In Depth

IN DEPTH: Passion Pit "Constant Coversations" (Dori Oskowitz, dir.)

Passion Pit's "Constant Conversations" video is one that's hard to ignore. Premiered by Pitchfork.com, just a couple weeks after a deeply personal Cover Story on the band's leader Michael Angelakos, the video was given additional resonance, which was only amplified by a top-notch cast headed by film icon Peter Bogdanovich.

Here's the story of how the video came together...

IN DEPTH: Electric 6 "Psychic Visions" (Justin J Lowe, dir.)

Or, How to make a music video with a musical number, wedding, and underwater fight scene for under 2 grand..

Sometimes when I can't totally connect the dots on a music video — let's face it, over a decade in this business has not done wonders for my attention span — I ask the director to grab control of this blog and explain it. Much like he did with this Electric Six video, director Justin J Lowe overdelivered to an awesome and very much appreciated extent. And, it will hopefully be a helpful guide for any directors or bands looking to put on a (video) show.

IN DEPTH: LaChapelle v. Fenty... On Lawsuits, Creativity and Music Videos

Director/photographer David LaChapelle filed a lawsuit this week alleging that the new Rihanna "S&M" video directed by Melina Matsoukas infringed upon his copywrited photography work.

RadarOnline has the lawsuit available as a pdf here, if you're interested. And you should be interested, especially since the suit lays out lots of little details about the video-making process that usually stays behind closed doors.

IN DEPTH: Maroon 5 "Never Gonna Leave This Bed" (Tim Nackashi, dir.)

I guess when a rock star is dating a Victoria's Secret model, there's no sense looking any further when it comes time to cast for their music videos. Anne Vyalitsyna follows up her featured role in Maroon 5's "Misery" with "Never Gonna Leave This Bed," which finds her never leaving singer/boyfriend Adam Levine's bed, no matter where it is. --> watch "Never Gonna Leave This Bed"

IN DEPTH: Katy Perry "California Gurls" (part two)

It's 2010 and people still clearly wish they all could be "California Girls", or "Gurls" as in the title of Katy Perry's summertime smash "California Gurl". With the track breaking records at Top 40 radio and selling as briskly as cold drinks on a 100° summer day, it's only right we take another look at the music video, which is also note perfect for the season...

Video Static will be going In Depth on the "California Gurls" the rest of the week with behind-the-scenes pictures, factoids from the shoots and lots of quotage from Motion Theory director Mathew Cullen.

Read Part 1 here...

IN DEPTH: Katy Perry "California Gurls" (part one)

It's 2010 and people still clearly wish they all could be "California Girls", or "Gurls" as in the title of Katy Perry's summertime smash "California Gurl". With the track breaking records at Top 40 radio and selling as briskly as cold drinks on a 100° summer day, it's only right we take another look at the music video, which is also note perfect for the season...

Video Static will be going In Depth on the "California Gurls" the rest of the week with behind-the-scenes pictures, factoids from the shoots and lots of quotage from Motion Theory director Mathew Cullen.

--> watch "California Gurls"

IN DEPTH: OK Go "This Too Shall Pass" (Open Letter)

Apparently I wasn't the only wondering why EMI wouldn't allow the embdedding a YouTube video that was likely to be widely posted from a band that had their greatest success through that kind of viral propagation...

OK Go singer Damien Kulash has an open letter on the situation and why things are the way they are in the modern music biz, especially in regards to their damn impressive video "This Too Shall Pass" and why every click is sacred.

The whole letter is worth a read — Kulash is smart, funny, insightful — and filled with gems like these:

IN DEPTH: Jonas Bros. "Love Bug"

You have a teeny-bopper act that's insanely popular. A decidedly catchy song that could easily be matched with a simple beach party video — or, even easier, a tie-in with a certain Volkswagen. Give credit to the Jonas Brothers for wanting something very different. Director Philip Andelman takes us behind-the-scenes on a totally lush and unexpected video for the new Jonas Bros. single "Lovebug."

IN DEPTH: Jack's Mannequin "The Resolution"

Much like Stephenie Meyer maps out a the difficulties of teenage love —and especially the logistics of a relationship between a mortal and a vampire — in her popular young adult novel series Twilight, this first music video to spring from her mind is also a meditation on a love that cannot easily be requited (or consummated). Meyer collaborates with director Noble Jones on a fable that has Jack's Mannequin frontman Andrew McMahon falling deeper in love with an unobtainable mermaid.

IN DEPTH: Jakob Dylan "Something Good This Way Comes"

This optimistic acoustic gem from Jakob Dylan serves as the perfect soundtrack to this meditative video about the underlying similarities in everyplace, everything and everyone. In this case, it's an unyielding and fixed horizon — be it natural, or artificial — forming a surprisingly straight horizontal line running through every shot captured in this ten day journey through America.