Being creative is about opening your mind to things out of your comfort zone. It’s about digging a little deeper, taking interest in the unknown, and doing things that haven’t been done before.

So for this post I’m going to add a little creative inspiration in the form of a music video. Now this video comes from Coldplay, a group big enough to work with a large budget and big ideas.

I think that this video is really cool. One of the best I’ve seen in a while. All the frames were drawn by hand and animated by Shynola, an animation company that has worked on projects for Queens of the Stone Age, Honda, Playstation, Beck, Junior Senior, and more.

Check out the video:

[ Άλλο ποστ θα ανέβαζα . Με πρόλαβαν όμως τα νέα και δεν μπορούσα να κάνω αλλιώς . ]

Από την πρώτη φορά που είδα αυτό το βίντεο, το λάτρεψα .

Και το τοποθέτησα αμέσως στην προσωπική μου δεκάδα των καλύτερων βίντεο για το 2009 ( ΠΑΝΤΑ κατά την ταπεινή μου άποψη ) . Η χαρά μου επομένως ήταν μεγάλη όταν έμαθα ότι προχθές, το βίντεο των Coldplay για το τραγούδι ” Strawberry Swing “, πήρε το βραβείο του καλύτερου βίντεο ( !!! ) στα UK Μusic Video Awards, ένα θεσμό που πολύ τον έχω σε εκτίμηση και καμία σχέση δεν έχει με τα ψιλοσικέ αντίστοιχα βραβεία του MTV .

Μου αρέσει πολύ που οι Coldplay συνεχίζουν να φροντίζουν την οπτική παρουσίαση των τραγουδιών τους έστω κι αν το ” Viva La Vida ( or Death And All Of His Friends ) έχει κυκλοφορήσει πριν ένα χρόνο και βάλε και οι εντυπώσεις έχουν αρχίσει να ξεθυμαίνουν .

Το βίντεο γυρίστηκε στο Λος Άντζελες υπό τη σκηνοθετική καθοδήγηση μιας ομάδας σκηνοθετών κάτω από το κοινό όνομα Shynola ( έχουν γυρίσει επίσης βίντεο για τους Radiohead, Blur και Beck ) . Τα γυρίσματα κράτησαν μια ολόκληρη εβδομάδα και το αποτέλεσμα είναι κάτι περισσότερο από εξαιρετικό . Οι Shynola εμπνεύστηκαν την ιδέα του βίντεο ( πέρα από ταινίες και κόμικς με υπερήρωες ) από ένα μικρό απόσπασμα από το θρυλικό βίντεο ” Sledgehammer “ του Peter Gabriel . Το βίντεο κυκλοφόρησε τον Αύγουστο που μας πέρασε .

Το animation με κιμωλία είναι πολύ της μόδας τελευταία .  Μπορείτε να δείτε εδώ το βίντεο του βρεττανού Andy J. Gallaher, ο οποίος ατυχώς κατηγόρησε τους Shynola για αντιγραφή . Τη δημοσιότητα του την κέρδισε αλλά το δίκιο του όχι, και δικαιολογημένα κατά τη γνώμη μου . Το τραγούδι δεν μου πολυαρέσει γι’αυτό δεν ασχολούμαι περισσότερο …

Το κορυφαίο για εμένα chalk animation video ( μέσα στην απλότητα του κλέβει την παράσταση από το Strawberry Swing ) είναι το επίκαιρο ” Autumn Story “ των αγγλο-αυστραλών Firekites ( οι οποίοι σκίζουν στην indie πλευρά της μουσικής με το αλμπουμ τους ” The Bowery ” ) . Ένα φανταστικό  βίντεο που χρειάστηκε έξι μήνες δουλειάς και 1900 περίπου σκίτσα από κιμωλία για να δημιουργηθεί . Σκηνοθέτες οι Lucinda Schreiber – Yanni Kroneberg, οι οποίοι μάλλον κουράστηκαν τόσο πολύ, που ύστερα από αυτό το βίντεο, άνοιξε η γη και τους κατάπιε !

 Τέλος στην ίδια τεχνική που χρησιμοποιήθηκε για την κίνηση του Chris Martin στο Strawberry Swing είχε βασιστεί και το βίντεο του ανερχόμενου και πολλά υποσχόμενου ισραηλινού Oren Lavie για το τραγούδι του ” Her Morning Elegance ” ( ωραίος τίτλος ! ) . Τόσο το κομμάτι όσο και το βίντεο προκάλεσαν μεγάλη αίσθηση τη χρονιά που διανύουμε . Συνσκηνοθεσία του Lavie με τους Yuval και Merav Nathan . Υπέροχο .

