Bjork "Innocence" (Contest Winner) : Dir. Fred&Annabella
Earlier posting found here: videos.antville.org
Rough around the edges, but it's better than "Earth Intruders". The big baby with the eyes, scared the crap outta me.
its cool looking animation and all, but i don't understand why i'm supposed to want to see a cartoon version of bjork. she's one of the most interesting performers on the planet, a human being who you can watch for hours and hours, her actual singing face is vastly more impressive than most special effects out there.
if i wanted to see fake people, i'd just watch a good charlotte video, nah'mean?
adam egypt mortimer.... it says CONTEST WINNER which means people submitted these so it should be understood that they didn't have the luxury to use the real Bjork..
duh.
no, i get that it was a contest winner i can only respond to things as they are, not as what the process is i don't expect people to like the work i do out of "our budget was so low, blah blah blah" i just expect people to respond to what's on the screen. same here.
HOWEVER knowing that it is a contest, i might still have the same criticism and suggest that the 3d work could have been applied to something more conceptual because putting in the work to replicate bjork's face was a losing proposition to begin with.
this defense is making me feel like more of a hater than i am, its a cool video but that's my response. chill out on the snark, though.
in general i think it sucks that bands are moving towards the "contest / user submitted" format for videos because using the real bjork should be a given, not a luxury.
in the near future, everyone on the planet will be a music video director and no one will get paid for it. humanity will survive.
I thought this contest was supposed to result in the winner getting more money to make the thing for real. Maybe I'm confusing it with one of the countless other contests. Anyway, it is nice work; though it is hard not to think of it as an animatic for something more costly.
I'm sorry, but SOMEBODY MADE THIS FOR FREE? What are they, fucking nuts?
That had to have taken at least a month, with a few people working simultaneously... all so that MAYBE it could appear on myspace (shitty video, shitty sound, out of sync, Rupert Murdoch, etc.)
If this is the future, why would anyone pay for anything? I used to hate these people who make these contests... now I hate the people who participate in them MORE.
in general i think it sucks that bands are moving towards the "contest / user submitted" format for videos because using the real bjork should be a given, not a luxury.
i totally agree with that, i don't like the contest system either and like najork above i thought the contest should lead into the idea being developped with a budget and the participation of Bjork if necessary (though it was specified this one would be used as is).
so anyway sorry adam, i misunderstood your first post.
HUM.. I don't like those videos, personnally.. so poor !
somehow, it reminds me of this really interesting book.
Did you see the new red hot chilli peppers video? It's a contest as well. Now i know why budgets became so low. If people do great stuf like this for free.
-- !!! -- WHY THIS IS SHITTY (aka: THE REAL STORY):
Bjork opened this contest at first cause a lotta directors wanted to do a killer promo for her new album.
According to her website and the open contest call: "an idea was born". The idea was to allow anyone to put together a pitch and submit something near the beginning of JULY. This could be anything - drawings, sketches, animatics, promo samples, etc.
Like najork said, Bjork will pick her favorite one and resources were supposed to go to that person to make a video.
The response was really fucking big and lots and lots of people started plugging away with ideas.
Something happened on the label's end (surprise!) and suddenly they wanted everyone to watch and go crazyover a paper cut out video made by someone you've never heard of:
They posted:
"One of the reasons we got inspired to launch the competition was the video Birta made for us. We had a think tank session and we got Birta to enlighten us.
Which she did. And now we share the experience."
Her site wanted everyone to go to a forum and talk up how awesome the cut out thing was. But clearly something started to smell funny......
A few weeks later they sent emails with a link to a few pictures of that giant pear costume you see on her album cover - in case I wanted to do my own killer cut out video! They wanted you to know you could use them, "but don't have to if you don't want to :)".
A week or so later they sent another email with another link to an already modeled 3D pear costume. The video you see above used this model thing.
A week later an email is sent out saying they're cutting the deadline by a month and that all pieces need to be handed in within a week.
The forums erupted and people freaked. The guy running the contest, a MEESTER FLY from Bjork.com, stressed that it was his decision and not Bjork's (or the label's) to change the deadline. He gave all kinds of name dropping, Bjork is so busy dude, the album is chart topping, type of reasons.
My good friend Zelda made a great music video in response to their lying shittiness:
Meesterfly wrote another email apologizing about the deadline cut and that people should send in anything, including rough storyboards, for "you never know what Bjork may like". The idea was still: send us a rough, we'll pick one, and make a vid with you.
And so, really rough, really shitty pieces were handed in. And the 11 closest things to a completed shitty piece were posted on her website to be voted upon (note: all these pieces were 'completed').
Within a week's time, this one supposedly won out on the voting and just so happened to be "Bjork's favorite as well".
Shitty people run shitty contests that create shitty work.
Well supposedly Gondry is making a video for her now. Let's hope it's not as "shitty" haha.
Kev, any word on that?
Production is set for sometime this month. As of early June the concept had already been green-lighted, if that's the right term. It may have changed since then, I dunno.
Also: I'm not sure but Bjork may have already shot the vid for "Wanderlust" with Encyclopedia Pictura.
To answer gotcha:
According to one of those Meester Fly e-mails, the single and Michel's video for Declare Independnce were set to be released in early July, but "we were not prepared for how well the Volta album has been performing."
"The album entered the top ten in the charts all over the world, and consequently the international promotion work has become so hectic, that we had to use the time set aside for shooting the "Declare Independence" video, to fulfill all the promo work that Björk needed to do - and we had to reschedule the video shoot for august."
"I suggested to bjork that we move the "Innocence" single release forward into the original "Declare Independence" slot on 2nd July - and she agreed that I could approach all the video competition entrants, to see if they could deliver their work 2/3 weeks earlier than anticipated."
i agree, it's an excellent animatic for a pretty good music video. But still - it's just 3d shit happening in a room.
i really thought the live action video was the winner. for one of my favorite songs from the album, this is the worst video ever. i have, and probably always will hate human animation that is supposed to appear human-like.
