of an ensemble. All these reasons they pick to say no. I didn’t write it in a calculating way, but afterwards I realized I wrote something that they couldn’t say no to. It was affordable, contemporary, very relatable premise that they can easily sell. Your local one-hour photo guy becomes a stalker and it has a great castable lead role.
DRE: Were you happy with the response to One Hour Photo?
MR: It got a lot of good reviews so it was not considered a failure. It was massive on home video. It seemed like I hit a solid double, not a grand slam. Good enough that I could make another movie.
DRE: Is the movie, A Cold Case, what you are doing next?
MR: That got put on hold until after [Tom] Hanks finishes The Da Vinci Code. We were going to try to rush it before but we decided not. There’s another film I talking about doing really fast. I’m going to find out literally today if I’m going to do that. It’s a straight horror film.
i have always loved Romanek. though one hour photo didn't blow me away, i really look forward to seeing what he does in films in the future. its also pretty great that he wrote the script for that coming out of music videos.
Quote from: MacGuffinThere's another film I talking about doing really fast. I'm going to find out literally today if I'm going to do that. It's a straight horror film.
that would RULE. i will have to ask him about that.
Quote from: modageQuote from: MacGuffinThere's another film I talking about doing really fast. I'm going to find out literally today if I'm going to do that. It's a straight horror film.
that would RULE. i will have to ask him about that.
for anyone else interested, he's not doing the horror movie. :cry: he said the studio decided they'd rather rush to do it quickly and cheaply than do it with him (he said as is often the case.) that sucks.
You should've asked whether Michael and Janet Jackson are indeed the same person...
hey, why are you still here? shouldn't you be hibernating with the other bears this time of the year?
I only read descriptions, so I can't be sure, but it seems like, as far as content goes, you really only get your money's worth by getting Romanek or Glazer... not to say the other two aren't any good, I haven't seen any of them yet, but it seems like Sednaoui's and Corbijn's have as much material as Cunningham's DVD. It was a good one, but very skimpy... especially since more of their stuff exists.
Without a doubt, I'm picking up Romanek's today.
to the millonaires who already bought and saw the 4 dvd's , how are they? worth getting , the four of them?
I am not a millionaire so I have only bought the Romanek so far.
All I have to say is that 99 Problems is one of the best videos to be made EVER and I'm pretty sure that I can say that it's the best edited video ever.
The other three will have to wait until I have cash.
The set is a little more streamlined than the last. No dual-sided disks this time. Everybody gets one side. And each focuses on different things. Romanek focuses entirely on his videos. Glazer, whom we're to believe really gets his ideas from a financially handicapped bloke, has his videos, commercials, and clips from his 2 features. Stephane Sednaoui has his videos plus some short films. Anton Corbijn has his videos and a few making-of pieces, as well as a few promos.
I've thoroughly enjoyed Romanek's DVD. It is jam packed... a lot of commentaries (Tom Morello on "Cochise" is pretty funny)... a lot of nice stuff on this DVD.
I'm going to inspect Sedanoui's tonight and tomorrow... Corbijn is up next for me, Glazer (due to a lack of materials) will be last for me.
http://www.mtv.com/shared/movies/features/d/directors_series_feature_091305/index2.jhtml?epiNum=1
QuoteThe Directors Label franchise is already looking forward. Next year's series will feature director Mike Mills (Air, Moby, Beth Orton and the feature "Thumbsucker" ( see Elliott Smith, Polyphonics Bring Balance To 'Thumbsucker' Soundtrack") and likely the directorial team Hammer & Tongs (Blur, Eels, Supergrass). Other participants aren't yet locked down, but series brainchild Richard Brown said he'd also love to extol the works of Shynola (Radiohead, Queens of the Stone Age, Beck), Roman Coppola (the Strokes, Green Day, Presidents of the United States of America) and Jean-Baptiste Mondino (Madonna, Björk, Neneh Cherry).
Brown also plans to branch out with a Directors Label offshoot focusing on the work of directors in the R&B and hip-hop fields, singling out Paul Hunter, Little X and Chris Robinson as the debut directors in that series.
Romanek Shifts From Music Videos to Movies
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Jay-Z shot. Trent Reznor spinning upside down. David Bowie teetering on a rooftop. These are just a few of the iconic images Mark Romanek has fashioned as an elite music video director.