Όσο για τα υπόλοιπα βραβεία των UK Video Music Awards ‘09, κάνετε κλικ εδώ για να τα δείτε ( μη σας ζαλίζω άλλο ) . Βραβεύτηκε και η Λαίδη Γκα Γκα βρε ! ( γμρφ, όσο κι αν δεν τη χωνεύω τούτη τη μουρλοκαμπέρω, οφείλω να ομολογήσω ότι το Paparazzi είναι ένα πολύ καλό μουσικό βίντεο, φτου κακά ! )

* * * Αξίζει να δείτε τα δύο αυτά καταπληκτικά βίντεο για δύο πανέμορφα και άκρως φθινοπωρινά τραγούδια . Τελικά ” αναγκάστηκα ” να αποκαλύψω κάποια βίντεο της λίστας μου για φέτος αλλά δεν κρατιόμουν ( η βράβευση γαρ ) !!  * * *

Coldplay’s creativity is outstanding.

This video captures a facet of the magic of coldplay

A Banda Britânica Coldplay lançou nesta segunda-feira um clipe que foi produzido para a música “Strawberry Swing”. Um tipo de produção ja usada em alguns filmes publicitários, mas nunca de uma forma tão criativa, com cortes explorados no chão do estúdio. O vocalista Chris Martin é o personagem em animação que luta com um esquilo gigante em um mundo ilustrado. O filme foi dirigido por Shynola. Muito bom. A música também é sensacional e não nega as raizes britânicas. Bom proveito!

Lists are funny things.

Lists, to men, are like catnip to cats. We can’t resist them. It doesn’t matter what it is, we’ll create a list for it. It’s our anally retentive side coming into play; we like to know everything has its place. Most men I think can name their favourite albums, movies (and perhaps girlfriends) in a specific order since we’ve had every waking day to think about it.

When we forget to take the rubbish out, or wash up, it’s probably because we’re making a mental list of something (boring household chores perhaps…)

Lists are also endlessly used in television.

No doubt you will have sat through the Top 100 Singles of All Time, Your Favourite Films Ever or Top 100 Celebrity Sex Scandals – all the cheapest of TV formats and laziest of concepts, which is why they usually end up on satellite channels you’d rarely watch otherwise. They bring out the same D- and C-list celebrities (who’d turn up to the opening of a Coke can) to sit in front of a brightly-coloured animated backdrop – similar in style to a Lava Lamp – and then talk about an event/film/album/song/person the producer had reminded them about a few minutes earlier was such an important part in their life. The better celebrities may retell an amusing anecdote; most will resort to just laughing about nothing (the more they laugh, the more we’ll notice their smug faces while we’re drifting off to sleep) and talking bullshit.

“Oh yeah – haha – this one time my brother and me were – haha – were listening to this Queen song and doing that thing they do in Wayne’s World – haha – and – haha – my brother hit his head on the window of the car! Haha (remember me from that obscure show five years ago?… No?…I was great, honest…)“

However – and the producers of these shows know it – there’s something strangely addictive about them. Even if you get the most irritating celebrity most of all; stitching all the segments together with a witty thing to say before and after each advert break.

One of the worst example of this was probably David Gest (winner of I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!) presenting the 100 Best Michael Jackson Songs (or something). It was an old show, repeated especially for the death of MJ. The embarrassing links provided by Mr. Gest reached their apex when he announced something along the lines of “You’ll live forever, Michael – you’re the best!”. David? I’m Embarrassed, Get Me Out Of Here!

Blogs also use this format. It’s a sure-fire way of getting people looking at your blog – people love lists remember!

So, all this being said, for the sake of both selfish amusement and the irony of my last paragraph, I’m going to resort to a list myself.

This list is (as you will have noticed from the title) regarding The Ten Best Music Videos in the World… Ever! (The title inspired by all those compilation albums from the late ’90s – in fact, they’re probably still churning them out).

The reason I’m picking music videos is that, by chance, I was watching MTV and between the irritatingly inane shows they put on, and the endless Rihanna videos, something interesting (and refreshingly pleasant on the ears) came on. Something with a wonderful hand drawn style featuring a superhero fighting squirrels and things to reach the princess in distress. The video is number one on my list (which is actually not in any particular order) and it inspired this little blog entry, so blame it for any boredom caused for this post.

