rlfnowhere, October 18, 2009 11:03:50 PM CEST
"We Were Once A Fairytale" {Kanye West x Spike Jonze}

"We Were Once A Fairytale" - Kanye West Dir: Spike Jonze from Yooj‽ on Vimeo.

and the mov -> dtrain.tv
         
Yes I spent my Sunday listening to Gucci Mane, watching football, and ripping and converting this to Vimeo…. and you’re all welcome.
         
haha Mike Carroll vs Fonzworth Bentley whaat?
         
Holy shit. Like this isn't the best music video Kanye's ever made.

So fuckin oddball. How or why Ye makes these things is beyond me. Anyone else remember the weird puppet/Ye strapped to wall with mouth plug pilot?
         
info: nahright.com
         
Grade is overly dark. Lovely video.
         
ye is the most fearless artist in hip hop, and for that he deserves respect.
         
Great performance by Mr West. I predict he rushes the stage at the 2010 Oscars.
         
props. that is all.
         
Loved this, but couldn't help feel that West had some borrowed ideas from fellow comrade Chris Milk on this one.

Well done though.

Welcome back Mr Jonze.
         
Dug it. Did they shoot that on the 5D?
         
Having just shot on the 5d for the first time it really does look like that is what they shot on, Makes sense for this particular video. It almost feels as though this video is an explanation of his past follies. The thing in his chest is obviously a personal "Demon". Really really great video. Short film videos very rarely work since audiences attention spans are different for different mediums but this I feel works. Though I do think that if it wasn't Spike it would be getting shat on a lot more by the 'ville.
         
dopeness
I would guess this was 5D as well
love how the focus is all over the place

         
Loved it because I love watching bat-shit crazy videos. Not sure putting out something so bat-shit crazy is going to help Ye's reputation post-taylorgate. It'll be interesting to see how the blogs write it up tomorrow. I was guessing 5D too.
         
Antville,

Get off Kanye's dick! His acting in this is atrocious and completely self-conscious. The whole piece is a wank-off and simply beneath Jonze as a talented director.
         
Certainly didnt see that coming,
Good darkly comedic turn from Kanye,
Truly Bonkers
         
Spike to Kanye - "Just be yourself - you know the douche bag."

Kanye to Spike - "I can do that. Hey do you think maybe we can have a scene where I fall on 'my own sword'. And confetti guts will fall out of me. We can do it just like Gondry would. And then imma discover that hiding inside of me is a tiny shrew of a man."

Spike to Kanye - "Ok thats cool man - cause you're cool man - thats poetry huh"

Kanye to Spike - " Ya I am. Oh and also we are totally gonna rip off this thing from Gnarls Barkley that the other video director that I know did. I'm sure he won't mind - cause I'm Kanye."

Spike to Kanye - "Yeah you are. So cool. I get it too. It's like about your personal redemption and stuff. Like you know you are a douche - so it's ok to be a douche because you recognize your inner douchiness."

Kanye to Spike - "Spike Imma let you finish but I have the greatest video of all time with a character hiding inside of me that dies."

Spike to Kanye - "And also your hair is so cool. Do you think I could do that with mine?"

Truth told - kind of funny but drags on.
         
hey everybody,

how do i get Vimeo to reinstate my accountand the vid?

The wont let me be great!

apparently they dont realize that this is Kanye approved...

www.kanyeuniversecity.com
         
I liked it, Kanye's performance was great, it felt genuinely tragic. I found the surrealist poetic angle a slight copout though, it took the potency out of the film. Is this really the final cut? Spike shoulda hired a focus puller too.
         
i don't like it. don't know why. maybe because i hate people who act like this. Even if its acting... i'm not interested.

anyway... here is a new link:
motionographer.com

...quicktime file
         
Kanye's acting feels pretty authentic. Ending was a good surprise, but I'm not quite sure if it's as strong as the drunk-Kanye mess that precedes it. Worth the time, though.
         
hmmm yeah I would love to hear what Chris Milk thinks of this.

I dunno; I like the idea of it; I think it would have been a lot stronger if it the time was cut in half.
         
i didn't even think of the chris milk parallel until y'all brought it up.
Nobody hates straight rip off music videos more than I, but I have a feeling that this one is just a coincidence.

I've had ideas similiar to this since high school, and I'm sure many other people have long before and long after. It's not that specific.
What really bothers me is when somebody bases a music video on a gimmick, like shooting things break in slow motion, or people changing shirts really quickly in stop motion, or people animating light. then somebody else does that exact same thing.

I think if people have similar story points or themes, that is something else entirely.
plus this creature looked way better than that stupid heart did.

How do you think they made this one?
On a side note, I do a lot of stop motion and for one of the first times, I couldn't tell if it was a puppet, stop motion, or CG. My only theory is that maybe it's the same combo that spike used in Where the Wild Things Are, starting with a puppet and adding CG eyes and mouth. Thoughts?

Anyway, while they appear to have a very similar video, I think the point is different and that is what matters. Just like those people who used the same gimmick, if they used it to tell a different story and used it in another way it would have been much more exciting, than just basing it solely on the look.
To me the chris milk video is a wacky and funny way to look at heart break. This seems to be about Kanye taking the dark side out of himself and killing it off, which is more interesting to me anyway.

in conclusion, not a rip off, and probably not even referencing that video. just a coincidence, and one you guys are sticking too close to. People here are too caught up on visuals, and less about what a video i about in general.

this is my longest post ever and it wont happen again. apppologiez

         
mixed felings about this short:

1, the first half works better as an exercise in self-indulgence than as a set-up.

2, too out of focus, but what, hire a photo camera focus puller??????????????

3, poor poor poor sfx (vomiting & bleeding)

4, the dark half looks great, great puppet, reminds me of jedi in star wars; its all about kokoro kara kokoro, about the way of the samurai. its worth the wait, because it's emotional.
         
I don't see the comparison at all. Oh, wait.
         
The people crying about focus pulling are complete retards. Obviously it was a stylistic choice to show how drunk he was!

The ending was complete comedy. Totally retarded. If Spike Jonze didn't direct this people would be calling this total garbage.

That said....at least it looked pretty. And the animation of the demon was pretty great.


         
@teepeerec:
i hear you about the out of focus as an age old stylistic choice to show how drunk the character is, but if you want the real thing, go to glazer's 'live with me'. this is just poor focus, because this particular photo camera can't handle too much movement in the frame without going out of focus and/ or becoming jittery. let alone the fact it shoots at 30 fps ntsc (good for the web, but not quite so for european broadcast). otherwiseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, i agree with you.

@captainbob: "plus this creature looked way better than that stupid heart did. "

spot on, son