vidiot, April 3, 2007 6:46:23 PM CEST
Dizzee Rascal "Sirens" Dir. W.I.Z.

already earning raves...
mov here or here.
         
No but is also here;


www.jfklondon.co.uk
         
hey dude,

try it now, i just watched it and it worked for me. Im on a mac, dont know if that makes a diff. you can also go to dizzee's site and watch it.
Sick video!
         
video of the year?

that was excellent. Diz+WIZ!
         
DIZ is it
many levels of head flipping splendor
historical, sociological, economical... and 100% british minded
         
Wow - amazing! If you liked that, you might like this, a short I saw at Sundance this year - with some similarities...
         
Setting the bar for 2007. One of the best rap videos ever?
         
Gondry-esque ;)
         
Best of the year material, definitely. Anyone want to make a proper post?
         
brilliant.
         
In the UK, on MTV Base tonight at 21:00, see the making of the video.

"MTV travelled to Romania for this 'making of the video'. The programme also features interviews with the video crew and even the animal trainers who all explain their part in the process."
         
best video of 2007 so far, easy
         
Slippery way to get interest on this one: 'can anyone get the link to work' fucking lame

Proper Wiz wankfest huh?

Beautifully shot and passes way over the average UK hiphop vid. benchmark stuff. i agree best vid so far 07, but I have to add one thing, that i hate this stereotypical white power involvement.

If this vid was shot using a white singer and had black guys 'n' girls upon horses chasing and killing them it would cause a fucking uproar
         
What's W.I.Z.' real name? I guess Pierre Angélique is just another pseudonym, borrowed from Georges Bataille.
         
Brilliant song, brilliant photography. I really enjoyed watching it. Feels like this had a lot of thought, time, love put into it. WIZ on home turf. Nice cinematic style.

But... (I can't believe I am quibbling here... and no I am not saying I could have made this video etc. etc.) But... anyone else think that the slo-mo was over done? For a song with that energy I would have like to have seen more real-time hand-held jerkiness. Some urgency in the chase... It felt a bit stilted at times. But then again, perhaps I should just shut up and congratulate WIZ for bucking that particular trend anyway...

Liked it a lot. Re. accusation of racism above- Aren't the hunters supposed to be a largely white police force as seen from the eyes of the protagonist? That's what I read it as anyways...
         
Best video of the year? Best rap video ever? I know WIZ is a big contender on the ville but I found this really boring (regardless of poli/soci/eco/brit minds).
         
Maybe this would seem better if I was English. Very chilly and austere. I felt like the song was pulling me in, whilst the video was keeping me at arms length. I can appreciate the skill and the "outside the box-ness" - but it feels like a near miss to me. Always interested in what the WIZ has to offer, though.
         
loved it. agree with the comment about sluggish slo mo, but then again you can poke holes in anything if you try hard enough.

what impresses me most about w.i.z is the really startling imagery in his work, and his commitment to really good, gutsy ideas. who else could push something through like this? he deserves all the praise he gets.

that last kasabian one was rubbish though.
         
Yes, it is white people on horses not police force. But how about that it refers to fox hunting which is still practiced by the upper crust. here Diz is the talented fox. flips the idea of cops and robbers a different way. I found it chilling just in wardrobe/location. red coats vs black parkas.

As a RAPPPPP video, great to see a cinematic mirror of a song that isnt a bunch of performance (which comes from the early beginings of rap videos - performance is a big element).

Here, Dizz neednt lip sync a damn thing.
         
i guess it's the fact it chose to be fairly staged that's rubbing some wrong.
i found it pretty stark, for now, but also pretty cool.
         
Not sure WIZ's gravity can square with rap's urgency in any case, but this is still very good. [x'ed my original comment] Sometime I'll visit England and try to get the local flavor. English rap is usually a bit over my head.
         
"Gondry-esque"? "One of the best rap videos ever"? Im sorry but I would have to strongly disgaree. Yes, theres some fine cinematogrphy in there, and I would even say that visually the video is an excellent accompaniment to the track. However, two things strike me. Firstly, if any of you have seen Tom Harpers short that won last year at the Soho Shorts festvial then you will see pretty much the same idea or a very similar idea...and secondly is it me or doesnt it just remind you of every video WIZ has ever made ever...again...
         
kevathens, Tuesday, 3. April 2007, 19:59
Gondry-esque ;)

how is this like gondry?
         
