Kanye West, "Welcome To Heartbreak" (Dir. Nabil)
KANYE WEST "Welcome To Heartbreak" Directed by Nabil from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.
From Kanye's blog:
This is not the next single, "Amazing" is the next single.
This is the video we've been working on for the last month.
We know there is another video out there using the same technique so we were forced to drop it now.
best comment:
frakjrich23 | February 17, 2009 IS IT SUPPOSED TO BE PIXELATED OR NOT?
is this partizan vs. partizan?
This takes the technique to much deeper levels than the chairlift video did, and now we will get to see this technique on Televisions which will be cool, I especially like the RGB play going on around the 3:15 mark.
some nice moments. i wonder if anyone is ever going to touch datamoshing again, after these two. must be a bitch to be preempted on something like this. what gives, partizan?
well, according to videostatic, the chairlift vid was not produced by partizan.
they're both equally good in my book.
fuck when i saw tintori's i thought that was it, nobody was going to attempt that again to that extent, but this vid proves me wrong. it's even better, the technique more integrated, like it matured from a nice looking gimmick/ effect into style proper. the edit is better, the overall look. hmm, these two videos are something indeed. but if i were to choose, this one's the better.
By the way wasn't kris moyes one of the first to use this technique for a music video with the 2005 video for the presets 'are you the one' and then again just last year with his beck 'youthless' video?
Definitely this one seems to take the artifact into the video's narrative, instead of the Chairlift one that seems just like what it was: an experiment.
Could this d/effect become a new visual staple, just like snow, horizontal tracking errors and gritty scratches were for analog video and film? Heck, we've all seen this on many defective files since the intertubes became thick enough for video.
Don't know why it was pulled, it's not like the Chairlift video is going to get massive international play?
i think this is great. A link for the other vid?
this was actually done before the chairlift one anyway right? I'm a fan.
i don't think the video was pulled i think the term "drop it now" is more for premiering it before he would have liked.
I hate "AUTOTUNE". It allways reminds me on CHER: www.youtube.com
AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGG
Hej. But the Clip is great!
;)
man, that really is terrible that Kanye (the royal We) was forced to drop this video. Forced!
Dare he disturb the universe? Dare he, Chairlift?!
The man had a better product using a technique in its infancy, a fetus really, and he's worried that he'll look like Kanyeezy-come-lately. Silly.
Well, as ambitious as he is in placing 1st, I'm sure we can expect something pretty tight for Amazing.
@corven -ah, yes, actually, I can see how that might be the case.
i get the need to drop it now. if he waits two months, people would think that he ripped off the other one. instead its clear that two people had the same idea at the same time.
although its funny that he's worried about a chairlift video fucking up his cred.
either way, cool piece.
One of the worst things about the internet is the emphasis on who did something "first". Kanye's video kicks the crap out of Chairlift (which was- I'll just say it- pretty boring, who actually felt the need to watch more than 30 seconds?), who cares whether it was first or not?
Great minds think alike and ain't the whole smaller world|globalization|internet thing a bitch. ;)
K
I have to say that I just watched the Chairlift video after it was mentioned all over this post and I only have one thing to say...
This video KILLED the Chairlift one.
No comparison. Kanye's video comes off as an extremely thought out art piece and Tintori's looks like an afterthought formulated after the initial video was shot.
nothing wrong with zeitgeist
@corven: ahhh that makes more sense, thanks.
This video whoops a llama's ass.
I don't really even think it's fair comparing the two videos. Apples and oranges, really. One is a super-pro feat of techno-pop and the other is a very gritty, dirty, DIY trippy hippy piece. I think they're both very cool pieces of art and fit with their respective tracks in different ways.
If I had to pick a favorite, I'd probably side with Kanye because of the range of idea and overall mad skills. Big big ups to the guys at Ghost Town Media and Nabil!
Kanye reads this blog.
Not only does Kanye read this blog, but so does Neon (Nabil being one half of Neon?).
Now that it's out, is anyone willing to shell out how this technique is done. I posted many ideas on the chairlift thread, but nothing has surfaced as definitive.
