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Director Mark Romanek Talks Jay Z, Marina Abromovic and Picasso Baby

Let's not shit ourselves: The new Jay Z video is an event, regardless of what you feel about the new album, his responsibilies as an artist, or the fact that as an astoundingly rich, well connected, smart, and powerful man he operates in rarefied circles. 

It premieres on HBO @ 11p tonight, immediately after his appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher. And it's not being called a video: It's a Performance Art Film. 

Director Mark Romanek — who occupies a similar position in the music video world as Jay does in the hip-hop world — talked about the video and its inspirations with Huffington Post. 

The admitted main influence is performance artist Marina Abromovich and her "one on one" staredown show at MOMA — documented in the HBO film Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present. Romanek says, "What I pitched to Jay was: 'You regularly perform to 60 or 80,000 people at a time. What if you performed for one person at a time? What if it was like Marina's piece?"

And that reminds me of one of the advantages music video, or any music performance captured on video, over the live experience: The ability to focus. To get close. To provide angles and access that's not possible in even the smallest club, and certainly not in stadiums.

The interview is full of great insights, so I recommend you check it in full, but here are some of my fave quotes from the director:

Diplo vs. Flo Rida in the Great Ass Video Controversy

Diplo has a thong in a knot over the new Flo Rida asstacular "Can't Believe It" for being a bit too similar to his "Butters Theme" video, which also featured an infinite journey through the bumpy terrain of buttocksville.

I'd go all Zapruder here and point out how even if they're a similar in that regards, they're entirely different in terms of vibe and set-ups, but as Diplo himself says, "Tbh my beef w @official_flo is kinda lame. My team will just stay being creative and working hard. We got ideas forever."

Anyway, both videos owe a debt to "Baby Got Back" and "Seven Nation Army." 

Onward.

Weinergate Sexting Mate Sydney Leathers Is Making A Music Video (Of Course)

Finally, some shocking news from the Anthony Weiner saga. Yes, the disgraced politician has disgraced himself once again — it's not the sexting, but the cover-up and the lying and betrayal and lack of control and, well, yeah, the sexting too — with revelations from a certain Sydney Leathers that they had an internet tête-à-tit.

Now word has it that a porn video might be in works, which was to be expected. I mean, how can you resist a porn parody when the real life names are Anthony Weiner (aka Carlos Danger) and Sydney Leathers? BUT, Ms. Leathers revealed today on Howard Stern that she has a MUSIC VIDEO in the works for a song parody of "Womanizer" called... "Weinerizer".

I shit you not.

And in case you're wondering: Yes, Sydney Leathers is managed by the same person who took Tan Mom and Teen Mom into our wonderful little music video world.

The Virtual NYC Hunt for Justin Timberlake "Take Back The Night" Begins

There's been a cat and mouse game to every step of Justin Timberlake's 20/20 Experience, with elements either coming completely unannounced, or teased through various clues hidden throughout his web world. This new video for "Take Back The Night" is still just out-of-grasp, but you can check out an interactive map of NYC at takebacktn.justintimberlake.com, which brings you from J-Tim's [ed: Has J-Tim also lost the hyphen like his man Jay Z?] massive Yanee Stadium gigs and into behind-the-scenes of the video, with pop-up styled tidbits about shoot locations and more.

Wanna see the video? Tweet as directed and sit tight. 

It's a smart roll-out, both on a micro level — the twitter gambit virtually guarantees worldwide trending — but if you zoom out you see that Timberlake and his visual/marketing partners at The Uprising Creative — who handled the website(s), the promo clips and even the videos for "Tunnel Vision" and now "Take Back The Night" — have found a way to maintain mystery and heighten expectation in the know everything right now culture of the web.

Low Movie: How to Quit Smoking (Phil Harder, dir.)

Low has been making music and music videos for two decades - almost all of that with director Phil Harder. Monday, July 29th the director will present his documentary about the band at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York - foloowed by a Q&A. Low has always been a band who did things their own way and Harder is emblematic of their bold, but often low-key choices.

Community

Huffington Post Live Chat @ 9e/6p about The Blurred Lines of Video Nudity

This evening I will be joining Huffington Post Live to discuss two of my favorite things: Music videos and nudity. 

Here's the topic:

"Feminist" Nudity In Music Videos Is Total... Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke have this month both used the veneer of feminism as excuses for their provocative music videos. Fans argue the nudity is 'post-feminist.' But it isn't liberating. Is it time that we take a stand & switch off?

Film vs Digital Costs vs Getting What You Pay For

What's more expensive, shooting on film or digital?

You'd think the easy answer is digital, but there are no easy answers in filmmaking.

My director friend Justin tipped me off to a blog post by Jacob Dodd at the James River Film Journal called The True Cost Of Filmmaking In The 21st century.

It makes the point that while digital may be cheaper upfront, it might not be in the longrun and might not allow you the same shot (no pun intended) at success as film.

And another salient point — and one that I personally see often — is that the DIY revolution over the past years has meant the eliminations of a lot of the checkpoints and experienced professionals that were traditionally in the video process, especially when you had to go to a tape master. Which means a lot of music videos that get delivered with varying framerates, incorrect black levels, mono audio, and lots more.

