Music Video(s) of the Week, part 32: "Good" Edition

Hello everybody and welcome to another installment of Music Video(s) of the Week! This episode I am going to try something a little different. Throughout the past couple of months I’ve been writing this article, I have seen hundreds of music videos—a few amazing, some good, and most horribly bad. In this abundance of bad videos, I have seen several techniques way too many times. This week is devoted to music videos that, despite being good, use film procedures that I would not miss if they took an early vacation. Hit the jump to find out more!

First up this week is a video by the Fires of Rome that uses a technique that became cliché after the first Matrix: excessive slow motion. Yes, this gem directed by Matthew Lesner is amazingly well done, and the cinematography is almost flawless, but even this could not disguise the fact that nothing actually happened in the video. It seems as if more and more directors believe that a secret formula exists: random, seemingly unrelated events/objects + suuppperr slowww mooo = epic! I am sorry, but this is not the case. Congrats to “Set in Stone (M83 Remix)” for pulling it off, but right now I’m thinking of choosing the blue pill.

Fires of Rome - Set in Stone (M83 Remix) from Monte Lomax on Vimeo.

Next is another video to a remix song, this time by Demon, which makes use of slow motion’s obscure unkle the fast cut. Yes, I get that dancing/running/doing some other random action can look pretty aesthetically awesome when chopped up and interwoven into a giant mixtape-esque final project. However, this does not excuse you from inducing a seizure in your viewing audience. I’m giving Arno Bani and the band a break on this video to “Happy Therapy (Ari Remix)” because bboy Junior is a ridiculously good dancer, and they place him in a perfectly simple and austere white environment—allowing us to appreaciate how buff Junior must be to pull off what he does. However, I still think it’s a problem when most band websites I see nowadays have permanent epilepsy warnings as their fine print.

Demon - "Happy Therapy (Ari remix)" from Help Yourself on Vimeo.

Finally we have a technique used not only by music videos but by all of Hollywood as well whenever a director is lacking a proper story. This, of course, is referred to “throw a crapton of guns at the problem and shoot it until it goes away” stratagem. Much like the latest Die Hard movie, this music video to “Treat Me Like Your Mother” by The Dead Weather contains nothing but walking, talking, and a lot of shooting. Jonathan Glazer has made this tired concept slightly more interesting with a unique use of color and light, and integrates the song into the bulletfest well. Seriously though, get over your gun fetish America.