Each week, FRINGE MUSIC FIX culls the latest music video releases, carefully selecting the most bizarre, provocative, and remarkable videos from across the world.
Sit back, relax, and open your minds eye; things are about to get interesting. The following are our selections for the week ending May 18th, 2014.
Drawing inspiration from the family oriented action adventure films of the 80s, Frànçois & The Atlas Mountains Elliot Dear-directed video for The Way To The Forest is a magical and entertaining accompaniment to the French duos unique brand of folk music. The amusing visuals central characters are two hunters who fall under the attack of miniature sized versions of the band, who protect their domain using martial arts and tiny sized weapons. If that isnt enough for you, theres also a magical flying beetle. Echoing shades of The Borrowers and "The Indian In The Cupboard," the imaginative and special effects laden outing is one that will certainly instill feelings of pseudo-nostalgia, and would certainly make a fine feature length film.
Originally created as a music video, Daniel Stessens stunning animated short film for Oliver Futures Hot Old Anne has expanded into a 13-minute award winning short. Having received honours at Berlin Independent Film Festival, Dragon Con Independent Film Festival, as well the 15 Short Film Festival, the short is now available to stream online in its vibrant entirety. Hot Old Anne employs a similar style of animation to films such as Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly. The technique is called "rotoscoping," a process in which artists trace over live action footage and digitally colour the image. Its an impressive effect, and when used properly, as is the case with "Hot Old Anne," yields some jaw dropping results. Hot Old Anne tells the tale of three men determined to defend their colours from a mystical creature called the The Gold Sparrow.
Toronto based punk rock act PUP once again employ the directing talents of Chandler Levack and Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux for their video for "Guilt Trip." Staying consistent with their last collaboration for Reservoir, the video is a gritty and violent one. Employing a more narrative focus, the video plays out as a semi-fictitious origin story of how the band members came to meet as children. We see the youths developing both their musical craft, their party hard lifestyles, and sharing a shockingly sinister secret involving the murder of a police officer, portrayed by renowned CBC broadcaster, Grant Lawrence.
Andrew Garfield stars in the poignant David Wilson directed video for Arcade Fires We Exist. In the video, Garfield portrays a young man struggling with gender identity. Thanks to his impressive and believable performance as the vulnerable lead, the video is an engaging and powerful one that serves to illustrate Arcade Fires song about a young gay man coming out to his father. The video is comprised of four main sequences. In the first scene, Garfield shaves his hair and puts on womens clothing. We then follow Garfield to a small-town bar, where his dance with a man quickly escalates into a scene reminiscent of Boys Dont Cry, in which a mans true gender is discovered and results in tragedy. The video then takes a turn for the surreal when a group of burly men in similar states of drag perform some dance choreography. The last sequence is comprised of footage filmed at Arcade Fires live performance at the Coachella music festival this past April, and sees Garfield in full character join the band onstage to the audience's acclaim and adoration.
For his jarring and dark video for Clippings Work Work, director Carlos Lopez Estrada pays tribute to the unforgettable curb stomp scene from American History X. The video inexplicably opens with a shot of rats, who we soon discover to be dwelling within the body of rapper Daveed Diggs. As the camera pulls back, we find Diggs in a very compromising position, hands tied behind his back, with teeth rested on a cement curb, and a foot pushing down on his head. As the song progresses, the camera reveals the identity of the likely assailant to be Cocc Pistol Cree, who just before raising her foot to deliver a fatal blow to Diggs, delivers a featured verse of her own. As Diggs inexplicably porcelain cranium is shattered, the rats that were once held captive within are released to the streets. With skillfully executed pacing, the cringe-worthy visual makes for a remarkably uncomfortable viewing and builds on tension like few videos can.
