NEW RELEASE: Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Cheated Hearts"

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
"Cheated Hearts" (Interscope)
Karen O, director | Stephen Berger, editor | Description: Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O and her longtime editor Stephen Berger of Final Cut/Los Angeles culled through about 30 hours of fan submissions to create the video for "Cheated Hearts." Fans had been invited to shoot video of themselves impersonating the band and performing the song. In the end, 25 different submissions made the final cut, including, of course, an entry created by the YYYs. -- watch "Cheated Hearts" in the MEDIA section of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs website 

IN DEPTH: Rinocerose "Cubicle"

Being that Rinocerose are really two psychiatrists who double as recording artists, it makes sense that they don't appear in this video, or in the Apple iPod commercial that made this song absolutely unavoidable. Directing team Alex And Liane fill us in how they got connected with the band and the dance troupe that appear in the video.

It's not often you get a band that can dance, act and doesn't mind messing around. In fact, we've never found one that does all three. So, when the brief for "Cubicle" by Rinocerose requested we work with five contemporary dancers, we decided to get some of that frustration out of our systems and cast them as a fake band that did anything but play instruments. The idea was to express the out-of-control ego and tension in group dynamics.

The band contacted us directly through our  MySpace page and we started a dialogue in broken English — we are an English directing couple living in Berlin; they're a French band — that culminated in us going to their home town, Montpellier, and working with French choreographer Mathilde Monnier and her dancers in the Centre Choreographique. The technicians at the centre were stunned at how fast you plough through a one day shoot (probably very different from a six week rehearsal for contemporary dance project).

Watch"Cubicle" at YouTube or MySpace

NEWS: Dropped Documentary

For every commercially successful band, there are at least another 100 — if not 1,000 — left by the wayside. Although some might tell you that most bands don't make it because they're just not good enough, fans and those behind-the-scenes know that failure often stems from a mixture of bad luck, bad timing and bad decisions. The documentary feature film Dropped is the story of some of these bands — the ones that signed with record labels, released albums and seemed to be on the verge of fulfilling their dreams, only to get abruptly "dropped." Above and beyond that, however, the film was a way for executive producer Nicole Ehrlich to shine attention on a slate of directors she respected and who — through a similar combination of bad luck and bad timing — she had not yet been able to work with in her role as video commissioner at Geffen Records.

The bands and directors featured in Dropped are:

• Hot Karl directed by George Meeker
• Bush Tetras directed by Molly Schiot and Mariah Garnett (aka Molly & Mariah)
• Murphy’s Law directed by Farah Khalid
• Burning Star directed by Av Accius
• Whiskey Biscuit directed by Rosser Goodman
• Spearhead directed by Joyce Williams
• OPM directed by John Logsdon.

Each director had complete creative control and all proceeds from the movie are going to charity. Dropped was acquired by the Sundance Chanel and is available for rent through Netflix.com

SHOT: Pitbull f/ Lil Jon & Ying Yang Twins - Marcus Raboy, director

artist: Pitbull feat. Lil Jon  & Ying Yang Twins
song: "Bojangles"
label: TVT
director(s): Marcus Raboy
production co: DNA

SHOT: DJ Webstar & Young B - Lenny Bass, director

Los Angeles may have clown dancing and krumping, but New York City has its own dance with a silly name: The Chicken Noodle Soup. This video was shot in Harlem, which is the epicenter of this dance movement.

artist: DJ Webstar & Young B
song: "Chicken Noodle Soup"
label: Scrilla Hill/Universal
director(s): Lenny Bass
production co: DNA

PHOTO: Ray Kay w/ Monica, JD & Dem Franchize Boyz

Rockhard Films director Ray Kay (far left), Jermaine Dupri (fourth from left) and Dem Franchize Boyz hang with Monica on the set of  "Everytime Tha Beat Drops. " Ray Kay is represented by Robin Frank Management.

NEW RELEASE: Gnarls Barkley "Smiley Faces"

Gnarls Barkley
"Smiley Faces"
(Downtown/Atlantic)
Robert Hales, director | Coleen Haynes, producer | HSI, production co | Damian Acevedo, DP | Ken Mowe, editor | Mike Hersey, art director | Description: Woody Allen's masterful 1983 film Zelig told the story of human chameleon Leonard Zelig, a man who was present at nearly every important event of the '20s and '30s. Using archival footage and very clever editing, Zelig — played by Allen himself — is seamlessly blended into various real events with some of the most famous and notorious figures of that era. The latest iteration of this concept is the new "Smiley Faces" video for the similarly chameleonic act Gnarls Barkley. Director Robert Hales inserts the duo into footage of such important musical movements and moments as the hot jazz era of the '30s, a Yellow Submarine cartoon knock-off, the infamous Rolling Stones concert at Altamont, the early days of rap, Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and David Bowie's "Let's Dance" videos, and performances with Bob Marley, The Velvet Underground and The Clash. Adding further credence and a PBS documentary feel to the video are some interview segments with bogus music know-it-alls played by actors Dennis Hopper and Dean Stockwell. -- watch "Smiley Faces" in Windows Media 

NEW RELEASE: Constantines "Working Full-Time"

Constantines
"Working Full-Time" (Sub Pop)
Drew Lightfoot, director | The Revolver Film Co., production co | Description: Pardon the terribly obvious pun, but this Constantines video rocks. Animator Drew Lightfoot creates band performance out of pebbles and stones scattered around a construction site. -- watch "Working Full-Time"

SHOT: Jack's Mannequin - Brett Simon, director

artist: Jack's Manequin
song: "Dark Blue" 
label: Maverick/Warner Bros.
director(s): Brett Simon
production co: DNA 

SHOT: Lostprophets - Brett Simon, director

Shot in London...

artist: Lostprophets
song: "A Town Called Hypocrisy"
label: Columbia
director(s): Brett Simon
production co: DNA