slow, but stick with it.

qt file here .rm here .wmv here

(and so much for the NME exclusive)

         

just read this interview/article and now i realise where i've heard those opening chords before: coldplay's fix you (apparently sigur rós are one of his favourite band)

on this point: everything sounds like coldplay now...

         

sigur ros is cool. do they sing in a made up language? or is it some crazy shit like welsh or something?

i liked this video, but thought that the acting and direction didn't live up to the cinematography, costumes, locations, and concept.

the locked off shots didn't really work for me. i think slow motion hand-held, moving across the rolling hills with the band of children would have worked better. give it a bit more of a sense of reality, since the subject is so "whimsical". this tended to make it seem slight more pretentious than it had to have been.

that said, i enjoyed watching it.

         

they used to sing in the imaginary language hopelandic, but apparently this is in icelandic

         

better then the last video. who was the director for this one? Sigur Ros clearly has their own thing going on, it might get tiring after a few too many "innocent children, innocent music" videos - but it's a clear direction they are going in so the consistancy is kinda cool. I'd rather not let a Chris Cunningham or a Micheal Ghondry touch their music now...

         

this was a beautiful video i loved it i don't know shit about cinematography i'm just a mere human bye

         

i like it less after thinking about it. i remember thinking that for a second, when he was banging his drum, that they had met up with another group of children and they were going to have a battle. but then i realized that wasn't the case.

maybe it should have been.

         

hmm. liked it.

         

SALAD: A battle would have been a very naive and unnecessary move. Furthermore your comment about "locked off shots" doesn't really make much sense in light of the piece. 'Reality' is not achieved via slow motion handheld camera work - and I can't find a single take that feels even the slightest bit stale or imprudent.

I would also argue that the promo is going for more or less a mythical feel than a "whimsical" one. Here are children on a journey devoid of reason but not without purpose. They're traveling thru an arbitrary landscape (maybe adolescence) picking up other children during the way. The goal: to reach the edge of the world and fly away. Very simple and elegant. Beautiful in it's execution and I have some trouble understanding your distaste for the acting and directing...

Great promo. Beautiful matte painting and composite work. Who made this?

Great post Progosk. IMO, not slow at all.

And note, I've been m.i.a. for months now, but has everyone disappeared and/or taken on new nicks?

         

one thing i like about the direction is the way the story is played with these little narrative details, in particular: the two kids who were about to set the car on fire and just stop (also how this and the road makes for a disjunction with the mythical/legendary tone), the various seagulls at the drop, and then the whole little bellboy story: he's sleeping and the bigger kids respect that and sleep too (the smaller girl needing the physical comfort of the drummerboy's hand) but he's the only one still stirred by dreams, how he's then just a little late, and so, despite himself, notices the drum that's rolling back down the slope, and then has this moment of hesitation that finally dooms him - but he's completely convinced he's made it and he's flying like the others, and so he's perfectly happy while plummeting to his death.

i've rewatched this a few times also just for the costumes. and: how beautiful are these kids?

there is a mistake in cutting to the second close-up once they're standing still right ofter the first closeup: since it's framed exactly the same, this indeed reads (as salad said) as though they're up against each other, which they aren't. (i also would have preferred no mystery dot on the horizon at the end.)

as with the white stripes doorbell , i don't think this song would have crept under my skin without this video.

         

without actually making the effort to confirm this, i believe the band directs their own videos. i'm pretty sure they did the one for Svefn g englar, at least.

         

Cinematography is superb, i agree that acting could be somehow less awkward if slo mo was used @ some points. The point where the kids take off, is breathtaking. Sigur Ros keep on trendsetting

         

No the band doesn't direct the videos themselves. Although I presume they have a strong influence in the creative process. I think the video is very good. Shot on anamorphic in Iceland about month ago. It was directed by Arni & Kinski and shot by Chris Soos. Same guys who did "Vidrar Vel Til Loftarasa". Although a good video I find this innocent children thing in their videos a bit tiring. It must reflect the bands inner fetish? Or maybe not. One thing i do not get is the little boys end jump. Is he falling? Or did he make it? Or just didn't the other kids give a f***? Hmmm....

         

progosk: ye, that is how you see it and perhaps you are right. could have been illustrated differently, because we never actually see him really fall down, do we? it is never that really clear. not that it is really really bothering me. still think it is a beautiful video.

         

lusk: you're a real cutie-pie, you know that? naive?

the video rests comfortably on one "note" the entire time. the ending with the flying is pretty good, but if there was some shift in tone from whimsical peace-children etc., i think it would have been even better. At least to me, because i prefer more developed narratives over tone pieces.

in the same way, i would have liked to see a more "gritty" camera style to play against the other elements. i think videos are more dynamic when the style doesn't all match up perfectly. a slow video set to a slow song in slow motion with smooth camera moves and calm actors doing a peaceful concept.

i just want to re-iterate that i liked the piece, which is why i guess i have so many comments. i wish it could be even better.

that said, lusk, get bent.

