Music videos that are inspiring — for the moment
I recently had a heart-to-heart with my business and creative partner Ryan Kahm about the quality of our creative work. Something had felt out of place and it had been affecting the quality of what we do... a kind of unknown, aimless wandering that sucked the soul out of things. It kind of meant ignoring things that were flashy for the sake of being flashy and going back to basics: the essence of what makes our work fun, charming and engaging.
I've been rooting through work that gives me the chills and I always come back to music videos. Music was my first dabbling into art and the vocabulary of it has shaped in as an artist in film as well. Music videos combine both and are special in the way that they allow us as filmmakers to go nearly insane... or to work in subtle, beautiful ways. Below are some of the videos that have been dancing in front of my eyes the last few weeks.
And all those videos are a friendly reminder not to make this shit:
My Infatuation with Anime
With this toy commercial looming, we've decided to stylize the shoot a la Scott Pilgrim. Of course that means more production research: Netflix On–Demand anime and 20 oz Red Bulls.
Anime is an interesting subset of media. Truly one of the last bastions of nerd–dom, the mere mention of it to any well adjusted person conjures up images of either acne–ridden outcast teens with weird cat beanies, or troll–like basement–dwelling men who swear to protect the honor of the anime forums they moderate late into the night. The culture of anime fandom is the reason why up until a few years ago I use to say that I hated anime. I've seen enough of it to know that just like American cartoons or live action, there is some anime that is utterly horrible, some that cut corners, some that transcend meager means, and some that are masterpieces.
One of the animes I'm currently watching is Birdy The Mighty. I'm going to try to explain the premise, but it'll need time to set in. Birdy, the scantily clad lady in the picture above is a member of some intergalactic police force—fair enough—who is assigned a post on earth. Her cover is as a Maxim–style pinup model. One night after chasing some monster into a building, she accidentally kills this young boy who also happened to be exploring the building. Feeling simply awful, Birdy absorbs the boy's essence and brings his destroyed body back to her intergalactic police HQ. As they rebuild the boy's body, he and Birdy inhabit Birdy's body and with a flash of light they can transform between each other so the boy can continue to lead a "normal" life of going to school and such as Birdy tries to investigate the smuggling of a doomsday weapon on Earth.
It's a pretty outlandish premise, but it makes for good sci–fi because it hits many character archetypes and plot points so cleanly that it becomes an engaging and lovable story. I would hate to give away season one's ending, but suffice to say you'll see Birdy nd the boy both move through the four major plot areas. It's textbook how it conforms, bot most good stories do; it never feels awkwardly forced. If you have Netflix On–Demand, I highly suggest checking out the first few episodes, if not all 24.
