June 2010

WATCH IT: Christian TV "When She Turns 18" (Ethan Lader, dir.)

Pop newcomer Christian TV and his underage galpal document their love via an office copier in this adventurous video for "When She Turns 18". The two perform and get entangled with each other on the copier glass as the light bar scans back and forth, producing a steady stream of copies that provide an animated version of the action. While it's unclear if their efforts convince her office drone dad that their love is undeniable, it does create quite a stir and proves that a Xerox machine can be used for more than a  "photocopy your ass" gag.--> watch "When She Turns 18"

WATCH IT: Midi Mafia "2 Piece" (Justin Purser, dir.)

When nothing sells, there is no selling out. The viral gangbuster "2 Piece (So Cosmo" by Midi Mafia — ranked #1 on the AdAge Viral Chart with close to four million views in a week, thanks to a debut on the massively popular YouTube channel, The Station — is about as apologetically shameless as can be with Cosmopolitan Magazine namechecked in the lyrics, featured on various props and worked into a concept about a Cosmo Bikini Bash. And, with that much skin showing, why not get Nivea on board for a similar look. Oh, the Cosmo Bikini Bash? That's an actual annual event, held at the Planet Hollywood casino in Las Vegas, where this video was shot. Welcome to the future of the music (video) biz?

WATCH IT: Great Lake Swimmers "River's Edge" (Nir Ben Jacob, dir.)

Nir Ben Jacob, director:  "About a year ago I stumbled on these old wood-chip plate compositions my late grandfather made. They're a beautiful example of early Israeli-Yemenite art. As soon as I saw them I knew I had to animate them. They had been in storage for decades so it meant a great deal to bring them out and breathe life into them. This was an opportunity to not only contribute to his work, but also expose it to the audience it never had. It is the official video."

WATCH IT: Katy Perry "California Girls" (Mathew Cullen, dir.)

Much like you don't need to be Freud to realize that the song "I Want Candy" isn't about enjoying sugary treats, this video for Katy Perry's "California" is just as much a vehicle for a cavalcade of phallic and yonic imagery as it is a Candyfornia board game come to life. As is usually the case with director Mathew Cullen and the Motion Theory team there's another level to everything — guest rapper Snoop Dogg plays the Sugar Daddy and Katy is rolling the dice to free the young starlets who have fallen for his sweet traps — but the video's main focus is on Katy lounging like a pin-up and playing up the sexy sweet angle without any apologies.

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