It’s worth saying that I’ve been a fan of music videos ever since I got MTV2 a long time ago (in the good old days before it turned into the channel for Shit American Rock), so I know my Michel Gondry from my Chris Cunningham. There are many, many wonderful music videos around (and really, the top ten directors would have been more appropriate since so many are consistently fantastic) but leave any comments if you think I’ve missed out something really amazing.

1. Coldplay “Strawberry Swing” directed by Shynola. View on YouTube
This the first Coldplay video I’ve loved. The others have been okay, but either linked to a damn durge of a song (The Scientist) or just a bit too odd for their own good (Don’t Panic). The basic concept is that Chris Martin is a superhero on a background drawn, with chalk, on a pavement. Obviously this kind of effect could have been achieved in a computer but it seems Shynola actually hand-drew the damn thing with Chris Martin balancing/laying/hand-standing for each frame – I imagine having to wait for the artists to finish each drawing. To someone lacking patience like myself (I love animation but really, it’s boring as hell doing it frame by frame – see this fantastic Fast Show sketch) this makes Chris Martin an absolute star in my books (as if the rest of the world didn’t already consider himself one).

As for the song itself, I didn’t actually think much of it when I first listened to the album (to the point where, on seeing the video, I wondered whether it was even on an album) but now, I listen to it on an almost daily basis.

Users on YouTube obviously love it as well… “this is the most coolest video i have ever seen” is one of the more insightful comments.

It’s a rare but wonderful thing when a music video makes you like a song even more – or even to notice it at all. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does it makes for a great experience. You’re able to listen to the song at any time and, even if the lyrics don’t connect specifically with you or if they are too abstract in the song to relate to anything, being reminded of the video makes it much more visual. It’s like a soundtrack album to a movie but in reverse, I’ve listened to The Shawshank Redemption soundtrack countless times, and it always evokes memories of the film (which is my favourite by the way – I’m sure I’ll do a ten ten movies as well some time…)

The talented artists behind this video are called Shynola who created the wonderful animations for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (one of the better things about the film) along with countless other videos – their best listed below, check ‘em out as they say in the States.

• Blur “Good Song” – Drawings by my favourite cartoonist, David Shrigley, animated – again, making an otherwise fairly pedestrian song come to life in what I think is the funniest music video I’ve ever seen, although I appreciate it’s not to everyone’s taste. View on YouTube

• UNKLE “Eye for an Eye” – An amazing video about cute little things running around their happy place being duped into drinking from giant nipples by an evil race of wasp things that then assimilate them all and take over their land. A thinly veiled political comment about the way the West come in, guns blazing, promising a better life and leave having destroyed everything. Well, I think that’s what it’s about anyway. It’s an amazing song and I bought the album because of this, which is lucky because it was, in my view, the best album of that year. View on YouTube

• Junior Senior “Move Your Feet” – I’m of the Commodore 64 generation, so anything with pixel graphics gets my vote, and it doesn’t get any better than this. It’s a crazy song (let’s face it – gay as cheese) and sounds like Terence and Philip from South Park singing, but it fits the video perfectly. As before, I bought the album after this, which is why I refuse to put this video in the overall Top Ten; the album is beyond terrible. View on YouTube

2. Radiohead “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” directed by Jonathan Glazer. View on YouTube
In those good old days on MTV2 that I spoke about with tear-filled nostalgic eyes earlier, this video was one of the most shown – with good reason. It’s a great song for a start. I’m not a massive Radiohead fan (I think they’re vastly overrated) but this one is tortured, weird and has a great tune.

The video ticks several boxes for me:

It’s in black and white (almost everything looks better in black and white); it has bits that are slowed down; bits that speed up; jumping nuns; locusts flying in slow motion; evil dogs; Thom Yorke looking weird; band member, Jonny Greenwood looking like a woman (many women would kill for his figure); glass smashing and someone falling over on their chair.

It’s put together with so much style that you can forgive them for what I imagine amounts to just a ‘brainstorming’ session where they thought “would would look cool slowed down in black and white”.

I’m sure there are many more videos considered better than this but this just sticks with me far more than most, I think due to its haunting nature and probably just that it’s, in my opinion, Radiohead’s best song.