On a new DVD compiling his clips (part of the Directors Label series that earlier chronicled Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze and Chris Cunningham), Romanek's admirers include Steven Soderbergh, Ben Stiller and Bono.
His work varies from Lenny Kravitz's dreadlock bash "Are You Gonna Go My Way" to the emotional "Hurt" by Johnny Cash, which juxtaposed the 71-year-old with archival footage of the young country star and was proclaimed the greatest video ever by Rolling Stone.
He's touched off controversy with a child-porn theme in Fiona Apple's "Criminal," and was censored for the industrial gross-out "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails. He's worked with Madonna ("Rain"), Beck ("Devil's Haircut") and Michael and Janet Jackson ("Scream").
Now he's moved on to feature films his debut being 2002's "One Hour Photo," starring Robin Williams. He's currently working on commercials (he made those dancing silhouettes for the iPod ads) and a new script.
AP: What's most different between making videos and making movies?
Romanek: I don't mean to sound egocentric when I say, it's mine. It's my expression from the ground up, as opposed to, as a video director, I'm kind of in the service industry. I take it very seriously that I'm not trying to completely subsume the artist's music with my idea of what the visuals should be.
AP: So you view your work in videos as not yours?
Romanek: Yeah which isn't a bad thing. It's like getting a script and interpreting it. It's extremely collaborative in the sense that the entire soundtrack is predetermined, the text of the piece is predetermined I think of lyrics as a text or a script. The first thing I do when I get a song is to type up the lyrics ... and I go, "What is this song about?"
AP: Your video for "Hurt," a cover of a Nine Inch Nails song, was called a breakthrough for music video expressing emotion. Were you thinking this was your ...
Romanek: Yeah.
AP: ... true medium?
Romanek: Oh, I thought you were going to say the last thing I do as a video director. I think what happened was, that was the first video I did after I made my movie. I was looking for more fulfilling challenges in that format, that medium. Whatever made that video resonate with people so much, it's not really what I did. (The video was made on short notice not long before Cash died. Romanek stumbled across the old footage, and inserted it randomly at first.) I feel a little queasy talking about it as something that is mine. I was smart enough to get out of the way of something that was much bigger than me.
AP: Is there a video you consider more "yours?"
Romanek: I'm very proud of I'm not sure if that's the same thing the Janet Jackson video ("Got 'til It's Gone"). ... There isn't one of them that's the most representative of me. For some reason the Janet Jackson one popped into my head because, it might sound weird to say, I have a love for a lot of aspects of black culture. At the time I thought black culture was being depicted pretty one-dimensionally and that was my little, liberal, white-boy contribution to trying to open up the range of what types of black culture could be depicted in a music video.
AP: Have you found it difficult to get artists to trust your vision?
Romanek: There was a lot of apprehension on Jay-Z's part of him being gunned down in his video ("99 Problems") and I was trying to explain that the intention was for that to be kind of abstract. But in the hip-hop world, it's not abstract. In many instances that has been a literal reality. There was a certain amount of back and forth about it, and he literally typed in an e-mail to me, "I trust you."
AP: Has the variety of music acts and looks to your videos made you especially adaptable?
Romanek: I was trying to foster an image of somebody that you couldn't pigeonhole. ... But generally speaking, I did want to become very adept technically with music videos so when I made a movie I didn't have to worry about it so much ... That's the great advantage of this if you think about it as a very elite film school post-post-graduate film school.
AP: This DVD series gives more import to a previously disposable medium. Is it worthy?
Romanek: I think the directors in this series are some of the most exciting, experimental, poetic short filmmakers in the last 20 years. It would be hard to deny that that Spike Jonze's work is not incredibly original and amusing and deceptively sophisticated, or that Chris Cunningham isn't some kind of genius, or that Michel Gondry isn't some king of M.C. Escher of cinema. The music video, at least in some people's minds, has become like a pejorative it means flashy or ephemeral or gaudy. But these guys are the exception to that.
jonathan glazer's dvd menus are hilarious. there is so much to look through in this box set but it looks like glazer/romanek are the ones i'm looking forward to most
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Even though French born video director and photographer Stephane Sednaoui has lived in New York City for 15 years his art sensibilities still lie very much in the French avant garde. Back in the early 1990’s he broke major ground with music videos like Give it Away, Mysterious Ways and Sometimes Salvation. Now much of his work is being collected in Palm Pictures The Director’s Label Vol. 7 The Work of Director Stephane Sednaoui.