         

YAWN. It's fucking Peter Pan. The only way to save this thing is if the last shot was of the bell boy kid slamming down into the rocks below.

         

didnt you think the last kid to jump was going to die- we never actually see him fly off with his chums? also what is it with this band and kids? were they teachers in a past life..

         

AMAZING...I LOVE IT. And what a song.

         

fyi, arni & kinski are formerly of the icelandic band gusgus

         

glosoli: for all you collectors, nice qt file here.

         

With respect to Arnithor/Warhero's etc... question w.r.t. the little boy (does he make it?), notice the very first close up shot after he jumps. It's a close up of of a very young boy, wearing a cap (with straps on its side), with a white scarf or kerchief, really having a good time. The only character with all these atributes is the "little boy" (believe me, I checked and re-checked; comparing with other scenes where the boy is featured and and contrasting with every other character). Thus, he makes it...

         

warming: yes, it's him, but, no, he doesn't make it. you misread his happiness - he's smiling because he thinks he's made it. (look at the last 26 frames of the wide of him jumping, his legs folding underneath him unlike the others, whose legs stretch behind them: he's falling, no doubt about it. some ambiguity comes from him moving right to left in the close-up that follows, but his neckerchief is flapping down-up, not front-back...).

having said that, it seems clearly to have been intended with some room for interpretation, so: by all means think him saved - only do consider there's good evidence to the contrary.

         

Progost...

I'll agree to disagree with you on this one.

If he's smiling because he thinks he made it, are the others smiling because they think he made it too? Becasue it just does not seem likely to me that this band of friends, the leader in particular, so unified prior to the "jump", would simply not care about their most junior member. (See the leader checking on the junior member's progress just prior to the little's boy's jump)

I'm a believer in principle of simplicity. In the closing sequence, it seems awfully complicated that 5 characters would seem to be doing the same thing (seem having a great time while flying) after having done the same thing (jumping) for opposite reasons (4 because they made it, 1 because thinks he did while he really didn't).

And about up-down vs. front-back flapping, there seems to be quite a bit up-down flapping (like of hair)in the four close-ups that follow.

The good evidence to the contrary (evidence that he didn't make it) is contradicted too strongly.

But debating this sure is fun!!!

         

so him noticing the drum rolling downhill doesn't mean anything? nor his hesitation before jumping?

the older kids come across him, and they let him tag along quite happily, but you're pushing it to say they were "so unified", there's always a subtle level of difference maintained (see my other comments above). when the others smile, it's because they're flying. and they're certainly not thinking about what's happening behind them (only the leader looks around, briefly, a couple of times, once before the little'un jumps, and once when he'd already have plummeted out of his line of sight...)

two considerations: 1. to me, the little guy making it feels not so much neat and simple (and i'd dispute those as necessarily qualitative principles), but rather: saccharine 2. perhaps you have a special reason for wanting him to make it?

i'll leave it at this - thanx for your opinions.

         

You're entitled to your interpretations on what finally does happen and I'm sure your motivations for firmly believing that he does not make it seem awfully justifed to you.

And about your questions about the "drum rolling downhill" or his "hesitation before jumping"? I don't see what else they have in the final outcome other than (i) he's slower than the others and (ii) less sure of himself than the others...

Just seems weird that if someone presented you with a sequence of 5 people say, running the 100 metre sprint, you'd maintain that I one the sprinters actually just "thinks" he's running (but actually fell flat on his face) because this sprinter happened to stumble out of the blocks...

Heck, who knows, maybe we're both wrong. Maybe they ALL went kersplat on the rocks after a collective suicide and the final sequence is their spirits floating off over the sea. That's a simpler explanation that the "one thinks he made it while four did make it" explanation.

Too bad we can't ask Sigur Ros what they think?

... Wait a minute, perhaps we can!

I found a websight that features Q and A with the cinematographer and it's really interesting what he says (although he admits that the ending could be open to interpretation...). Please visit: www.sigur-ros.co.uk

         

Wow I can't believe so many people don't like this video, I mean, you ever use your imagination people? I absolutely loved this video, just like all their videos. But this one is the best. I've already watched this video 6 times today because I love it so much. Why don't they show this kind of stuff on MTV? I think I will move to Iceland.

         

while i was sort of bored during the middle, i used my imagination and saw a better video.

         

THIS VIDEO IS PETER PAN... the whole concept of the video reflects an allusion to Peter Pan. At the end, the dot on the Horizon is NeverLand... The Lost Boys are flying to Neverland.