Music Video as Art
December 6th, 2010Now, I don’t typically write about pop culture but I was recently introduced to the band OK Go and their truly amazing videos (thanks to Steven Neuman, who helped me create a pretty sweet video of my own…to come).
What makes them amazing?
Simplicity, artistry and humor.
Fairly bare-bones sets (with some exceptions; see below) and the judicious use of choreography and movement.
Very, very different from another video I’ve been watching non-stop, as my friends can attest: Whip My Hair by Willow Smith, daughter of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. She’s my new female role model. She just turned 10.
Whip My Hair, i.e. be my true self.
Her video is very produced, very complex, very high-tech (it helps to have friends in high places). Basically a three-minute wave of color, movement and sound. 
And DANG that girl’s got attitude. The right kind. The very best kind.
So for contrast, check out these OK Go videos. I hereby solemnly swear that they will be worth your time.
– Here It Goes Again – homemade, starring the four guys in the band and six treadmills. Clever.
– White Knuckles – starring the four guys in the band and a slew of trained dogs. Hilarious.
– This Too Shall Pass – amazingly complex Rube Goldberg machine that apparently required 48 takes before each intricate step worked. Genius.
What I appreciate about art is that it makes me reconsider, in some way, how to view the world and its possibilities. These videos accomplish that.
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