The director is top of his class with a string of fantastic videos to his name. He also directed the wonderful film, Sexy Beast, which, if you haven’t seen, needs to be watched as soon as you can; Ben Kingsley should have gotten an Oscar for it. If that wasn’t enough, he’s the man behind the Guinness ad with the horses in the sea, the Sony Bravia ad with the exploding towerblocks of paint and the Levi’s ad with the emaciated boy and girl jumping through walls in order to reach space (apparently the most expensive advert ever at the time).

Other great videos by Jonathan Glazer:

• Jamiroquai “Virtual Insanity” – The irritatingly popular Jay Kay prances about with his stupid hat while the furniture moves around. Very cleverly done (albeit quite simple when you know how) and an example of a really good pop video, which is quite a rarity. View on YouTube

• UNKLE “Rabbit in Your Headlights” – A scruffy man walking down a tunnel, mumbling to himself, getting hit by cars. I’ve no idea what he’s thinking about (I read that he’s trying to work out the meaning of life) but the ending is spectacular. View on YouTube

3. Bjork “All is Full of Love” directed by Chris Cunningham. View on YouTube
This is one of the first videos (I think) released as a DVD single and it was the perfect video for the format. It’s stark and fascinating (like Bjork herself I suppose) and manages to be beautifully classy, despite the ridiculous premise (two robots, both with Bjork’s face, ‘get jiggy with it’ whilst robot arms prod them and cover them with something suspiciously milky and white).

The director, Chris Cunningham, has a something of a midas touch giving all his work a strange, sometimes scary, stylish as hell look that must be damn difficult to do.

In an ideal world, he’d direct an Alien film. Maybe one day…

Two of his other videos for you to look at (do a Google search for his others – they’re all great):

• Madonna “Frozen” – I think it’s Madonna’s best video. Not much happens, she’s a bit goth, she’s in the desert, there’s a black dog… but it’s a great song and it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling seeing Madonna grown-up, sensible, and not jumping around in a leotard telling people they’re ‘motherfuckers’ and pretending to be twenty again. View on YouTube

• Aphex Twin “Windowlicker” – One of life’s great annoyances for me (proving I don’t have too many) is that music as God-awful as Aphex Twin gets to have a decent video to go with it. This video is wonderfully stylish, funny, strange, freaky and deserves mention because it highlights the ridiculous conventions set in rap videos where some idiots ogle girls in bikinis. This video is the antithesis of The Thong Song. View on YouTube

4. A-Ha “Take on Me” directed by Steve Barron View on YouTube
Given my love of animation and ’80s music, it’s no big surprise that this is in my list and I think most people of my age remember this video very vividly (even down to the “Nice Cold Ice Cold Milk” poster in the cafe that haunted my youth in the school canteen).

Looking back, the video is extremely cheesy but the animation is so well done it’s easy to forgive it. I also wish they’d resisted the temptation to shoehorn the rest of the band into the video using crappy footage of them playing their instruments against a suitably ‘comic book’ style background. (The same problems haunt videos these days as well – it’s so much better when a band’s ego-driven demand to feature in the video doesn’t get in the way).

The director was very successful during this period, working on loads of other memorable videos but none were really as innovative as Take on Me.

5. The BPA “Toe Jam” directed by Keith Schofield View on YouTube
The BPA (or Brighton Port Authority) is a Fat Boy Slim (aka Norman Cook) project and this, the first release, comes with a fantastically inventive video.

To explain it would ruin the joke of it, so just watch and smile…

6. The White Stripes “Fell in Love with a Girl” directed by Michel Gondry View on YouTube
When I was young (here he goes again with nostalgia) I loved Lego and animated little things with it as well. I imagine the director, Michel Gondry, did the same when he was growing up since this video (like most of his actually) has a whimsical quality.

It’s a video comprised solely of animated Lego blocks. People swimming, the band singing and playing their instruments, running – everything damn difficult to animate anyway, especially in Lego.

Michel Gondry has a knack for doing really complex things (‘high concept’ should be his middle name), as his other videos prove even further. He’s now mainly doing feature films (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind being one) which is a shame as I think his ideas suit a short running time much better.

