PS: Wouldn't it have been cool if the 24 hour-long-version — still up in all its glory at 24hoursofhappy.com — had won Best Longform aka Best Music Video Film. (Not Spoiler Alert: That Grammy went to 20 Feet From Stardom
We open with pure beauty — a stunning vfx pass that's part Unknown Pleasures and part Han Solo in Carbonite. Both are cool in their own right, of course. But things move quickly to a coming-of-age story set in the marshy backwoods that slowly unfurls over nearly 10 minutes.
Yoann Lemoine aka Woodkid, director:
“The Golden Age is the last single and video for my first album.
Throughout the process of directing videos for this story, I slowly removed all digital and post-production layers of my work to finally create this piece. It is somehow a postcard from my childhood, with memories and emotions from the countryside assembled together in a long, free, mellow piece. It's about the child trapped inside, the haunting memories, the beautiful and the dark ones. I wanted the camera work and acting direction to be very organic and carnal, in opposition to the digital, rigid and super-composed aspects of the previous videos. That's why we decided to shoot everything handheld, without any mechanical movement and with no post-production. In that way, I would say this video is very different from the other ones.
It all started when I bought an original print by my favorite photographer, William Gedney, friend and contemporary of Lee and Maria Friedlander, who shot families in rural America in the sixties. I decided that this piece would pay tribute to the beauty of his work and the way he shoots boys and men in their environment, to the sensuality of his eye, which describes so well what I felt for other boys when I was younger.
In order to extend the song and create the right mood for this piece, I collaborated with composer Max Richter. He extended and re-recorded his piece ‘Embers’ to adapt it to the pace and tonality of ‘The Golden Age.’ Together, we created this very free ‘hybrid’ edit of the track, which tells so much about the pace of never ending childhood summers.
In a way, this piece is a final goodbye to four years of work and tour for this album.“
Do you have 24 hours to spare? If so, I want you to watch the new Pharrell clip "Get Happy," which is the world's first 24 hours video. Wisely, the intention here — besides getting those "holy shit, 24 hours!" headlines — seems to be for you to click along the circular timeline to explore different scenes, including interior dots that take you directly to Pharrell doing his thing as the song plays on repeat. You can then share that timecode — especlally if you happen to catch one of the video's famous guest stars, or other Easter Eggs — through a nifty tool.
Making a video for director/musician Yoann Lemoine aka Woodkid sounds like way more pressure than most jobs. Director Ryan Hope handles it perfectly, however, delivering short films for Absolut that celebrate the artistic proces with Wookid, graphic novelist Rafael Grampa, designer Yiquing Yin, and digital artist Aaron Koblin.
John Legend is a sly man. Even though this video features more skin than his last release — the suave, yet distinctly NSFW "Who Do We Think We Are" — it's unlikely to upset any censors hunting for even a stray nip slip.
If you had John Legend in your "Someday even he will make a NSFW video" pool, then congratulations: You likely hit a big payday.
But, don't think the soul crooner has gone tawdry. This is a gorgeous video, like an old-school fashion pictorial come-to-life that will satisfy film nerds (look at that grain) and those who clearly don't read Playboy for the articles. And playing the role of a suaver, better dressed is John Legend, the coolest dude at a most sophisticated and sexy party. With naked women. Everywhere. And not another dude in sight. Except for Rick Ross, who would normally qualify as the coolest dude at the party, but he seems to exist in a dreamscape here. Or, maybe he's just either outside.
And, ps, I have $20 on Josh Groban in my "NSFW someday" pool.
Director Yoann Lemoine's musical alter-ego Woodkid returns with the fittingly lovely "I Love You." Although it utilizes the same gorgous b/w grading as previous clips "Run Boy Run" and "Iron" but busts out of the studio, contrasting a man at a church organ with an explorer who scales some epic Icelandic landscapes en route to a breathtaking underwater religious experience.