A bit of a poke at spit: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4. No worries, all in good fun. Perhaps that adjective will creep up again!
         
Keith richards, my thoughts exactly, from the narrative right down to the smearing of blood complete rip off of Tom Harpers' CUBS.

WIZ'z treatment must have looked something like this quote from BBC journalist on 'CUBS'

'urban fox hunting, complete with dogs, blooding ceremonies and distinctive dress codes'

full story and video
www.bbc.co.uk

Even the mighty WIZ slackens on occasion
         
Damn, I wanted to say this video was bloody good, but this CUBS thing... It's dreadful. I'm not sure I need to know that.
         
Whoa, the tide is turning back and forth so fast it's hard to keep up. I think this is the most dramatic of Dizzee's videos, and it's a nice change to see him try something a little darker and more aggressive visually. The cinematic style and iconic imagery (the horse banging down the door? C'mon people!) push Diz up to a new level. This is the sort of video that's impossible to ignore, and it's becoming more apparent with every promo that W.I.Z. is currently at the head of the class. File this video under Gondry-esque immediately!
         
I agree with spit about the cinematic style and iconic imagery...dont get me wrong. WIZs work is always very strong. The video is certainly dramatic and WIZ is the king of drama, BUT I just keep seeing it time and time again in his work - the same imagery, the same themes. I'd like to say "change the record" WIZ but the "record" is the only thing that does change with WIZs videos...
         
Amazing visuals, beautiful photography, usual Wiz standard of production all round - just didn't really grab me. Like someone above said, the song kept pulling me in, but the video kept me at arms length.

Maybe it was the slow motion - kinda made it all drag a little.

Wiz is still one of my favs...
         
Wow, Keith Richards! Here at Antville?
I Love the way these big discussions turn into an exercise in tabloid journalism. Excellent use of senastionalist plagarism accusations. Nicely rounded off by the "change the record" idea. Well done!
...give your penis a lollipop.

As for the video.... beautiful pictures but a little too much hiding, I'd love to have seen more of the full on chase (but I suspect it was a nightmare to shoot without giving away the fact it was Romania not London).
         
Plagiarism? Some kids chase a fox in an urban location and that's comparable to scarlet jacketed upper class fox hunters hunting down a black man on an estate? You're way off base here. If you're not from the UK then you will never truly get foxhunting. This is about class, as much as about race. And if you think WIZ would plagiarise anyone then you've never met him. I guess opinions are like arseholes, everyones got one.
         
"Gondry-esque" you keep using that word...I do not think it means what you think it means...

this video was purdy ding dang good. feels like he fell asleep after watching fox hunting on British tellie' and then had this dream.




you killed my father, prepare to die
         
I agree with "foreman", WIZ is excellent and didnt rip any one off. That's like saying the new Linkin Park video is ripping off the History Channel. C'mon people!
         
the gondry-esque ;) comment was obviously sarcasm.
         
I have to agree with the video of the year bid. This is brilliant.
         
Not too bad, except the concept was totally ripped out of from Grant Morrison's seminal comic The Invisibles... but then, if that's what it takes...
         
down&out in heaven&hell, temp? now that you mention it...
still an awesome video, methinks.
         
Yeah, that's the one. Thinking about it, I get the feeling I'm just stiring up that whole "who had this idea first" argument, which inevitably goes nowhere except an argeement that people can independantly come up with the same ideas, often at the same time. But, regardless, The Invisibles was the first thing I thought of on watching the video. And the delivery isn't too bad, so I guess it could be worse!
         
I am having one of those moments when I can't believe anyone would take a swing at this. I just have to remind myself of the fact of divergent tastes.

For me, this is right on all points. I wouldn't say its bloated with a million different angles. This picks an angle and doesn't get off track.

A great work.
         