Daniel Robert Epstein: How much time did you put into your Directors Label DVD?
Stephane Sednaoui: So much time, so much work plus it was tense because we had arguments. It was not good everyday. The amount of work was insane because I had to financially keep doing the other work that I usually do. But like all of us, especially Mark Romanek, I am a control freak.
DRE: You call yourself a control freak?
SS: Yeah, wait no, actually I’m not a control freak. I like to go at 90 – 95 percent. I think Mark goes to reach 100 percent. Me, I let life take over after 95 percent. I wanted to do three special projects for this, because I didn’t really shoot anything in the past four years that I liked enough to put on the DVD. So I shot three projects back to back. I did the Walk on the Wild Side film then I did an animation for Björk. The animation was an old project I had with her ten years ago when it was an art installation for an art gallery. It was based on the drawings that I did ten years ago, so I found the illustrators and they did the animation. It’s called Acqua Natasa.
DRE: How was it working with Björk again?
SS: Since it was animation I didn’t even see her.
DRE: Your DVD also has a never before seen version of Big Time Sensuality.
SS: Yes, it is the night version and is completely different. Basically at night after we filmed everything the light was down so instead of 24 frames, we had to go to 6 to 8 frames per second. We couldn’t cut that footage into the other footage because it would look different so we did another version. Normally the video is four minutes, but on that special one it’s six minutes. It’s uncut. For me it was nice to have it because it shows how good she is.
DRE: I think the Give it Away video in 1991 was one of the first really artistic music videos on MTV.
SS: I don’t know because I don’t know so much about the videos before, but it was very visual.
DRE: What was the inspiration?
SS: The inspiration was a Details shoot I did in 1988. I had been experimenting with photos for a few years. One day we painted them silver and one day we just painted some parts of them silver. The Chili Peppers were totally into it.
DRE: What did you think of Weird Al Yankovic’s parody Yabba dabba do now?
SS: I loved it. I was amazed that I could something a bit special and then the guy comes asks some questions and does something that is dead on.
DRE: Did he call you?
SS: No, but he asked everyone involved besides me. I wish there was no insert of the Flintstones movie he was promoting.
DRE: Then you did the Scar Tissue video the Chili Peppers, how was it working with them again ten years later?
SS: It was very interesting because the song was so different. Give It Away was were all about energy and then song Scar Tissue was all about emotion. I had a broken heart. I had like been very sad between those two times and so were they. John Frusciante disappeared for eight years, Flea had a broken heart; Anthony and Chad had their own problems. They were smashed and beaten up by life.
DRE: The first time I saw the Scar Tissue video the sound on my television was off, and I swear to God I thought Anthony looked like Iggy Pop.
SS: Yes, it’s true. His haircut and everything. He came to do the video like that. I never want to change any artist’s look because I think it’s very important that they keep their identity.
DRE: Where was The Black Crowes video, Sometimes Salvation, shot?
SS: It was shot in 42nd Street between Port Authority and Sixth Avenue. Back when Times Square was bad. Now when I go there I’m like, “Ugh.” It’s not so much fun anymore. Not that I think that seedy is great or anything but it had age and history. Right now it’s kind of lost the gas and it seems out of place. I wish it evolved in a better way.
DRE: How did you meet Sofia [Coppola] back then?
SS: I photographed her for a magazine.
DRE: For The Godfather 3?
SS: Yes and I thought she was amazing and beautiful. I had a crush on her so I wanted to see her again and she was just the perfect character.
DRE: Do you fall in love pretty easily?
SS: Not easily, but I do like strong women.
DRE: When you’re doing photographs or videos you have to capture the inner person so that must help you fall in love with them.
SS: It is a precious moment when you photograph someone or when you meet someone or when you share creativity. So when you meet a strong woman that has a lot of opinions and knows what she wants and things like that. Then you have a creative exchange, that sometimes it triggers something personal.
DRE: I read you don’t have any mirrors in your house.
SS: Yeah, that’s true. Well there’s a small one on the wall in my bathroom. If I have to see myself I have to climb to be sure that my pants is okay or whatever.
DRE: Why don’t you want to see yourself?
SS: I don’t know. I suppose I should put a mirror up. I think it would do me good.
DRE: I also read you photograph all digitally now.