A great great video.
lusk, try virtualdub.
i've been waiting for a video to creatively break false letterboxing for a while now.
and maybe it's just personal preference, but part of me likes the chairlift video better, mainly its emphasis on trippy transitions - where each time it cuts it takes a couple seconds to realize what you're looking at through all the pretty colors.
though this is probably the better video.
Not impressed at all. Poor use of the mosh effect. Too much tasteless amateurish after effects filters and stock photo explosions going on, and what deep clever narative are you talking about?? As for Tintoris outing, it was really nice and much more contained, though still all about effect..
O'Reilly was first, and Moyes' Beck vid the best! (..and surely the raison d'etre for these latest two vids.)
46" HD widescreen: $1200 Custom built HD HTPC: $1400 Watching sprite-pixelated videos in HD: Priceless.
I really can appreciate the artisitc side to this vid, and the amount of time and money dropped into it. Truly enjoyable work. Only issue is this tiny voice in the back of my head says "Focus, dammit!". Some of the blocking works; too much gets distracting.
I think Beck beat Kanye to the punch anyway: videos.antville.org (well, commercialization of the effect at least). Kanye raised the bar.
wow, didn't see this coming. totally just took away tintori's schtick
baud: lulz!
as for comparisons, winch has it: two totally different endeavours.
chairlift/tintori were a first total immersion into the effect, and it stands solidly on precisely those merits (plus a good fit to the track) - kanye/nabil has a different scope, and develops the effect to a somewhat different purpose - and it stands well on those own legs. i think corven's right, this is finished, but he had to release it earlier than planned, else the netbuzz return-on-investment would have dropped more, since chairlift was already being featured on a lot of style-sites that kanye also caters to.
one of the things that defines kanye's game is precisely his being so attuned to netbuzz. that this causes him to transcend his strict musical genre/audience boundaries (to the point of having a chairlift video influence his strategy) in the name of style, is surely something good (= liberating) all round.
would be interested in 30f's take on this.
Superb. I'm with w&p re Chairlift/Tintori, apples and oranges
Kid Cudi, killin it on the chorus!!!
I don't get the "forced" thing. And I don't even get the "first" thing. And NO Igor, "O'Reilly with his Beck Video was not first."
Everyone should check out this:
Link: www.youtube.com
This is 2 Years old !!! omg. So... "first", "forced". absurd.
oh wait. Its from 2004 !!! read the discription: ...by Owi Mahn & Laura Baginski 2004
Luk, I am obviously referring to the commercial context of music videos, which after all is the basis for all discourse on this website, right? I think you misunderstood me a bit. My point was: this is a gimmick, which this video neither pioneers nor does any much better (imho) than previous efforts. So why jump on the band wagon? To me that is not very creative, nor did it require any artistic courage/risque the same way it did when Moyes used it on a promo for a mainstream artist on a major label. New ground has already been broken, this is just cultivating it. How else do you explain that two videos WITH THE SAME CONCEPT suddenly drop, so shortly after the Beck promo? I just wish that they had gone much further..
ok.
For me its just sounds like noone else did that effect before.
The discussion reminds me a bit of the "slitscan" discussion (schofield). Kubrik did it, Zbig Rybczynski did it, etc... And the words "first" and "forced" poped up. Thats all.
Even if "we" talk about the "commercial context of music videos" there was this "The Presets" Video and some other vids before the "beck video" which uses compression artefakts.
But the "commercial context" ... its a bit absurd. For example Godard "invented" the Jump Cut... and you see it now (or back in the 90s) in 1000 of hip hop videos. And for many US People. (sorry, its a fact)... they don't even know who Godard is.
So i say... fuck the commercial context.
If someone take an idea from "the underground" or from some "experimental art videos" I think its bullshit to talk about who was the FIRST Director in a commercial context.
What about "Chip Music" ... the great comeback for Kylie Minouge... etc...
It all has its routs in the "underground". For me its still absurd that in the "commercial world"... they now been forced...
I mean. Why? so noone can say its a rip of? right? (or not)
And to break that "who did it first" thing... its to post some clips 5 years ago... imho.
