Actor August Aiden portrays a trans teen who stops seeking to fit in at home and at school, and instead decides to let his colors shine without any shame or fear.
Dano Cerny, director: "The biggest challenge was finding a young trans actor who felt comfortable in the role. When I met August, he had never acted before but he was so comfortable with who he was that he was able to step into the role without fear and we were really lucky to find him. Mego (Lin, DP) and I went about shooting most scenes really intimately, just us and the actors. I wanted to feature real trans actors, so in addition to August, a lot of our background talent at the school are Trans actors playing themselves as students.
We were on set together the morning Trump announced the Transgender Military ban. I remember being in the kitchen with Wrable and August (lead actor) discussing how it suddenly felt like a call to action for us as artist. We were angry and frustrated but had this video to use as our way to spread love at time when we all could use so more of it. We wanted to include Trump’s presence subtly in the video to make him accountable for the lives he is impacting, the behavior he’s condoning and the people who suffer because of his choices. We all suffer as a community, but it really impacts people lives and we wanted to tell one version of the many stories out there about young people finding themselves."
Extreme turbulence and a literal crash landing in this unexpected video for Vic Mensa's unguarded new song.
Andrew Donoho, director "Rage stood out as one of the most powerful, personal, and intense songs Vic has released, and I wanted to create something equally visceral. The song stemmed from his mindset during a fight with depression and addiction, so a plane crash felt like the perfect metaphor for the loss of control and the battle for survival. Burying this metaphor into a drug/alcohol fueled death-dream allowed the raw emotion of the song to manifest on screen in a harrowing narrative that takes place between fantasy and reality."
Lots of videos with costume changes, but I don't think there's one as magical, cool and downright extra-terrestrial as what happens to Watsky in this collaboration with director Carlos Lopez Estrada.
PS: It's lightly NSFW, even if the front side of things is blurred for your protection.
Get in the ring with Watsky for what starts as a traditional fight, but soon becomes something more poetie and graceful, if not downright transcendent.
Anything with the line "show us on the doll" is likely to be creepy (or worse) but this video is a fantastic romp that only gets more out there as it progresses. And, yes, it's a little bit creepy. But in a good way.
