IN DEPTH: Usher "Love In This Club"

The definition of a "Big Big Big Big Big" video may have changed a bit over the years, but the message never got to Usher. The megastar is back with a fittingly massive big-budget video that's merely the prelude to another big clip that's already been shot. Guest stars galore, an exclusive location in the heart of Hollywood, and a top-notch crew. All on a week's notice, of course. The Brothers Strause may seem like an unlikely choice to get the keys to this luxury vehicle, but the Bros have cut their chops over the years through effects work for both music videos and such feature films as 300, X-Men 3 and Fantastic Four 2, not to mention a directing reel of visually complex hard rock videos and their own feature, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem.

The Brothers Strause, directors: We definitely found ourselves pigeonholed in that dark rock world for a long time, but it was never our intention to do the same dark video time after time. You do one that works and people keep coming back and eventually you get trapped in a niche. We've always wanted to do something like this and it was a perfect fit with Usher. We got the job because he loved the overall look of our work and that we could something different that wouldn't look like a typical rap or r&b video.

It's essentially a club video, but with a loose narrative concept about temptation. Usher is in this club with a seductress and can either give in or resist. He's about to submit to her at the end, but she disappears and that last shot of "Love In This Club" is where the video for "Movin' Mountains" will begin.

We shot at this new Hollywood club Crimson over two nights. There's actually two clubs there — Crimson and Opera — so we closed a different half each night. All the exposed lights were part of the production design. We used these ancient anamorphic lenses that are very reactive to light; They cause lens flares where the light jumps in horizontal patterns. It's actually a defect in the lens in most people's minds and they've spent lots of years and money to fix it. You can use filter sets to achieve a similar effect, but they don't flare as crazy as these old C-Series anamorphic lenses. We wanted that organic and futuristic effect, something a bit more like Blade Runner — which is ironic, since our DP's on father, Jordan Cronenweth, shot that movie. It was risky though, since there's no way to get rid of the flares once you've done them.

--> watch "Love In This Club"

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Usher f/ Young Jeezy  "Love In This Club" (LaFace/ZLG)
The Brothers Strause, director | Ron Mohrhoff, producer | Hydraulx Films, production co | Lanette Phillips, rep | Jeff Cronenweth, DP | Jarret Fijal, editor

NEW RELEASE: P.O.D. "Addicted"

Some addictions are more fun than others. The dude who enjoys bathing in a pile of fish? Not so much, even if it's safer than some other options. Director Michael Maxxis uses portraitures to show the full range of Addiction, veering from salacious and absurd to mundane  and commonplace. The performance by the reformed P.O.D. is treated with an in-camera blurry interlaced effect, as if the performance is taking place in the midst of someone's obsessive rage. --> watch "Addicted"

P.O.D. "Addiction" (Columbia)
Michael Maxxis, director | Jonathan Becker and Joshua Greenberg , producers| Bucks Boys, production co | RW Media, rep | Christopher Walters, DP | Keith Hamm, editor

BOOKED: Foxboro Hot Tubs - Graydon Sheppard, director

If it sounds like Green Day and looks like Green Day, then it's probably Green Day...

artist: Foxboro Hot Tubs
song: "The Pedestrian"
label: Jingle Town
director(s): Graydon Sheppard
production co: The Revolver Film Co
rep: Labuda Management

PS: No word on a new Network album

SHOT: Switchfoot - Brandon Dickerson, director

In support of the Walt Disney Records soundtrack for the next Narnia film, Prince Caspian...

artist: Switchfoot
song: "This Is Home"
label: lowercase people/Walt Disney Records
director(s): Brandon Dickerson
production co: Boom

SHOT: Since October -Endeavor Media, director

A burnt down house, built upon a green screen set...

artist: Since October
song: "Disaster"
label: Tooth & Nail
director(s): Endeavor Media
production co: Endeavor Media Group

NEWS: PluggedIn.com Launches

Another day, another place to watch music videos online... And, yet another sign that the resurgence of music video is more than just my own private pipe dream.

PluggedIn.com launched in Beta today with a stated library of 10,000 high quality — and in some cases, HD quality — music videos from Universal Music Group, EMI, Sony BMG, and a selection of independent record labels.

The full res videos require the installation of some sort of Java plug-in thingy provided by Move Networks. The site also offers various interactive and community building elements.

As with any big launch, it comes with many big names and lots of big money: According to articles in the Washington Post and the NY Times, Will Smith's company Overbrook is providing $2 million in venture capital while technology provider Move Networks announced funding of $46 million just yesterday. Other players on the PluggedIn team include former Amazon and Zillow executive Jeff Somers as CEO, Xdrive founder Brett O'Brien and Vanguard/Sugar Hill Records CEO Kevin Welk.

And yet Video Static soldiers on with no investors. Sigh.

BOOKED: Birdman - Dale "Rage" Resteghini, director

artist: Birdman f/ Lil Wayne
song: "I Run This/Believe Dat"
label: Cash Money/Universal
director(s): Dale "Rage" Resteghini
production co: Raging Nation Films
rep: Yell Productions

NEW RELEASE: People In Planes "Pretty Buildings"

It may be a Pretty Building perhaps, but it's populated by lonely souls who are on the verge of being overwhelmed by their memories and obsessions. Anthemic UK rock act People In Planes provide a fitting soundtrack — they're not in the video — for directing team Walter Robot to unleash a barrage of visuals that make it clear that none of the building's residents have anything close to resembling clarity. We have:

• the young artist looking to her words and drawings for some way out of her depression
• the man seeking to construct a fantasy city out of Styrofoam and sticks on his dining room table (played by artist Bill Barminski, who is also 1/2 of Walter Robot)
• an alienated couple who sit for dinner in silence with a blaring TV between them

A small catharsis comes as the song crescendos, but there's no escape for any of these folks. Their brains are filled with a seemingly unstoppable maelstrom of mixtapes, scissors, TVs and all the other tools they had been relying on for comfort and distraction. --> watch "Pretty Buildings" via Purevolume (Flash) or Quicktime

People In Planes "Pretty Buildings" (Wind-Up)
Walter Robot, director | Michael J. Katz, producer | Merge @ Crossroads, production co | Suny Behar, DP | Sherry Robot, editor

BOOKED: Robert Plant/Alison Krauss - Rocky Schenck, director

Third video by director Rocky Schenck for the Plant/Krauss pairing...

artist: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
song: "Rich Woman"
label: Rounder
director(s): Rocky Schenck
production co: DNA

BOOKED: Menudo - Marcus Raboy, director

Not a reunion, but a new generation of teenage Latinos formed under the banner of Menudo in league with the MTV/MTV Tres series Making Menudo...

artist: Menudo
song: "Lost
label: Epic 
director(s): Marcus Raboy
production co: DNA