It's a good read, even if you disagree with the film advocacy, or the math.

Check it out at jamesriverfilm...

YouTube, Justin Timberlake, Nudity, Artistic Context and The Double Standard

In what's either good news or stupid news (maybe both), YouTube has decided that the Justin Timberlake "Tunnel Vision" video will be allowed to remain on the site despite the fact that many similarly explicit videos have been banned (most notably, the naked version of Robin Thicke "Blurred Lines").

A YouTube rep, quoted by ABC News, says:

"While our guidelines generally prohibit nudity, we make exceptions when it is presented in an educational, documentary or artistic context, and take care to add appropriate warnings and age-restrictions."

And here's the official policy: 

Most nudity is not allowed, particularly if it is in a sexual context. Generally if a video is intended to be sexually provocative, it is less likely to be acceptable for YouTube. There are exceptions for some educational, documentary, scientific, and artistic content, but only if that is the sole purpose of the video and it is not gratuitously graphic. For example, a documentary on breast cancer would be appropriate, but posting clips out of context from the documentary might not be.

While I don't have a problem with "Tunnel Vision" being allowed to remain on YouTube — in fact, I agree with the decision — I do have a problem with similarly nude videos, be it Robin Thicke "Blurred Lines" or Is Tropical "Dancing Anymore," which was banned 20 minutes after going live on YouTube. 

So, why does Timberlake get a pass? Is it because he's the arguably the biggest pop star in the world (a valid point), or is it because they don't want VEVO (or J-Tim's own MySpace network) to get a piece of exclusive content that also positions YouTube as the fuddy old site where you parents post their kitten videos.

Whatever the case, YouTube should have a consistent policy and not fly the "artistic context" flag only when it serves their interests.

Director Diane Martel Goes Shot By Shot on Miley Cyrus "We Can't Stop"

I like how we're studying the Miley Cyrus "We Can't Stop" video like it's the Zapruder film, or The Talmud. It's certainly more fun.

Rolling Stone has a nearly scene-by-scene recap of it with director Diane Martel, who shines a light on some overlooked elements in the video — the Smoke Dicks, for example — and some of the more prominent stunts, like the Hot Dog Piñata and French Fry Skull.

Diane Martel, director: It's like a giant, fucked-up selfie... We wanted the video to be full of blog-worthy moments, but it ended up being about Miley sharing herself with her audience in a crazed way. It's exhibitionistic, and she's absolutely taking the piss out of being in a pop video"

Also revealed: Miley likes taxidermy.

Check it out at Rolling Stone.

Corey Feldman "Ascension Millienium"

Corey Feldman has made a music video. You remember Corey from his hit movie run in the ;80s— Goonies, Lost Boys, Gremlins, Stand By Me — or maybe his rebirth as reality TV star and professional celebrity. He's been in plenty of videos, everything from Moby to Katy Perry. And he's released an album before — Love Left — and has performed songs on TV (please watch this Howard Stern TV Show performance, please), so I guess it's about time.

Corey is intense here. And takes his main performance and styling cues from old friend Michael Jackson. The video is in the style of a one-shot, taking us through a full day for Corey: We're talking lots of women, partygoers and rockers, all on-site at his house. Also on-site for a quick came: Goonies co-star Sean Astin.

Also, did I mention Corey is intense here? Like, super intense?

Top 5 Videos By Movie Directors

It's not often a movie director does a music video, which is part of the reason why David Lynch directing Nine Inch Nails "Came Back Haunted" is such big news. And the varying reaction is also part of the reason why it rarely happens.

Audiences tend to have serious expectations from a moonlighting movies director —   in Lynch's case I can guess that people were expecting something like his most popular work, and not something that clearly fits in the lineage of his shorts and artfilms. But it's understandable: You want Wes Anderson to be Wes Anderson if/when he ever does a video. You want The Coen Brothers to do what you love about their work. 

But the problem is it's often not possible. There's not the time, or the money, or even the creative freedom. That's why it's far more likely they do commercials before they do music videos — they might not offer the bigger pallette, freedoms and publicity of a music video, but they at least provide the resources for these big screen directors to execute their big ideas. In fact, both directors mentioned above do commercials, for everything from The Gap to Hyundai, and many others do as well.

Which brings us to this list of movie directors who have made music videos.

Of course there's a catch: We didn't include anyone who started or was primarily known for music videos at some point. That rules out many greats: David Fincher, Michael Bay, Mark Romanek, Joseph Kahn, McG, Spike Jonze and so many more. And these are just the five that Doug Stern and I could come up with on a Summer Friday... there's many more, so feel free to chime in.

Top 5 Videos By Movie Directors  [read on]

Director Diane Martel Talks Robin Thicke "Blurred Lines" and Miley Cyrus "We Can't Stop"

You can debate whether director Diane Martel's videos for "Blurred Lines" and "We Can't Stop" are the best of the year. But, it's undeniable that they're by far the most talked about and impactful videos of 2013, both riding a loose, yet calculated style that signals a huge breakthrough for a director who already has 20 years and countless hits in the video game.

Grantland has a fantastic Q&A with Diane Martel, focusing on the intent, inspirations and impact of these videos.

Here's some of the best reveals... [read on]