SS: Yeah, most of the time I shoot in digital, unless it’s an advertising campaign where they need to do posters or it’s a beauty campaign and I want to really capture the right texture of the skin. Otherwise I go digital.
DRE: When did you do that?
SS: Eight years ago. It annoyed people because I started when it was just five megs. Now the files are 60 megabytes and you can do something with it, but then you couldn’t really do something with it. but I was still insisting to do pictures with five megabyte files and for a little while it was okay.
DRE: So with the lenses that they have now, is digital as good as film?
SS: It’s not as good as film if you have to make prints. But for a magazine and for most other uses of photography it’s as good and sometimes it’s better because it’s right away. You don’t have to scan it and deal with the film grain. I learned Photoshop because I used to do that stuff by cutting things with scissors and a knife but now I use the same technique with Photoshop.
DRE: How about videos on digital?
SS: Acqua Natasa I shot on film and Walk on the Wild Side is shot on HD. It was fantastic to work with HD.
DRE: What do you like about that?
SS: Faster as a format and it’s already 16 x 9. It’s more physical. You see right away what you’re shooting which is much more exciting. I knew when I had something and I could move on.
DRE: When did you first pick up the camera?
SS: When I was 16 and I started to work when I was 21 and make money when I was 22. This year is my 20th anniversary in the business.
DRE: What was your first music video?
SS: For a French band named NTM. It’s on the DVD set.
DRE: Do you still like that video?
SS: Yes, I really like it because the lyrics and the power of the performance are really good. On the DVD I also put my first short film that is no good but it was funny. Everybody should see that you can start out with a big mistake.
DRE: Do you want to do theatrical movies?
SS: Yes. I developed something a few years ago and it fell through. Now I want to develop something because last time I was trying to buy the rights of the book, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly [by Jean-Dominique Bauby]. It took two years to free it from DreamWorks then the agent didn’t want to sell it to me anymore then sold it to a big studio. They wanted to work with Steven Spielberg and Russell Crowe. I was like, “Well, fuck it” then they changed their mind and finally they contacted Julian Schnabel. He is supposed to do it with Johnny Depp.
I think in the back of my head I was hoping it was going to fall through and that I would get a better project.
DRE: How the videos affected your photography and vice versa?
SS: The photography definitely set up the whole look of my first videos because every first video came from something that I did with photo shoots. Then after that the photo shoots took on a more cinematography aspect so they fed one another.
DRE: Are you going to be doing any more music videos?
SS: No. I want to do it the way I want and that would be with a more artistic approach. I would like to be the owner of my images.
DRE: What are you listening to now?
SS: I’m listening to RJD2. I don’t know if it’s one guy, two guys, three guys.
DRE: Just one guy and he’s amazing.
SS: I listen to Citizen Cope. Then the classics from the ‘70s, like Deep Purple, Janis Joplin. I grew up listening to Jeff Beck, Santana and all those things. I love Fred Frith too.
DRE: If the Chili Peppers asked you to do a video, would you consider it?
SS: Yeah, if I like the song.
DRE: Do you watch videos?
SS: No, I don’t have a TV. I just have an old monitor to watch tapes and now DVDs.
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Out of the four directors selected for the latest round of Palm Pictures The Directors Label DVD sets, Jonathan Glazer is probably the most fascinating. That’s because he made his bones doing just a small number of music videos for such artists as Radiohead, Massive Attack's and UNKLE. He’s been most acclaimed for his films Sexy Beast and the Nicole Kidman film, Birth. He co-wrote the enigmatic Birth but isn’t planning on going back to the music video world anytime soon.
Daniel Robert Epstein: When did you do your first music video?
Jonathan Glazer: I did my first music video probably in about 1990 for Massive Attack and it’s on the DVD set.
DRE: How was it looking at some of these older videos?
JG: Painful. I haven’t made that many videos. Only nine, actually. It’s interesting to go back through the journey a little. It makes you quite dizzy.
DRE: If you only made nine videos that means they are all on the DVD set.
JG: Nine videos. Two films. That’s the sum total of all my efforts.
DRE: Probably your biggest video was Virtual Insanity for Jamiroquai. That was really cool. Was that all one shot?
JG: Four shots and the cuts are hidden. That one was very difficult because it relied entirely on the accuracy of Jay Kay’s performance and the accuracy of the room and the accuracy of the way the chairs moved and so on. If he bumped into a chair or whatever, we would have to start again so it was very tense.
