Wednesday 25 March 2009

Got to get out of this black and white town

I went to see the Doves the other week, it inspired to me to pop up a quick post about the video for Black and White Town.

The video was done by indie film maker Lynne Ramsey, who did Morvern Callar, which I also watched recently. A film you really need to be in the mood to watch, bit depressing and long winded (not to say its not good, but pick a time and place), fab sound track though.

The video caused a bit of controversy as the record company decided to re-edit it before releasing it. I saw Lynne Ramsey do a talk about the video once and she explained why, the reason didn't seem all that clear to me but I think it was mainly to do with the violence (which is quite mild to be honest). At any rate she and the band where none too impressed.

I managed to find both versons so you can see for yourself, here's the directors cut:


And here's the released cut:


The video itself though really shows of Lynne's Ramsey's talent for ciminatography and much like her film making there are lots of really nice directoral touches sequences, like the variation in film speeds. She doesn't seem to have done much lately which is a shame, another music video would be nice while we wait for the next film (come on Lynne pull your finger out!).

I also thought I would post the Doves video for the new single, Kingdom of Rust:

Directed by China Moo-Young, the Doves have clearly found a visual style that they like working with, a sort of realist but majestic cinimatography and enigmatic narative themes. I really just like the blue Ford Grenarda in it.

Sorry for such a short post, I am working on a longer one about Hype Williams, but its a bit of a bugger to find the videos. Anyway thanks for reading and as always thanks to youtube and its users for posting.

Finally here is Sam Morton in Morvern Caller: