Feature Friday: Chris Milk

The director behind two of my favorite-st MTVs. It is because of him, that I actually liked Kanye West and his MTVs. Dubbed as the Steven Spielberg of music videos, I dedicate my birthday week feature to the great, Chris Milk.

This was one of the MTVs that totally blew me away. What I love about it is the clever use of metaphors. It was mind blowing to attack such a touchy concept and not be shot down, but instead The message comes across clearly, and just in case you didn't get the message, there's the stunning imagery to keep you occupied. What I recently discovered about this MTV is that this is the second MTV for this track. It was also nominated for Video of the Year in 2005, and was listed as the sixth best MTV of 2004. With this alone, you'd know Chris Milk's cred was no random thing. Insane video, this thing is, and it still blows me away.

Another MTV I absolutely loved as this one. What I loved about it was the whole POV thing. All I could think about then was "How'd he do that?!!?" with wide eyes, and jaw on the floor. I think it's pretty cool. I actually found a book that had him share how he did it. It was awesome. And clever. In an almost "Why didn't I think of that?!" kind of way. I know, given that tiny chance, I'd try and pull something like that off.

Kanye West "All Falls Down" [HD] from Chris Milk on Vimeo.

This one, found at his vimeo page, was an created for the 42 Second Film Festival in China. What's awesome about this is that in less than a minute, you get the entire story. And even more awesome is that it was shot using a Canon 5d Mk II!!! I'd go all geeky with the equipment, but I'll keep that to myself.

Last Day Dream [HD] from Chris Milk on Vimeo.

This just shows how amazing of a story teller Chris Milk is, and why I am a major fan of his work. What he does now, is a vision of the career I am wanting so much right now. Music videos, commercials, photography. Instead of pasting screenshots here, I think it's best you see his awesomeness in the links below. Be very blown away.

Chris Milk | vimeo

Feature Friday: Stop Motion Love

Stop motion has been around for forever. Remember Gumby? How about Bob the Builder? These, and a number of other children's programs make use of stop motion. Today, thanks to the growing fascination with stop motion (and photography), and it's accessibility to the masses (all you need is a point and shoot camera, and a computer), More and more stop motion videos can be found almost everywhere.

This Coldplay MTV is absolutely charming. And quite clever, if you ask me. I love the chalk drawings in relation to the Chris. Plus, the story's just cute! It's just adorable! This Strawberry Swing MTV is created by Shynola. They're a multi-awarded London based group of artists whose works include animation for The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Coldplay | Shynola

I first saw this MTV when a friend of mine sent a link to vimeo. Made out of thousands, if not millions of photographs, there is just nothing little in the making of the Little Bribes MTV. As director/creator Ross Ching put it, he didn't have to go to around the country to get unique shots. All he did was create the interesting shots. And create he surely did.

Death Cab for Cutie - Little Bribes from Ross Ching on Vimeo.

Death Cab for Cutie | Ross Ching

Certainly something to think about for people who, like me, have no access to a video camera. Who knows, I may do something like this for the hols?

Feature Friday #14 What started it all

When I was eight, I realized that there was one more thing I wanted to be. I want to be a film maker. Well, along with being a cardiologist, chemist, scientist to discover a herbal cure to everything, talk show host, runway model, and fashion designer. Yes, I wanted to be all that, but not all at one. It changed from time to time, depending on a lot of things. And in that list, what stuck was being a film maker. I still want to make videos till this day.

November being my birth month, I've decided to make this month's series of features to focus on music videos. It's been a dream of mine to make music videos. Well, it changed after a few years, with me wanting to make movies. But music videos inspired me to get into this industry, And it still inspires me to this day.

This was one of those MTVs I absolutely loved. And I knew when I saw this, that I want to make something like that when I grew up. Directed by Francis Lawrence (yes, the Constantine director) way back in 2001. I loved this video for its warm colors, despite the whole "jaded" thing. Mila Kunis also reminded me of a friend of mine, way back in 5th grade. I loved its message as well.

I grew up basically glued to MTV, watching well, MTVs, and shows like Making The Video. I love watching the behind the scenes footage of these music videos, which today, has evolved to the behind the scenes of making these insane CG-rich blockbuster movies. Here's another video that just has me all the time. I love this video.


What I love about this MTV, is its story, and its relation to the song. And I love how they made Bjork a robot. The effects were simple, but very effective. Directed by Chris Cunningham, this video, as most of you may know, has won numerous awards. So did the song. Which comes as no surprise. It was, and still is, stellar.

And to end this weeks MTV-filled feature, here's one that despite the risque poses and what-not, I find tasteful, artsy, fancy, and classy. This awesomeness was directed by Diane Martel. (The same director behind some Mariah Carey MTVs, and FOB's America's Suitehearts)

I'd love to make something like this any day.