Just when it seems like Niles of the Cataracs is all set to be seduced by the Drive-Thru chick, he gets forcibly dragged to his senses though an epically absurd (aka awesome) adventure into the dark underworld of booty.
Placebo "Too Many Friends" is one of those great videos that can be easily summed-up in a couple bullet-points to a newbie — it's narrated by author Bret Easton Ellis and ends with a quiz — but also stands up to repeated viewings and close studies. The video is a mystery, but also a critique about how we've been lulled into submission by our digital devices and the well-chose pharmaceutical.
We recently chatted with director Saman Kesh via email about how the video came together, the irony of it all, and what it means — including how the video is slyly, if a bit coincidentally connected to The Dark Knight Rises.
Narrator Bret Easton Ellis — yes, the dude who wrote Less Than Zero — and director Saman Kesh (aka Saman Keshavarz) explore the anatomy of a seemingly simple scene that reveals itself to be far more complex upon closer inspection. But the moral here isn't the unreliability of perception; it's the danger of relying on technology and drugs that actually amplify, instead of serving our desires and fears.
Mumford & Sons have at times been criticized as Instagram-filtered nostalgists who dress like docents at some Dust Bowl history center, but this latest clip from director Sam Jones steers the band straight into that skid and out the other side to the land of laughs.
As someone who knows that you especially have to drop it when its hot, Pharrell gets with Nelly, Nicki Minaj and director Colin Tilley in a picture-perfect clip that updates the "Drop It Like It's Hot" vibe with splashes of color and futuristic touches.
Kelly Rowland knows a bad guy when she dates him - but washing him out of her life is harder than might be expected. Director Sarah McColgan has her superstar dining with the guy - who oafishly splashes her with with red wine, perhaps leading to the reflective soak Kelly takes. This rocky relationship seems to even threaten the sanctity of the Destiny's Child team - which is clear grounds for firing. Later, bro.
Although Stevie Wonder is a no-show, PJ Morton's Maroon 5 bandmates represent at his wedding. It's a slick affair, and the blessing of the legendary Mr. Wonder — he plays harmonica on the song — is probably the best gift Mortion could ever receive.
Most videos start with a treatment, which is essentially an idea put on paper. Some treatments are incredibly detailed, some are simple. Some videos wind up looking exactly as described in the treatment, and sometimes videos morph during the production process into something much different. In this recurring segment IN TREATMENT, Doug Stern compares and contrasts the original treatments with the final videos...