DRE: It seemed like that video was inspired by listening to the song because it was very smooth.
JG: All the videos, in some way or another, came from the music.
DRE: Mark [Romanek] was telling me something a little different. He has a computer file filled with ideas.
Was Virtual Insanity all your idea?
JG: Yeah. Jay Kay had the idea of being in an airport on the baggage thing that goes around. But then we saw that he was an extraordinary dancer and we created a stage for him to be extraordinary. It was a combination of that and what I wanted to do with him anyway.
DRE: How did doing music videos help you once you started making films?
JG: It certainly helped. I’ve done a few videos and a few commercials, so I’m aware of the camera enough to be able to not look foolish. But Sexy Beast was the first time I worked with actors on that scale.
DRE: Sir Ben Kingsley is a high scale.
JG: Yeah [laughs]. It’s hard to jump into that and answer their questions. You’ve got to know what you’re doing so it was a fast learning curve.
DRE: Commercials and even music videos to some extent are to sell something. But that’s certainly not what you did with Sexy Beast or Birth.
JG: No.
DRE: Is it a different mindset or is it just working from the script?
JG: I think it’s a different discipline all together. A two minute video is different from a film, but you still want everything to work and make sense on some level. So that’s similar in that respect but they’re not completely unrelated. With commercials, you’re selling something but I don’t look at it like they’re using my shit to sell their shit; I look at it like I’m using their shit to sell my shit.
DRE: Why does that image of the guy being hit by the car work in the Rabbit In Your Headlights video?
JG: I think what’s interesting is that when he gets hit by cars there’s something kind of odd going on in it. When he first gets knocked down and you look at him lying there he looks like he could be dead, which would normally be the case. But then he takes a breath and gets up. Each time he gets hit, it almost gets easier for him to get up. So it’s working opposite to what would happen because normally, every time you’d get hit, it would take more minutes to get up. When the ending comes, it’s inevitable, but you didn’t guess it. Then the last time he gets up he becomes superhuman.
DRE: Of course you used computers for the effect at the end. Was he surrounded by a greenscreen?
JG: The guy who took all the hits was actually hit so that was hardcore. Then in the end, he’s shot separately and we do a little lighting change. The car was rammed into a post and there was a charge in the car that made the smoke come out.
DRE: Was that Thom [Yorke] and you that came up with that concept?
JG: Thom didn’t come up with any of the concepts, I did. But I go through them with him so that we would both feel that the work is being represented in the best light. I want the artist to be responsible to the song but all the concepts are my concepts.
DRE: I’m assuming that when someone reads a script like Sexy Beast, you see what a great part Don Logan is and that’s what Sir Ben Kingsley saw because I don’t imagine he’s a big Radiohead fan.
JG: No [laughs]. He saw the script; he saw my stuff, so he knew there was something going on that he could work with.
DRE: Were you nervous working with him?
JG: Yeah, I wanted to get it right. I wanted to give him the right directions. I had the ingredients, the casting had gone well and I had a great script. I was the thing that would make it all gel or not so you have to learn fast and communicate quickly. It was nerve-wracking but I find everything to be nerve-wracking. I’m never comfortable.
DRE: You see a lot of music video directors who jump right into whatever piece of crap film is available. Did you just keep saying no until right thing came along?
JG: Yeah, I was being sent everything, big and small. Sexy Beast came to me because I knew the writers. We were going to work together before but didn’t for various reasons. We still wanted to work together and they developed Sexy Beast into a film.
DRE: I read you haven’t done a video for three years.
JG: I was on Birth for two years. That was a long time so I haven’t had a chance. But I’m going to come back. I’ve just done a commercial which is actually on the DVD. I will do videos for the White Stripes, PJ Harvey but this past summer I’ve been too busy writing.
DRE: Who are the directors that you admire now?
JG: I think Michael Haneke is very smart. I don’t really like doing lists because I’m going to remember people in an hour I wish I could have said.
DRE: Well, Michael Haneke on his own is a good enough list.
JG: I like people who aren’t afraid to fail.
DRE: Are you afraid to fail?
JG: No I’m not because if you come from the right place your failures are successes. You’re not failing if you’re pushing the envelope, if you’re challenging genuinely challenging something. If you fall short, you fall short. That’s the nature of experimenting. If you don’t try to push the envelope, then you fail.
