Music Video To Movie: Marc Webb "500 Days Of Summer"

A new feature, spotlighting primarily music video directors and their latest films...

Longtime music video ace Marc Webb makes his big-screen directing debut with 500 Days Of Summer, a non-linear and decidedly non-traditional romantic comedy starring Zooey Deschanel and  Joseph Gordon-Levitt. As befits his experience, Webb has a killer soundtrack for the film — including songs by Regina Spektor, Temper Trap and Feist, plus a killer Smiths cover by Deschanel's musical side-project, She & Him. And, there's even apparently a song and dance routine in the movie.

Key Reviews:

• L.A. Times Calendar Live — "First-time feature director Marc Webb uses his background in music video to beautifully present the action and crisply move the story along, adding subtle touches, such as seasonal color palettes, to help guide viewers through the twisted chronology... Webb's use of music, principally pop tunes, is anything but an afterthought, as the carefully chosen songs enhance the atmospheres of scenes and chart the romance's line graph." LINK
• NY Times  — " '(500) Days' finds just the right scale and tone, neither trivializing nor melodramatically overstating the delicate feelings it explores... a movie that is, for the most part, as mopily, winningly seductive as the Regina Spektor songs on the soundtrack and at its best as unexpectedly lovely as the views of Los Angeles captured by Mr. Webb and his director of photography, Eric Steelberg." LINK
• Rolling Stone — "Marc Webb is a debuting feature director with style to burn... This knockout of a movie expertly blends bliss (a dance number complete with an animated blue jay after Tom spends his first night in bed with Summer) and the blues (a split-screen segment in which Tom’s expectation of winning back Summer clashes with reality). " LINK

Key Videography:

• My Chemical Romance "Ghost Of You"
• All American Rejects "Move Along"
• Regina Spektor "Fidelity"

Worth Noting:

• Production company DNA seems to be 2 for 2 in terms of having directors move onto successful features careers, with Webb now seeming poised to join Francis Lawrence in that ring.

Trailer: Quicktime trailers of 500 Days Of Summer (including HD)

SHOT: Threat Signal - Rage, director

• artist: Threat Signal
• song: "Through My Eyes"
• label: Nuclear Blast
• director(s): Dale "Rage" Resteghini
• production co: Raging Nation Films
• rep: Yell Productions

SHOT: Landon Pigg - Lenny Bass, director

"Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop" aka that "I think that possibly maybe" song from the AT&T ad that catches your attention...

• artist: Landon Pigg
• song: "Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop"
• label: RCA
• director(s): Lenny Bass
• production co: DNA

BOOKED: Priscilla Renea - Rich Lee, director

• artist: Priscilla Renea
• song: "Dollhouse"
• label: Capitol
• director(s): Rich Lee
• production co: DNA

SNEAK PEEK: Coldplay "Strawberry Swing"

The new Coldplay video, "Strawberry Swing," is set for debut July 20 on babelgum.com. The video — directed by the creative/animation team Shynola — features a superhero version of Coldplay singer Chris Martin doing battle with a killer squirrel in a chalk board world. There are also two nice twists in terms of the video's delivery: 1) "Strawberry Swing" will be featured in the new Coldplay iphone app as a playable game; and, 2) The video will also getting a theatrical premiere as a trailer before screenings of Brüno and The Proposal at ODEON cinemas across the UK, starting July 22. A trailer of the video is below, with more info and clips at babelgum.com/coldplay.

• artist: Coldplay
• song: "Strawberry Swing"
• label: Capitol
• director(s): Shynola
• production co: The Directors Bureau

BOOKED: Alice In Chains - Alex Courtes, director

• artist: Alice In Chains
• song: "Check Your Brain"
• label: Virgin/Capitol
• director(s): Alex Courtes
• production co: Partizan

BOOKED: American Yard - Henry Schofield, director

• artist: American Yard
• song: "No You Didn't"
• label: Konvict/SRC/Universal Motown
• director(s): Henry Schofield
• production co: Partizan

NEWS: 2009 MTV VMAs - Sept 13 in NYC

The line-up is beginning to take shape for the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, set for a live broadcast Sunday, September 13 @ 9pm from NYC's legendary Radio City Music Hall.

Comedian Russell Brand returns as host with a pair of confirmed performers who will be making their VMA debut. Taylor Swift will be singing an alternate version of "You Belong To Me," while UK rockers Muse are making their U.S. TV debut with a performance of "Uprising," off their upcoming album The Resistance. Additional performers and a full slate of nominees will be unveiled in the coming weeks.

Jesse Ignjatovic/Den of Thieves is the Executive Producer for the “2009 MTV Video Music Awards.” Dave Sirulnick is Executive Producer. Garrett English is co-Executive Producer/Executive in Charge of Production. Amy Doyle is co-Executive Producer. Joanna Bomberg is Executive in Charge of Music and Talent. Jen Jones is Producer. Hamish Hamilton is Director. Robin Reinhardt-Locke is Celebrity Talent Executive.

WATCH IT: Lily Allen "22"

Maybe it's glamorous on the other side of the looking glass for Lily Allen and her fellow party girls. Here on this side of the mirror, however, it's nothing but frayed nerves, split ends, bulimia, drug abuse and the sense that women on the verge of 30 are stuck between a rock (as in a diamond ring) and a hard place. Director Jake Scott — he of the R.E.M. "Everybody Hurts" and Live "Lighting Crashes" fame — pretty much nails this video, perfectly capturing the vibe of the lyrics without getting literal. --> watch "22"

Lily Allen "22" (Capitol)
Jake Scott, director | Ben Link, producer | Black Dog Films UK, production co | Mattias Montero, DP

BOOKED: J Futuristic - Mr. Boomtown, director

• artist: J Futuristic
• song: "First Name Last Name"
• label: Bases Loaded/Universal Republic
• director(s): Mr. Boomtown
• production co: Boomtown Productions
• rep: Yell Productions
• commissioner: Gina Harrell