WATCH IT: Green Day "Know Your Enemy"

Why waste a third chord when two will suffice? Green Day returns with this economical and anthemic opening salvo off 21st Century Breakdown. Director Mathew Cullen keeps the video as simple and direct as the song, albeit on a massive scale. Performance takes place within a compound where an unseen enemy keeps track of the boys with various means surveillance, including a fleet of helicopters. The main visual hook is a "shadow into fire" motif in which the larger than life silhouttes that loom behind the band suddently burst into towering infernos. Also larger than most anything previous is the coordinated, exclusive worldwide premiere orchestrated through MTV Networks that is rocking through the weekend. --> watch "Know Your Enemy"

Green Day "Know Your Enemy" (Reprise/Warner Bros.)
Mathew Cullen, director | Scott Gemmell, producer | Motion Theory, production co | Shawn Kim, DP | Lenny Mesina, editor | Steve McHale, production designer | Clark Muller, colorist/telecine | Devin Sarno, commissioner

PHOTO: Green Day "Know Your Enemy"

Director Mathew Cullen of Motion Theory (right) on set with Green Day for their upcoming video "Know Your Enemy."

BOOKED: Green Day - Mathew Cullen, director

First single/video from the new album 21st Century Breakdown, due in May...

• artist: Green Day
• song: "Know Your Enemy" 
• label: Reprise Records
• director(s): Mathew Cullen 
• production co: Motion Theory

SHOT: Black Eyed Peas - Mathew Cullen + Mark Kudsi, director

Off the forthcoming album, The END...

artist: Black Eyed Peas
song: "Boom Boom Pow"
label: A&M/Interscope
director(s): Mathew Cullen + Mark Kudsi
production co: Motion Theory

WATCH IT: Sara Bareilles "Gravity"

As the cameras pull back in this latest video for Sara Bareilles, you realize that it's actually a depiction of the galaxy itself. And then it pulls back even further, revealing a indescribably odd scene that can only be the great beyond of heaven. The creative team at Motion Theory peg the influence on the classic Ray & Charles Eames educational/art film, Powers Of 10, which explores the relative size of all things by moving away from an object at a rate of 10 meters every 10 seconds. Relatively speaking, things that seem really big to us dopey humans are actually tiny and insignificant in the grand scheme of things. So, cheer up Sara. --> watch "Gravity"

Sara Bareilles "Gravity" (Epic)
Mathew Cullen, director | Scott Gemmell, producer | Motion Theory, production co | Jack Green, DP | Colin Woods @ String, editor | Daniel Ezralow, choreographer

BOOKED: Sara Bareilles - Mathew Cullen, director

artist: Sara Bareilles
song: "Gravity"
label: Epic
director(s): Mathew Cullen
production co: Motion Theory

NEW RELEASE: Weezer "Pork & Beans"

The new Weezer video"Pork & Beans" lives up to its billing as the the "ultimate mash-up viral." Director Mathew Cullen not only spoofs a bunch of famous YouTube clips — the soda/mentos experiment, weird Japanese game shows, the Soulja Boy dance, etc, etc — but actually gets a bunch of YouTube celebrities to take part in the video shoot. Tay "Chocolate Rain" Zonday, Chris "Save Britney" Cooper, Miss Teen USA contestant Lauren Caitlin "Oh my God, even Mario Lopez is laughing at your answer" Upton and even that Evolution Of Dance character. All of em are here, hamming it up with Weezer in a non-stop cavalcade of kinda sorta stars. A simple, yet genius idea that works because of the always genius execution of Cullen and the entire Motion Theory creative team. Catch it as it debuts at — where else — YouTube, alongide some other related Weezer viral silliness. Now, if only we had been Rick Rolled at the end... --> watch "Pork & Beans"

Weezer "Pork & Beans" (Geffen)
Mathew Cullen, director | Bernard Rahill, producer | Motion Theory, production co | Jack Green, DP | Jeff Consiglio + Colin Woods, editors | Teri Whittaker, production designer

BOOKED: Weezer - Mathew Cullen, director

artist: Weezer
song: "Pork & Beans"
label: Geffen
director(s): Mathew Cullen
production co: Motion Theory

NEW RELEASE: Adele "Chasing Pavements"

Remember the glorious triumph of man over machine in the iconic car collision that serves as the crescendo of director Jonathan Glazer's glorious UNKLE video "Rabbit In Your Headlights?" How about the car crash fetishism displayed in David Cronenberg's 1996 creep classic Crash? Dare you view about this site of collision money shots? Whether it's normal or not, people seem to be drawn to the destructive power of the car crash, be they NASCAR fans, crash testers or those who may see something a bit more perverse or artistic. Director Mathew Cullen of Motion Theory imagines a whimsical, beautiful outcome in the tragic wreckage of a car crash in this video for UK newcomer Adele.  The singer and her significant other are clearly on the outs and caught in a traffic jam due to a crash that's left a man and woman strewn across the sidewalk. These victims may be dead or disabled, but not in the fantasy world of this video which depicts the couple in a kind of beautiful, surreal dance. The perspective trick — there's no vfx on the choreography bits, by the way, it was done in camera — adds to the strangeness and morbidity of being asked to see the beauty and the love of something so awful. Whether or not Adele and her man are able to salvage something from their clearly crashing relationship is left to your imagination, but a happy ending looks about as unlikely as dead men dancing. --> watch "Chasing Pavements" at Adele.tv or YouTube

Adele "Chasing Pavements" (XL)
Mathew Cullen, director | Anna Joseph, producer | Motion Theory, production co | Eric Schmidt, DP | Lenny Messina, editor

BOOKED: Adele - Mathew Cullen, director

artist: Adele
song: "Chasing Pavements"
label: XL
director(s): Mathew Cullen
production co: Motion Theory