DRE: How did you get to do videos?
JG: I was doing commercials then music videos at the same time in 1991.
DRE: Where did you grow up?
JG: On the outskirts of London right next to Dartmouth. Being there you get to see all this music.
DRE: What were you like as a young man?
JG: I was a bit of a dreamer and stuck in my own world. Lonely, geeky and dreaming.
DRE: Did any of those dreams become music videos?
JG: Those dreams are all over my work.
DRE: What else is on the DVD besides the commercials, videos and films?
JG: I’ve got these menus of me doing a sketch with my friend. Basically, I play me and he plays a tramp who I buy drugs from.
DRE: Lets first talk about your last picture, Birth. It wasn’t as successful critically or commercially as Sexy Beast. Did that throw you into a funk?
JG: Not really. I don’t think commercially because the numbers of a film don’t represent the value of a film. Unfortunately we live in an age where things are measured by the profit they make. Everything you make, you judge in terms of how far you fall short creatively, not how far you fall short in terms of audience.
DRE: Did Birth come out exactly how you wanted it too?
JG: No, I don’t think anything has ever come out exactly how I wanted it. I have my own feelings about my shortcomings regarding the work. I wasn’t happy with the situation, I wasn’t happy with the way it was marketed or received. I was trying to create this perspective which was unique. But like I said, I don’t go along with the idea of thinking that the work is less valuable because it makes less money. I think we’re living in this very competitive marketplace now where movies don’t have the same chance in the theaters that they do on DVD. Sexy Beast was the same because it was never a hit. It worked through word of mouth as a slow hit in England. It was when people started getting the DVD that it started getting an audience.
DRE: I’m sure Birth did well on DVD.
JG: I think it’s probably doing okay on DVD but again time will tell. Of course I would have preferred the film to have made more money than it did. But it doesn’t occupy my thoughts. It won’t stop me from challenging myself again the next time around.
DRE: Did that increase the length of time until you make your next film?
JG: Well I don’t want to go the studio route and go through what happened last time. The problems I had were largely because I went through a conventional studio route and their expectations of the film weren’t mine. So we were in opposition to one another very early on. We’re planning on setting up a film now independently but I still need 30 million dollars.
DRE: What’s the film you’re doing?
JG: I’m doing a film called Under The Skin.
DRE: 30 million dollars isn’t a small amount by far.
JG: No, it isn’t.
DRE: What’s it about?
JG: It’s a political horror film, if that makes any sense.
DRE: Have you written it?
JG: I’m writing it with another writer and I’ve got a very good team of people around me. I think it’s going to be a very different experience this time. I’m going to shoot it in July 2006.
DRE: Do you have anyone attached yet?
JG: No, I don’t want to attach anyone to it until I know what it is exactly.
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Of all of all the directors who have been given Director’s Label DVDs, the only one who can truly be considered old school is Anton Corbijn. This DVD contains this photographer turned director videos such as Joy Division’s Atmosphere, Nirvana’s Heart-Shaped Box, Depeche Mode’s Barrel of a Gun and many more.
Daniel Robert Epstein: How involved were you with putting together this DVD?
Anton Corbijn: I made the selection of my videos that I thought were relevant. I used only a third of my videos. I’m the old guy doing because I started doing videos in 1983.
DRE: I spoke to Julian Temple and he stopped doing music videos a long time ago. It was interesting because in the 80’s it was more about the band. Don’t you think?
AC: Well, maybe. [laughs] I’m not a big Julian Temple fan.
DRE: Why is that?
AC: For me, it has nothing to do with the music. It’s still one-dimensional. I think the best video leaves all that open. But he did some good things for punk.
DRE: How did you choose the videos that you directed?
AC: I basically waited for people to send me stuff because I never aimed to become a video director. So people send me stuff and I listen to it. If it’s fun, I listen to more of the band. Sometimes I can’t come up with a good idea, so that’s the end of that one. Sometimes there’s one I am sure will work for me but then I don’t have ideas. That’s also strange.
DRE: Is it possible to be experimental once you get to the set of a music video?
AC: I think you need some idea. You need to build four minutes or whatever it is. With a still photograph, sure, that’s exactly how I work.
DRE: On your website, I saw some of your photos but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of crossover in terms of how your videos and pictures look.
