Despite the colorful, yet gritty Jamican locations and a worldly hip-hop-pop bent — think It Take Two with more riddim — Eiliphant is actually a Swedish woman namd Ellinor Olovsdotter with style to burn.
Instead of a traditional video, Kevin Rudolf lets 94 clips tell the emotions of the song. And instead of just sourcing generic stock footage, Rudolf and the Vulpine Films crew use a mix that veers from Rudolf's personal videos to classic films to famous faces and even well-known YouTube clips. As any producer could probably tell you, that meant the arduous task of reserching original ownership of each clip and obtaining clearances — an especially odd journey in this case that led them to the Albert Einstein and Evel Kneival estates, in addition to regular folks who happened to post videos to YouTube that caught their attention.
Imagine William Shatner hosting a bizarro version of The Old Grey Whistle Test with cool bands like Glasvegas. Or, just watch this video that swipes an intro The Shatman did for the band on Craig Ferguson and uses it as a springboard into something way vibier than the usual late night TV fare.
It makes the point that while digital may be cheaper upfront, it might not be in the longrun and might not allow you the same shot (no pun intended) at success as film.
And another salient point — and one that I personally see often — is that the DIY revolution over the past years has meant the eliminations of a lot of the checkpoints and experienced professionals that were traditionally in the video process, especially when you had to go to a tape master. Which means a lot of music videos that get delivered with varying framerates, incorrect black levels, mono audio, and lots more.
It's a good read, even if you disagree with the film advocacy, or the math.