Because everyone else seems to care I guess. Kanye wanted to drop the video earlier so no one thought he ripped someone off, he is very protective of his style and image and doesnt want to be taken as a copycat, (anyone remember the Jonas & Francois/SoME video he got some flack for) I don't necessarily think it was to say "We were first" it was just to show that there was no way they ripped off Tintori. And yeah Beck and The Presets had it but it wasn't really used as a structural frame such as it was in these videos, more as a stylistic flourish. This Kanye vid really takes it all to another level, every time I watch it again I discover something new, very nuanced and quite gorgeous.
A couple things... One, the datamoshing effect is one of those things that a lot of people have either been doing or talking about wanting to do. It's kinda like a few years ago when morphing was all the craze. I don't really see it as a race of "who did it first?" It's like asking "who invented the film camera?" And the answer is: A lot of people at roughly the same time. What's more important is what people did with the technique.
I see it more as a concurrent development. You wouldn't say that Georges Braque ripped off Picasso by being a cubist would you?
What I think is amazing is the level of skill and artistry that Ghost Town and Nabil were able to take this video.
Also, for the record, Ghost Town had collaborated with Tintori on the effect for the MGMT "Electric Feel" video. (Another video that Ghost Town added an immense amount of mad genius to). From what I understand, at the time, the label was wary of the effect being too crazy so they cut it out. Regardless of who sparked the initial conversation about using the effect (I'm pretty certain both were familiar of the concept and had tinkered with it separately), the Ghost Town guys put a lot of work into developing, testing, and finessing the effect.
Congrats to both camps for pushing the boundaries outward as smaller budgets squeeze us inward.
And of course, equally big props to Nabil for being the mastermind visionary genius for directing the video. Not to mention for accomplishing the ridiculously amazing task of convincing Kanye to go ahead with the project in the first place.
hey kevathens.. could u please take down that link.. the crop is pooop pooop and i will replace it with the correct one soon .. i would apprecaite it
wtf none of you ever saw Wim Wenders' Until the end of the World? That shit came out before the cellphone.
amazing job nabil
Wow, I've got to give props to chairlift.
I mean, using a simple technique in a way that gets wannabe music video directors everywhere wetting their pants in jealousy? PRETTY COOL.
Forcing tucking KANYE to "drop" his video, thereby having him acknowledge that your cute little $500 video even exists? PRICELESS.
Really. Tintori must be shitting himself with glee right now.
This is crazy. I mean really crazy.
Pretty sure that site is an extensive parody of what a westboro baptist member would think of blog ephemera. Not that funny, but I wouldn't pay it too much attention.
old video
see minute 3:30
"making of electric feel"
Mindblowing pixel goodness!
Very fresh. Something Mr Moyes would also be very jealous of.
Amazing work guys. You deserve great glory after that effort.
We have potential new leaders...
Be interesting to see what your follow up will be.
I sort of feel like I've been biting my tongue on this idea for a while. Neither of these "data moshing videos" happen to be my personal cup of tea despite the fact that I applaud the work.
Putting that aside, I'm kind of amazed at how there are close to 100 posts between this thread and the Chairlift one. Of those posts maybe 1/3 are all about pixel pushing technical jargon and another 1/3 is concerned with ideas like who pioneered the technique. I find it rather fascinating that these tend be the types of threads that spur more responses. I guess I am surprised at the love for the Chairlift video particularly because it is not an "idea" so much as a technique. While I have nothing wrong with that and often think its okay to simply entertain, so often I see comments on here like "where is the plot or the story, the concept, the idea?"
Just for shits and giggles. It might be interesting to do a viewership poll. How many people are in the creative arts? How many people work specifically in videos? Who here is more of an animator, designer or filmmaker? It would just be interesting data to understand the participation on the site. Especially, since there is no moderation here and very posters link off to their own work or identity.
tintori/kanye connection explained: motionographer.com
The fuckin answer: popmodernism.org
ha! so that was there the whole time? Still I think most people were using their own software solutions.
so_hot: add that MOV up top?
gold star to m'ographer for that article. telling the whole story, with details and attributions, is such an ennobling contribution to the whole business. perfect antidote to all the kvetch-&sniping that's become the nasty habit here.
Kanye is officially legend when he comes to his music videos. Dare I say Kanye Warhol!
From David OReilly's blog: "Datamoshing is so over!"
_.jpg){kind=link}