"Runaway" short film/video : Dir. Kanye West + ?
"First rule in this world baby, don't pay attention to anything you see in the news..."
The 35 min short film/video.
http://www.vevo.com/watch/kanye-west/runaway-full-length-film/USUV71002509
alt link:
http://kanyewest.com
You can see an extended version of the song/video for "Runaway" here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7_jYl8A73g&f
Q+A with Kanye:
http://www.mtv.com/videos/?id=1650374
The invite (front and back) to the private screening (held in Paris, NY, Chicago, UK, etc). Backside includes credits.
Giving a review of this is not even accurate for me to describe what it is. It's art. It's many things to the individual. Bound to start discussion over here, Mr. West has "gone all out".
(Applause)
Nifty invite poster.
can't watch it :(
^ :)?
according to DP Kyle Kibbe's resumé: "KANYE WEST SHORT FILM Dir.: Vanessa Beecroft"
Vanessa's an artist, she's credited as art director in the invite. en.wikipedia.org
know, know, know but thanks anyway antville intell: there was a co-director
@ Daniels : Try this one. (Full-length version ) www.youtube.com
thanks, but still geoblocked for me...
I'm on the fence about this one.
While I have to applaud Kanye's effort and the scope of a project like this, ultimately it feels a little flat. Sort of like a student film with an insane budget.
Anybody who is familiar with Vaneesa Beecroft will see much more of her stamp on this than Kanye.
I think Kanye's "genius" comes from his ability to absorb other people's creativity and call it his own (Lupe, Cudi, A-trak, Beecroft, etc.)
Ultimately I glad something like this exists though. The music is dope too!
heard vanessa was actually directing on set, but that kanye is becoming more & more impossible to work with. vanessa left crying, he had a disagreement w/ his producer and wouldnt allow him on set (he had to work from corridor), and kanye insisted every in crew wear black suits.
hear say...
regardless, i applaud the scale and i dig the grade, but this is super new agey. cant deal w/ that angel. bad taste really.
it could've been so much better… like mcguffin said: "student film with insane budget". my feelings too.
i'm not trying to sound harsh, but this is a mess on every level. I like that an artist is trying to do his thing, but alanedit, this is far from 'art'.
because this is clearly a screensaver/backdrop piece of work, he should've given the reigns to a real director and that director could've made something really fantastic out of this. as of now, it's an over done ego piece that is just boring. would we be watching this if it weren't for the kanye music....?
other links untill they delete them : vimeo.com vimeo.com
@bodysong : Maybe it's not perfect and seems "student film" but those imperfections make it more honest. Sometimes, a sketch is as strong as a painting. And if it wasn't Kanye, it would have never existed, so you would never ask if you had to watch it or not. ( not sure about my english )
Like the Lady Gaga and Black Eyed peas music videos, we can't blame those artists to try something else. More they will take risk more the rest of the industry will try to follow.
@macguffin : "Anybody who is familiar with Vanessa Beecroft will see much more of her stamp on this than Kanye" that's why she is credited as an Art Director. The Director is not the only important element on the making process.
@captainhairy : "vanessa left crying"... i have not access to their area but this fact seems so cliche.( Sounds like a Mad Men episode ) The woman is always supposed to cry when there is a conflit... Come on. An artist like Vanessa Beecroft...
I had a chance to see it again without the expectations. I must say I am very impressed. It's truly an art film for sure and so it's own merits. What's "student filmy" about it? it was put together by a proffesional crew. Kanye has made more videos than most of us on this site. So please elaborate. So it's not earth shattering but nowdays what is? ambition should be applauded, and he does what he does. And he does it well.
Nobody gave Daft Punk shit when they made a mess called Electroma, this is Kanye's version of said art film. I'll agree with Alanedit and call it such. With the interpretative things on display, there had to be a conceptual approach regardless of who was the art director. Do you think Matthew Barney comes up with all his stuff? or Damian Hirst? the script was written by Hype and that's arguably the weakest link.
So guys, girls, what would you do if given same script and budget? let's talk about that. But that's unfashionable because it's about who appropriated what idea. Boring.
I think the ideas are filtered through one person and that's Kanye. When Keith Schofield made Heaven Can Wait people here gave him a flack over a Hamburger on a skateboard. So does it matter where the idea comes from? if we worried about it they'd be no videos left.
So to close it up, it doesn't matter who did what, just the end result. That's how it should be. It's a good mood piece. Shoot me if I feel that way.
Because kanye has made more videos than most of us it can't be "student filmy"? come on…
I'm starting to think that the world of music videos would be much better off if antville didn't exist.
Well said Victus. I personally wasn't that fond of the film but hats off to the guy for getting out there and doing it.
L
I dug it. A bit long, though.
contrived immature and pretentious. tasteless childish and whack. i can't even find it in me to critique this self absorbed trash.
kanye west needs to never direct anything ever again. i can put a paper cup on a paper table and call it art. too often the word art is confused with unrealized.
It was enjoyable.
kanye is a genius, or whoever he has workin in his PR/marketing department is. Even if you dislike the video, you still talk about it, making a 35 minute "student video with a big budget" still will probably be talked about more than any other video this next month. Hes a genius at creating buzz about himself, and pushing the envelope for music videos. If all artist strived to think outside the box, like he does, the video industry would be much more appreciated from my point of view.
Anyways, i thought the video was awesome.
Motley Crew says it all. What ever the budget and production values, no matter who the art director or DOP is this is still a ridiculously tasteless, pretentious and immature concept / narrative.
This is not art, it's a joke and a poorly realised one at that. But yes good one for making it.
In the mtv q+a, kanye says, "I'll be honest, I haven't even seen a Fellini movie all the way through. I've only seen a couple like Trubrick movies...."
Skip to 2:05.
on second thought as a promotional tool and conversation piece this is pretty fucking brilliant. i've watched it 3 times loathing it the first time, but finding myself thinking about it later... it's too long and drawn out... very unbalanced with the ballet number but the music is insanely good, iconic and memorable. edgy too... this is some real shit: lyrics during end credits:
[Gil-Scott Heron] sample off Gil-Scott Heron “Comment #1″
And America is now blood and tears instead of milk and honey. The youngsters who were programmed to continue fucking up woke up one night digging Paul Revere and Nat Turner as the good guys.
America stripped for bed and we had not all yet closed our eyes. The signs of Truth were tattooed across our open ended vagina.
We learned to our amazement untold tale of scandal. Two long centuries buried in the musty vault, hosed down daily with a gagging perfume.
America was a bastard the illegitimate daughter of the mother country whose legs were then spread around the world and a rapist known as freedom, free doom.
Democracy, liberty, and justice were revolutionary code names that preceded the bubbling bubbling bubbling bubbling bubbling in the mother country’s crotch
What does Webster say about soul?
All I want is a good home and a wife and a children and some food to feed them every night. After all is said and done build a new route to China if they’ll have you.
Who will survive in America? Who will survive in America? Who will survive in America? Who will survive in America? [End]
pretty smart stuff... i give him credit... kids are listening to this shit in the ghetto and are talking about it... after they get over the tits and ass factor they might actually talk about politics or art. provocative stuff especially for the genre.