AC: I think photographs are more emotional sometimes. It’s very personal when you meet someone and take their portrait. With videos there’s more of me creeping in. Although I think my latest photography is more conceptual because of my work in videos. With videos, it’s based on the song and the song tells you something about the band. I always have a little story.
DRE: The band you worked the most with was Depeche Mode, what did they bring out of you and vice versa?
AC: Because I’ve done them so often, I don’t know. I never liked them as a little kid. I always said no to them. But then I connected with Depeche Mode especially with Dave [Gahan]. I connect with people who put everything into what they’re making. Kurt Cobain, Jeff Buckley. That’s the only way I can connect. I can’t connect with superficial people. In 1986 Depeche Mode offered me a video and the only reason I said yes was because it would have to be done in America and I’d never done a video in America. I thought of something but it was so low budget, there was no money for a cameraman. That turned out to be a positive thing, because it became me using the camera myself.
I used the movie camera more like a still camera which was a very good thing. But Dave [Gahan] was great at it. When I make my scripts, I know what he can do.
DRE: In the Nirvana video there was a Ku Klux Klan member and there was one in the Joy Division video as well.
AC: Yeah, but I think it’s an American association. In the video for Joy Division it’s monks. But yes there is a Ku Klux Klan member in the Nirvana video.
DRE: As a fan you must have been excited to direct Joy Division.
AC: Absolutely, it was where I wanted to go to when I heard that music. That whole post-punk thing. It was a very exciting time the late 70s. The Clash did London Calling, Joy Division so it was all great bands.
DRE: You started off photographing mostly musicians.
AC: Only musicians. All the 70’s and 80’s it was only musicians. It was after that that I started to photograph many more artists in different disciplines like painters, directors and actors.
I didn’t study photography. I was a music fan and I just used the camera to get close to the music. It had nothing to do with photography. It became about photography after a while. For me the musicians were a natural subject matter.
DRE: Were you ever in a band?
AC: No, my only claim to fame was that I did some drumming with Depeche Mode on TV. That was good.
DRE: How do you pick the videos you do now?
AC: I still say no to everything. I sort have stopped doing music videos, but people keep sending me things. I say no to everything but friends. If I know people really well, then.
DRE: But you did The Killers video.
AC: The Killers was the only recent video I’ve done.
DRE: What do you think of these other guys who’s DVD sets just came out?
AC: Oh, they’re terrible [laughs]. Terribly good. They’re more about perfection than I am. I’m not about perfection.
DRE: Have you ever tried?
AC: No, I strive for it but somewhere along the line I do something that keeps it from being perfect. I think my videos say more about me sometimes, more about my world.
DRE: I read that you had a bit of a lonely childhood.
AC: I was born in a little village but it’s part of my character to be lonely. But I never had a lonely childhood in a certain sense. I had a brother who was a year younger. It was both of us on a farm.
DRE: What kind of music do you listen to?
AC: At the moment I am great supporter of a band from Montreal called Arcade Fire.
DRE: Do you have any interest in doing movies?
AC: Well, I’m supposed to do one this year called Control about Ian Curtis.
DRE: Is that a go?
AC: It’s been on the shelf. If anybody wants to send me the spare cash…
DRE: Is there a script?
AC: Yeah.
DRE: Does it start when he was young?
AC: No, just the last few years of his life.
DRE: What made you say, it’s time to do this?
AC: Joy Division is a personal thing. I think I can bring something to the project that’s different. I think it wont look like Hollywood. It wont be as abstract as the Atmosphere video.
DRE: What else is on the DVD set?
AC: The making of the U2 videos. Some projects I did for Depeche Mode and Captain Beefheart. There’s a documentary on me, which is quite long at 40 minutes. My first ever video from 19883.
DRE: Are there videos you just don’t like?
AC: I put some videos on there for historical records. I put my very first video on there because no one has ever seen it. It was a German band. I’m not saying it’s the best video but it’s the first video and that’s the reason it’s on there.
DRE: What’s a regular day for you out there in London?
AC: I’m not always in London. I don’t have a studio. I go to where the people are. It’s important to meet people in their environments. So I go to where the people are rather than have the people come to me. So I’m always on the road. I don’t drink, even coffee.
DRE: Did I see you dressed up as Freddy Mercury on your website?
AC: That project had to do with where I’m from and my upbringing and stuff and I associate with musicians. So that’s part of it. I did this project where I’m dressed up as deceased musicians like Hendrix and Freddie Mercury.
