From the Director of "Da Hip Hop Witch" comes his Soulja Boy masterpiece: YAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

         

Oh man, this is hilarious. I can't wait to say YAHHH TRICK YAHHHH to someone.

I got worried when i saw the little guy pop out of the TV screen, but he's actually not much more annoying than the song. The video fits.

         

The video fits in the fact that it is just as bad as the song. We are still in the first month of 2008 and I think its safe to say its going to be hard to top this video as worst of 2008. I have heard reports from those close to the production and the label that the budget for this video was in excess of 250K. Apparently Interscope is so displeased with the video they feel it is a breach of contract. If this is true this is yet another blow to Music Videos increasingly decreasing budgets. Everything about this video is bad, from the incoherent editing, the slapstick performances, the third rate online effects. Even the choice of lenses is comical (not in a good way) to say the least. Hopefully Interscope and other labels realize RAGE is better suited to smaller budgets and smaller rap acts. "Crank That" wasn't much better but it at least had some heart and found its way in the edit.

         

erm... dis jes some elaborate, incomprehensible joke. right? (rite?!)

         

MRVIDEO: Your above comment smells funny. It feels like you either lost this job to rage or where somehow involved and jaded by the production.

The vid's budget makes sense. The guy's last single topped the charts. Money is given to artists, not videos and/or the necessity of a video concept. It's hard to call this video bad when the track is deplorable. Of course it's not going to work. And if you actually look at promos being produced (most of the ones NOT posted on antville) you'll see they're still getting budgets of 150-250k easy. Especially if that artist had a hit single of some kind.

         

I was not a part of this production, though I know many people who were, and I didn't "loose" this video to Rage. Had I been sent the track I probably would have turned it down, i may be in the relative early stages of my career but i have to like a song at least a little to invest my time in a video. I have no preceding bias against the video. I just honestly think it is poorly executed. You are right, the budget does make sense, before you watch the video that is. Watch recent videos by other directors such as Chris Applebaum, Joseph Kahn or even Wayne Isham. Many of their recent videos are in the 150k - 250k range and though maybe not some of the respective directors best work they are still lightyears ahead of this video. Had I not known the budget or known who Soulja Boy was and his history prior to seeing this video I honestly would have thought this video was a 30k, tops. Your argument that "It's hard to call this video bad when the track is deplorable. Of course it's not going to work" isn't viable, there are many great videos that accompany horrible tracks. If you knew RAGE you would know that he is shook up over it, and if you knew anyone at Interscope you would know how they feel about it. Also MOST video production budgets aren't in the 150k - 250k range, those numbers are high these days where as as little as 7 years ago similar artists budgets were in the 500k - 850k and beyond range. Remember that when you write a treatment and are awarded the job based upon said treatment and a contract is drafted by the labels lawyers and you sign the contract you are now contractually obligated to deliver what you wrote. True it will be hard for Interscope to not pay the final 25% to Raging Nation but that doesn't mean they wont bluff it.

Can't someone truly not like a video? I was just writing a review and adding some information i have heard surrounding this video and all of a sudden I lost the job to Dale.

         

I did however just see the new DJ Felli Fel (Get Buck) video that Dale directed and must say it is a giant step in the right direction, though not perfect (some of the effects feel a little TRONish) it looks closer to what I would expect in a similar budget range.

         

1: Budget makes sense both before and after a watch. For young mv directors, 250k sounds like feature film money. But for the middle range and up - they somehow know how to blow thru that cash like water.

2: I don't like any of the directors, but comparing Rage to Kahn or Isham is a little silly. Clearly they're better.

3: Please send me links for great videos with horrible tracks. I don't think such a thing exists.

4: I have friends that have worked with/for RAGE. This video is neither better nor worse than the rest of his work. And I still stand behind the fault of a bad track.

5: If the label is giving him shit it's because the entire MV world is trying to cheat itself. One of my closest friends just EP'd a big video for an artist and director I will not name and everyone involved is trying to fuck the other.

In fact, PAGING 30F, we should really open a dialogue about how MV productions are literally self destructive.

On the promo I speak of, not only is the label going against contract and not paying its dues, we have producers hiding money, stealing credit card numbers, spitting rhetoric about justice and fate, feeding nonsense to the director who then in turn pretends to be some kind of zen savior, pretends to be sick on days of important meetings, gives up his directors fee only to demand it a week later, ignores responsibility, and overworks all parties to the point of them breaking props and equipment.

6: I have no problem with you disliking a video. But claiming this one "is yet another blow to Music Videos increasingly decreasing budgets" is shaky and makes me (made me) question your attack on it.

         

Believe me I understand how and why a big budget can go quickly (i have been a part, big and small, of some of the bigger budget videos of the last 5 years). It's when most of it doesn't show up on the screen, big or small, that i feel a disservice has been done. There is no way you like this video enough to argue about it.

It seems as though we are in agreement that certain directors shouldn't be awarded certain budgets. Considering this....

"2: I don't like any of the directors, but comparing Rage to Kahn or Isham is a little silly. Clearly they're better."

The same reason that RAGE shouldn't be awarded "big" budgets, directors like Kahn, Applebaum, Isham and the like probably shouldn't be awarded "small" budgets (not that they'd take them).

"3: Please send me links for great videos with horrible tracks. I don't think such a thing exists."

This really is a subjective issue, however if i have more than the 30secs it takes to write these little burbs perhaps I will compile a list.

         

Actually it is not all that hard for the label to NOT pay the final 25% owed to any production company. They would never say "Fuck you, we ain't paying," the label would just delay and delay and delay. What is the smallish (at least compared to a major label) prod co gonna do- sue one of the five entities that might hire them? That would get them nowhere.

The bigger issue these days is overages. Many, many jobs are commissioned with everyone knowing that there will end up being overages - sometimes equal to 50% of the original budget or even more. The schedule of payments typically discussed for the first 50% and the 25% on delivery of rough cut - none of that applies to overages. Many times the labels delay the overage payments for SIX MONTHS or more, and some even try to bargain down the overages - trying to pay 60cents on the dollar owed, and this is after the money was already spent by the prod co. Wicked games, indeed.

Regarding this SouljaBoy video...

It is not aimed at me. My guess is that it is also not aimed at the people complaining about it. The whole song and clip combo is for a particular audience that I am not really part of, so it is not surprising that I don't "get" it. Newsflash, I think many of the jokes on Nickelodeon (that is a kid's TV network in America for all our euro friends) are overly juvenile. So what?

David Cross has some funny stuff to say about that in this post from his blog: www.bobanddavid.com