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Art Break: Staggeringly Cool Stop Motion Music Videos
- Author: Rae Alexandra
- Posted on: Friday October 30, 2009 at 12:00 PM
- Filed under: peter gabriel, tool, babes in toyland, fight like apes, lou barlow, dinosaur jr, sebadoh, oren lavie, model citizen, domino records, stop motion
The art-form Stop-Motion - using individually photographed frames to make a person, object or scene become animated and appear to move, sway or come alive - has been an alluring solution for many musicians challenged with the chore of making a song come alive through film for a while now. Remember when Peter Gabriel went nuts for stop motion in his ground-breaking 1986 video for "Sledgehammer" (five minutes reportedly took eight days and 100 hours to shoot)? Our eyes were forever grateful.
Sure, you cinemaphiles may be rolling your eyes that we call this an "art-break" since Stop Motion is the oldest trick in the "Video For Idiots" book since, um, 1898. However, recently, the technique's DIY, low tech, and (depending on the director) generally budget-friendly qualities have become more and more appealing to musicians in the past few decades. Shock rockers like Tool and Babes In Toyland used it to scare the b'jaysus out of us throughout the nineties in videos for songs like "Sober" and "He's My Thing" respectively, but stop motion has cropped up in a bunch of compelling new videos across a variety of genres.
Meanwhile, for our tech-saturated generation, this low-tech technique is a surprisingly refreshing alternative to the digital Red Camera and the HD take-over. (Lest we remind you of the MIND BLOWING stop-motion video done by a bored art student who couldn't concentrate on his exams.) Irish alt-rock darlings, Fight Like Apes, recently transformed themselves into living paintings for their stompingly good "Tie Me Up With Jackets" single, taken from their fantastic album Fight Like Apes And The Mystery Of The Golden Medallion (out through Model Citizen in the UK, it's available on import in the US). Prepare to be dazzled:
Then there's ex-Sebadoh/ Dinosaur Jr legend Lou Barlow who has just used stop motion in his video for "Don't Apologize" (taken from his impressive new album, Goodnight Unknown, available through Domino Records) to bring to life a praying mantis from space who breaks into a teddy bear's house. No, really. Did we mention that it flies down from the sky in what appears to be a vegetable steamer? Don't believe us? See for yourselves:
Finally, New York-based Israeli musician, author and theater director, Oren Lavie released what is surely one of the most visually stunning videos of all time earlier this year, for his gorgeous single "Her Morning Elegance". So far, it's received well over 8 million views on You Tube. Not surprising - you're going to want to watch this baby more than once:
Staggering what a bit of imagination and a bucket load of patience will yield isn't it?
STOP MOTION RELATED POST: CREATIVE PROCRASTINATION
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