This has turned into Dan's Director's Label.
Then there's this: http://www.moviecitynews.com/columnists/mutiny/directors_label.html
whos your favorite action figure?
I'm pretty late with this, but I just bought the Romanek dvd. He's probably the first artist to capture my attention ever, as I was young watching those videos on MTV. I would remember the director's names and his came up on all my favorite videos. Scream, The Perfect Drug, Novocaine for the Soul. I remember those specifically.
This dvd is just incredible. I watched it straight through, it's such a joy. I'd never seen half of these, but they're all amazing, although I don't like the Keith Richards video or Sonic Youth's video much. I completely agree with RK, 99 Problems, the first video on the dvd, blew me away (haha punnery). It is the summation of Spike Lee, Matthieu Kassovitz, the French New Wave in four minutes. It just fucking pummels you with amazing imagery, and it made me love the song.
The Perfect Drug was great to rewatch because I totally missed the absinthe tripping sequence in the middle when I was a kid. It's interesting to think that there's a tenuous, but sound storyline going through his videos. I loved realizing the camera snapshot motif in Criminal. I loved the lighting in El Scorcho and my god the explosions in Cochise. This guy is the shit. I'm so glad I bought this.
i just recieved this set for my birthday three days ago. so far i've watched the Romanek vids and part of the documentary. this is a dvd i'm glad to own..it'll definitely get lotsa repeated views. it already has.
what a consistently great collection of videos!
has anyone watched the documentary yet? it's pretty damn good, very interesting and informative. (and amusing, like when anthony kiedis mimicks romanek's voice. hahaha.) does anyone else think romanek looks a bit like alfred molina?
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the only thing funnier than Kiedis as Romanek is Romanek as Michael Jackson....in an even higher voice!!! :laughing:
Glazer Disc Review
.things i loved.
videos:
..a rabbit in your headlights. words needn't be wrote. go watch it. experience it. (one of the best music videos ever.)
..virtual insanity.. just cuz it's cool.
..a song for the lovers. so sexy *sigh* but seriously :oops: great concept beautifully executed.
..the radiohead videos-karma police/street spirit.. karma police is the superior of the pair, but both are eggsellent. street spirit is technically impressive but karma police really packs a punch.
..karmacoma - massive attack..hah, this one's interesting.
-- the menus are damn funny.
commercials:
WOW these are some brilliant, intelligent, hilarious commercials. the "Dreamer" one is ... mind-blowing :shock:
.interviews/commentaries.
some boring useless stuff but a nice amount of actual signifigant discussion about glazer's work. nick cave's insights on his video are quite interesting. also i was surpised to discover that the dude from Blur doesn't even like A Clockwork Orange.
.things i wasn't so crazy about.
.. the Blur vid - here's Glazer experimenting stylistically/visually but going nowhere thematically. fun to watch but ultimately underwhelming and pointless.
.. the Nick Cave vid - my least favorite. it makes no sense. the images do not fit the music or the lyrics at all. it's visually elegant.
Quote from: Hedwig on November 26, 2005, 02:03:14 AM
.things i loved.
.things i wasn't so crazy about.
good god man, what about
the winner??
Quote from: Hedwig on November 26, 2005, 02:03:14 AM
.. the Nick Cave vid - my least favorite. it makes no sense. the images do not fit the music or the lyrics at all. it's visually elegant.
i disagree, and think the images fit the music beautifully. it's one of my favorite videos from glazer, if not my favorite, no matter what nick cave thinks about it
Quote from: meatwad on November 27, 2005, 02:45:49 PM
i disagree, and think the images fit the music beautifully. it's one of my favorite videos from glazer, if not my favorite, no matter what nick cave thinks about it
how is it better than Song for the Lovers, or Rabbit in Your Headlights?
there's no transcendence, which is glazer's trademark and rightly so. he does transcendence better than anyone on videos.
Quote from: Pubrick on November 27, 2005, 10:08:09 PM
how is it better than Song for the Lovers, or Rabbit in Your Headlights?
i just think it's a beautiful video that fits the song well
the comment about the nick cave video being my possible favorite from glazer, i suspect, may have to do with never having seen the video till recently, thus making it fresh to me. i've seen the unkle video and 'song for the lovers' lots of times, which does not make them any less good, but less of a current favorite
gimme some new d. labs