I dont know if i am going to get stoned from antville for posting this but its really cute and a good idea directed by John Cameron Mitchell, its Bright Eyes "First day of my Life" www.ifilm.com

and another bright eyes animation which is quite good for the song "Bowl of Oranges" done by saddle creek www.ifilm.com

         

The girl in the picture is cute anyway. I wouldn't say that this is a very good idea though. I kind of felt like throwing up afterwards, I'm not sure why. John Cameron Mitchell sure knows a lot of lesbian couples.

         

It's a sweet video, but it seems a bit like a commercial of some kind. The best part of that video is it's followup video on the ifilm playlist entitled "Styling with Mr.t" It had me looking for the A-Train to fashion.

         

Way too over the top sappy, I felt bad for the people who had to act like they liked the other person on the spot, cause it all feels kind of forced, right?

         

Cake did the same thing w/ "Short Skirt Long Jacket" a few years ago.... their's was "man on the street" style and had the listeners commenting as the song played. I think this was better but if it's unoriginal, then what?

         

Cat Solen was the director on the Bowl of Oranges video, which I love, but this latest video is a concept that spike jonez did for Oasis (never released, but its on his dvd), and it was also done more recently for Cake's "no phone." i find all three to be really unwatchable; let's not have anymore music videos cum reality tv...

         

damn, cap'n crunch, you beat me to it...

         

It amazes me when people regurgitate ideas like this. Have they no shame?! At least the Cake vid seemed real and the Oasis one was original. This just made me feel sick.

         

you're right, it REALLY feels like an ad. I kept waiting for it to say, "National Mutual Insurance. For you... whatever hipster stereotype you are."

but it's not a bad video. this is the same guy that did hedwig right?

         

I thought it was a good, solid video--I liked the couples who were a little awkward on camera the most, since they seemed the most real. By the end, though, it became a little too much of the same thing.

I don't have a problem with more than one video using the idea of of real people reacting to the song. You know, lots of videos use the idea of "performers performing their song," or "people dancing to the song," too. It's not whether your video is in some way similar to some other video in the history of the medium; it's whether you bring enough new and interesting to it that the video succeeds on its own merits.

That said, I just tracked down the Cake video for "Short Skirt, Long Jacket", and I think it's fantastic. You can find a WMV file of it here.

         

Oh, and here's the video for No Phone, which I think is a lot less interesting than the one for "Short Skirt, Long Jacket."

         

Boring and nauseating at the same time. The fact that Conor Oberst bugs the hell out of me ever since I wasted 15 bucks on the Digital Ash album does nothing to influence the fact that this video is crap, it isn't even remotely interesting, and the director could have done so much more with this song. And the fact that this guy also did the brilliant Hedwig and The Angry Inch film makes it even more painful. Damn you Bright Eyes. You give indie music a really bloody bad name.

         

There's actually a second video for Short Skirt Long Jacket, comprised of offcuts from the first.

Also there was a charming James video for Getting Away With It which also featured vox pops, as the interviewed people talked about James as if the band were a Tony Robbins-esque motivational speaker.

This Bright Eyes video has started to bug me, and I think this is why - The Cake / Oasis videos have no pretense, the song is played and people react, sometimes positively, sometimes negatively. With the Bright Eyes video, the reactions everyone gives, with the big smiles and kisses and love, etc. sort of implies that the song is this big special meaningful track. that might not be a problem if the song was truly exceptional and timeless, but it's not in that league.

You can't really have it both ways, it has to either be spontaneous or staged.

         

fuck it...it's good

i agree it's been done many times

but this is a truly good vid it works that's all that matters screw captin marc and blinkystick...

         

shad - how did you interpret my original post as a negative review? I said it had been done before, but that this was better - and then asked: does it matter if a work is unoriginal if it's better?

         

I think he just hates you and binkystick.

Binky did not even comment on this.

         

ournameismud, the second version of long skirt is apparently the same thing, just shot in a different part of the country (one's nyc, the other's california), so not exactly outtakes... just to be pedantic. they both work well. directed by john mccrea in 2001.

         

Ournameismud, I think you put your finger on it exactly. I agree with you about what makes the Cake video work better than this one.