"Tainted" by starRo instantly caught my attention for the reason you could gather for yourself upon one watch: this is a whole movie packed into a music video. I’ve seen this approach taken before, but this video goes the extra mile, it’s a passion project. From the opening images, a cohesive and emotional story unfolds, using well-executed plot devices to keep us interested.

The narrative is character driven, and is packed with more information than most narrative vids. Just for a taste, I’ll give a little of the story away: The main character, Sean, develops the cure for cancer, inspired by his wife’s terminal condition. When his partner uses his own discovery against him, he uses the supernatural side effects to regain his life back. The cinematography in "Tainted" is pretty astounding. Specifically, the use of space within the abandoned laboratory complements the actions that take place there, and really brings attention to the actors. The performances are also stunning, namely the husband/wife played by Kate Cannon and Sean Meshew, both using convincing emotional display to achieve heart-wrenching performances that reinforce their love under fire. Cannon also knocked it out of the park in her role, showing her affection for her husband, but maintaining a melancholy sadness for her impending death.

Director Brad Wong is progressively stepping it up in the music video scene, directing videos for mostly EDM and hip hop artists. What I enjoy most about his work is you can see his talent, specifically for editing and visual effects, but he focuses on the raw ingredients to tie his projects together: good narrative, multiple angles, and movement, but most of all, good light - arguably one of the most important ingredients for a music vid. This is a common thread in his videos, and his project for V.I.B.E.’s "Ready for the World" had great lighting as well. What I enjoyed was how he used a very distinct color palette to assist the narrative, and ties it into the performance shots. I’m used to seeing gel lights a lot in the EDM/hip hop video trend, but Wong uses the lights to reflect the science-heavy narrative, while extending the palette to the performance footage, so that they are almost narrating the video through music within the same world.

Caleb Jackson is a Tucson native, Los Angeles based writer and director who spends his time pretending he lives in any decade besides this one. He tends to enjoy music videos with a little bit of narrative and a lot of bright colorful lights.