M83, We Own the Sky mv contest entry

my name is legion, January 19, 2009 at 4:31:26 PM CET

M83 We own the sky from Matei-Alexandru Mocanu on Vimeo.

progosk, January 19, 2009 at 5:03:54 PM CET

(i admire your courage in posting.)

my name is legion, January 19, 2009 at 5:12:50 PM CET

haha. do i look like one whos afraid of negative feedback? or no comments at all? feedback's just feedback, it ain't aids.

kalstark, January 19, 2009 at 5:43:55 PM CET

This is well done and it captures a very particular sense of place and time. It's without a doubt very atmospheric. To use one of my favorite phrases, when dealing with music videos, you built a world for the song to exist within and that's a major accomplishment.

When the video started, having failed to read the post's header, I thought it was the actual band's video but about 45 seconds in something started to feel off.

It was the total lack of performance. I think, in this case, it actually detracts from the work you've done. It makes the video vacillate between slightly off-kilter sub-culture examination mood music video to fan-made video clip.

The quick fix - the project would benefit from more lip-synch. For example, the moment with the blond dude barely synching is really really nice. It meshes with the couldn't-care-less vibe that all the characters seem to embody and it also fits well with the music.

Another small issue for me was the bridge of the song when we cut to the portrait shots in front of the wall (the stuff with the robber balloon). The section dragged for me. It wasn't as good as what had come before, and as I quickly learned, it's not as good as what comes afterward.

Next, the skateboard throwing scene kinda turned me off. Hipster culture is already thought of as vapid and intellectually empty clothes and 'cool kid' narcissistic fetishism. It doesn't help to see one of these individuals decide, after I've watched him skate in slow-motion and seem almost to connect emotionally/spiritually to the very activity of skating, tricking, and just being himself, to trash his board. It feels distractingly bratty and it lacks any redemptive qualities at all.

Finally, the ending was pudding; I ate it up. Cutting to that hipster/dance club vibe but without the actual club was very nice and felt particularly fitting. Seeing the characters in that 'club type' space but typically seeing them alone in the space brought all sorts of metaphors to mind.

Overall, I enjoyed the video and was really drawn in by the characters and their 'story' but it dragged from the halfway mark to the three-quarter mark. I also wish it had more synch so it felt more like it was the real music video.

Thanks for sharing,

birds.on.fire, January 20, 2009 at 12:27:49 AM CET

dreamy lil vid for a dreamy lil song.

yeah, I especially liked how those brooding kids ended up dancing too...the effect is kinda cute (can I say "cute" here?)

anyway, nice work.

my name is legion, January 20, 2009 at 8:30:05 AM CET

'It was the total lack of performance. I think, in this case, it actually detracts from the work you've done. It makes the video vacillate between slightly off-kilter sub-culture examination mood music video to fan-made video clip.'

that was my biggest concern of all. i did have some lip-synch, which i was planning to use more, like they were speaking with one another in a casual manner, but changed my mind halfway thru the edit.

Alanedit, January 20, 2009 at 8:35:48 AM CET

More hipsters, good vid.

comment!