otaku-house, February 27, 2006 9:18:13 PM CET
Death Cab for Cutie - Your Heart Is an Empty Room, Dir. Jeffrey Brown


www.deathcabforcutie.com

Will be online from 2/27 to 3/5.

The latest video for the 'Directions' project, the first animation from graphic novelist Jeffrey Brown. Animated by Eliza Kinkz.

Individual opinions of the videos aside, I have to say the DVD is coming together really great. All the treatments and individual filmed director's statements (as opposed to voice commentaries) are there.
         
Best one so far. Jeffrey Brown is the shit.
         
blah.
         
I just feel like all these artists are whipping something together and throwing the music over it without any regard for integration. The concept of this whole 'directions' was super cool, but the outcome has been rather weak...But perhaps I am a little pessamistic because I only get to a portion of the clips due to faulty streaming.
         
Everyone hates the "I'm really super sad and need to tell everyone", but this video was a nice mellow middle from his other books. He always had a nice nack for showing all the micro things we do that slowly pick and degrade any relationship we're in.

kudos to Brown
         
anybody familiar with brown's cartoons/graphic novels? what did he do?
in a way similar to craig thompson & derek kirk kim, though maybe not as good.
that said, i really like the video!
         
otaku, individual "opinions aside" means: forget about the fact that everyone thinks these videos suck.. right?
         
Yeah, I really keep thinking, "Okay, the next one will be the one that makes this whole thing worthwhile," but then it never comes. Thought this one was in the same camp as the others.

And yep, it does feel like it was all done in a big hurry and the directors just threw something at them.
         
a few things to consider:

this project got a LOT of hype.

not many rock bands can do this w/ this mix of budget and credibility. If this was the Linkin Park Directions, no one would give a shit. If it was the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! Directions, there'd be no money.

from what I've read, every director who posts on antville (anonymous or otherwise) submitted treatments - so of course there's going to be a lot of bitterness at the final versions.

I think Directions will work well as a one-sitting cohesive DVD; especially for audiences who haven't been following all the ins-and-outs of the project.

and this one is awesome! Animation!
         
I can see that, though that's not where I've been coming from. I'm just a music vid fan and didn't pitch anything to anyone. Really liked the whole idea for the thing; I've just been disappointed in the results.

Though it should be said that, and this is pretty universal I think, given what I see on this board, that the times are few and far between when you're really blown away by a music video. Most of the time it's either "at least it's watchable" or "man, that's awful." So I guess, with this Death Cab thing, given the roster, I was expecting to have a pretty great average of good over not-so-good, but thus far, it's been a pretty big letdown.
         
I'm a huge Jeffrey Brown fan, so I really wanted this video to be good.

There just isn't a lot of substance to the narrative and the limited animation is wanting. However, if there was more of a story to this, I wouldn't mind the animation style.
         
I haven't been able to see most of these vids, but I think one thing that may hamper this project is that the album isn't the greatest? (imho) While this is a valiant effort, perhaps Transatlanticism calls for this more than Plans?