“Bowerbirds – In Our Talons” Dir. by Alan Poon
NG: Good lord do I love me some stop-motion. Alan Poon delivered some seriously awesome visuals for this beautiful Bowerbirds tune. An obvious hit for this video were the mantis’ making out but what really makes this video a winner is the place where stop-motion, animation, and live-action meet. A lot of the best music videos that I have seen come out in the last few years are of this hybrid type and Poon’s is no exception, though it is exceptionally good.
The miniature team alone for this project was extraordinary. The post-production team did a seamless job of cleaning the whole thing up. The live footage he shot is incorporated perfectly but I don’t really get one shot. I am not 100% on why we see ink dropped into water, despite how awesome it looks. I love this video. EK nailed it between the crab ballet to the incredible song by the incredible Bowerbirds. For a little extra on the process of putting this video together check out how Alan Poon made the Zeus video for “Marching Through Your Head” on the left-hand side.
EK: Another pretty video we are giving you this week, in the pretty snowy woods. This video for the Bowerbirds was directed by Canadian born Alan Poon and, wow, what a beautiful example of stop motion animation. My favorite part of the video is the dancing Crow, so real looking and I love the part where the underside of his wings change colors. The video, which takes place in this beautiful place of nature ends tragically with the burning down of the forest. A sad reality. Go quick now, save the forests!! Ok good, hope you helped, now back to videos.
“Fleet Foxes – Mykonos” Dir. by Sean Pecknold
NG: I figured, hey, winter melancholy, why not? I immediately thought of Fleet Foxes “Mykonos” The video is directed by Sean Pecknold who does a fair amount of work for Sub Pop. He loves stop-motion as much as we do but has the capacity to pull it down. He does so fairly well with this one. The video is abstract but somehow conveys a story. Don’t just write this off as a bunch of shapes and give the whole thing a chance. I love the song and though I know most everyone knows about Fleet Foxes by now, if you don’t, enjoy.
EK: I am not sure why I chose the video “Bear”. Maybe it is because it is the middle of February and I am feeling a bit melancholy, maybe it was because ‘Hospice’ was one of my favorite albums of the year, or maybe it is simply because its a pretty video put to a pretty song. The video, directed by Evan Owen Dennis, (check out his blog <===) takes place in a snowy, woody, forest, it is a moody and nostalgic video with beautiful sun glares and slow motion wagon pulling. It is stunningly shot with beautiful woods and beautiful people. Who wouldn’t want Peter Silberman to offer them a helping hand? The video is an inviting place and I wish I could be there to wander through the woods and help pull that cart, but for now I am drinking milky coffee waiting for the snow to thaw.
“The Antlers – Bear” Dir. Evan Owen Dennis
NG: Thank EK because she brought us this brand spankin new Antlers video. In terms of camera work and the like it rules. The symbolism is maybe a little obvious but who needs symbolism these days? The album the song is on, Hospice, is a story about a cancer patient. A female cancer patient. And a man who tries to take care of her and ultimately can’t. Got it right? Anyway you slice it though Evan Owen Davis nailed this sad but pretty song with a bleak but striking music video.
Lastly, we hit this week’s Artist Feature. February is Radical Friend month and so we are going to show you one of their most interesting pieces this week. They made a video for a song called “Dark Bubbles” by Black Moth Super Rainbow. BMSR, according to Kirby McClure, was the soundtrack to Radical Friend’s trip to LA from Georgia and is a band they hoped to and looked forward to working with. This particular video is an incredible merging of graphic design, stop-motion, video, and technology. If you have a webcam, fire it up, if you don’t your mouse will do just fine. Get ready for a good time and keep watching, you might want to give up because you think it will be the same thing throughout but like any video it does expand as the song does. We’ll be posting twice this week so come on back Wednesday night or Thursday.
“Black Moth Super Rainbow – Dark Bubbles” Dir. by Radical Friend