I didnt really like it. It felt clunky. Thrown together. I thought the central idea was kinda pompous.
         
essay on this phenomenal video over here...

i think it's interesting to note that actor Ashley Waters, former member of grime-act So Solid Crew, stars in the aforementioned foxhunting short 'Cubs,' and a movie called 'Bullet Boy,' which was a British drama about a young kid following in the footsteps of his gangbanging elder brother. i actually think these parallels make the video even more interesting.
         
There ya go. It's a much better video now after your explanation. I would have never gotten the hoodie symbolism. More on those over here.

One question though: They say that something isn't good if you have to explain it. It will be interesting to see if XL/Beggars Group release this here in America, because it doesn't make complete sense over here without that explanation. Its message may be very BET-ready, but I doubt it will air on BET. Doubly so because it's grime-ish, which has only gotten any real attention on MTV2.
         
Brilliant period! Obtusity's review of the video maybe helpful to some and I think is point on. To me the ability to so beautifully pull off a socially daring "music video" with such artistic vision is quite impressive. Whether or not its intended, I think there is a reoccuring theme in much of WIZs work that deals with struggles between classes. Good on him!
         
yeah classism in the UK is like racism in the US, in terms of being equally volatile topics of public discussion. americans dont like to discuss classism because it inherently goes against the ideals of the american dream that everyone can be financially upwardly mobile. its interesting how british folk watch this video and comment on the elitist aspect of fox hunting in a clearly ghetto neighborhood, whereas americans watch it and comment on how all the fox hunters are white and are chasing a black man...discuss amongs yourselves...
         
This video is truly a troubling portrait of the clash of two paradigms; the stuffy British upper class looking to agressively survive in a world that no longer really suits their ignorant and indulgent worldview, and the lower class being trampled proverbially underfoot as they struggle to gain a footing in a society which seems neither to value or want them.

Or its 3 minutes and 47 seconds of Dizzee Rascal running from dogs and equestrians.

There's 4 minutes of my life I'll never get back. I could've made a sandwich. It's lunchtime.
         
I loved it. I thought it was visually beautiful and intellectually interesting. I felt like the strong iconography used within a rather simple narrative opened a number of sociopolitical questions without beating it over the head (too much).

I liked it so much I've forwarded it to a number of my non-video watching friends.

For me the fact that the slow motion was so pervasive actualy added to the tension.
         
Where for art thou Hassinator? his silence conspicuous. Antville nation awaits the definitive Dizzee opinion...
         
the lord misquoting the bard? what is this place coming to... hass: put us (them) out of their (our) misery.
         
i move in mysterious ways.
         
The gondry thing is a gag.
         
i thought this was pretty terrifying. the white power/class thing is in the video cause its in REALITY. sorry if reality is "played out" for you :) black men never hunted white anything on horses. a really nice metaphor for the situation withour resorting to the 100% literal image of the song.. and although i didnt get the class reference as much as the race one (though its pretty much one and the same innit, are there any black lords in england?) i still enjoyed it. its a chase, whats to "get" to enjoy a good chase?

and as far as gondry esque, well the horse in the apartment was pretty surreal.. if not at all gondry esque in any other way :)

now if they had just put in a parkour sequence and a 360 matrix spin theyd be onto something.
         
WIZ real name is.....
W.I.Z.
:)
And that horse knocking the door down is FIERCE. As in kinda rad.
         
andrew.
         
shhhh...
:)
         
adam buxton foot-in-mouth w/ w.i.z.
         
Oh, now I see, W.I.Z.'s real name is Andrew Whiston and I guess he uses Apple.
And btw Tom Lindsay this ain't working.
         
lol That's from 5 years ago, I think. Nice one :)
         
Hmm, interesting video.. has to be one of the best I've seen. There is just so much to infer from the footage..

I was surprised at the horse when the door opened.. but it was pretty poignant - reminded me of a picture I had seen that the KKK had put out: en.wikipedia.org

even though clearly it was a huntsman..

Again, surprised they got him at the end, and the blood smearing was kinda crazy.

But true to the cause of fighting the power, up rose another replacement for the caught dizzee rascal at the end.

That's the way I saw those scenes.