More of his videos:

• Kylie Minogue “Come Into My World” – Kylie must have gotten dizzy making this video; several versions of her walk around several times in a circle. I have no idea how he co-ordinated a shoot like this but it’s wonderfully done. View on YouTube

• Massive Attack “Protection” – A great video with the camera moving into different windows of a big house. It doesn’t sound exciting and, well, it isn’t really, but it’s a great video. View on YouTube

• Bjork “Bachelorette” – Difficult to describe, this video starts with a story being told and then a theatre production based on that story played out within it. Just watch it, it’s fantastic. View on YouTube

7. Blur “Coffee & TV” directed by Hammer & Tongs View on YouTube
Like Shynola, Hammer & Tongs are another group of talented chaps that have worked on many videos and they all (well, the ones I’ve seen) tend to have a humourous slant which defines their style.

Coffee & TV is the tale of a little milk carton that goes off on a little quest to find a missing person. It’s the kind of video that appeals to everyone; it’s funny, cute and there’s even a bit of emotion in there as well for the kind of people that cry over spilt milk.

They’re now doing feature films as well. Their first, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was good, but flawed. Their latest – Son of Rambow – is supposed to be very good but I’ve not seen it yet unfortunately.

Hammer & Tongs have worked on many great videos, but two of my other favourites are below:

• REM “Imitation of Life” – Worth watching for Michael Stipe’s interesting dance moves as well as the technical cleverness involved. It’s a piece of camcorder footage that keeps running forward, then backwards for twenty seconds at a time – we zoom into parts of the video to see details. A tough one to explain, but worth watching, and it’s a nice little tune! View on Spike (I couldn’t find a version on YouTube with audio)

• Fatboy Slim “Right Here, Right Now” – Evolution squeezed into 3:30 minutes with a great social comment at the end. Well, I think it’s meant like that anyway, or it’s just that they wanted to end with the guy from the album cover. View on YouTube

8. David Bowie “Ashes to Ashes” directed by David Mallet View on YouTube
It makes no bloody sense at all, but it’s an example of a really inventive video when music videos were still very ‘new’ (it was back in 1983 – MTV had only been around a couple of years at that point. It was also was less shit than now). I think it was the most expensive video ever at the time due to its use of the fancy video effects (things we can all do on an iPhone these days with the correct app).

Director, David Mallet, directed loads of rock videos (specialising on Queen and AC/DC, strangely) but this is, I think, his most famous.

Of all these videos, it’s probably the one you’ll disagree with the most. “It looks crap”, mate, “You’re getting nostalgic and losing your sense of style.” But, there’s just something about it that I love. I’m not a big David Bowie fan particularly, but there’s something wonderful about him walking down the beach dressed like an idiot with an old woman wagging her finger at him (and telling him not to trust Major Tom).

9. Michael Jackson “Thriller” directed by John Landis View on YouTube
I include this video a little reluctantly as every damn list of “best music videos ever” has this in it, but it really has to be. I’m not a fan of musicals (I turned Chicago off after the DVD menu) but there’s something mesmerising about a really great piece of choreography.

There’s also the fact that this music video was an ‘event’. I was too young to remember it at the time but enough people have told me how they stayed up late to watch it to make me think that perhaps it was more of a big deal than we can appreciate these days. The Internet has ruined things a bit really… we don’t have ‘events’ any more, do we?

Anyway, the director’s other films include American Werewolf in London (that qualified him to make Thriller really), Trading Places and Coming to America so that makes him damn good in my book.

10. Massive Attack “Teardrop” directed by Walter Stern View on YouTube
God knows how a video comprised entirely of a foetus singing can be so good, but it really is.

The director is another fairly prolific one, working on videos for Prodigy, David Bowie, Madonna and INXS as well as another two for Massive Attack.

Another of his videos:

• Verve “Bitter Sweet Symphony” A riff on Massive Attack’s video for Unfinished Sympathy, this was the video that, thanks to Richard Ashcroft walking down the road like an arrogant bastard, helped launch Verve into the public eye when we already had arrogant bastards, Oasis. View on YouTube

So, that’s it.

You’ll have noticed that I’ve cheated a little bit by including other videos from some of the directors (making the list far more than just ten) but I don’t care, it’s my list, I can do what I want with it.

There are, however, some other videos I’ve not mentioned that I feel I should for various reasons – those are listed below. Have a look at all of them if you find the time!

Leftfield “Swords” View on YouTube
Summary: A bunch of people in cars, singing along to a chilled out track. I find it mesmerising.

Fatboy Slim “Weapon of Choice” View on YouTube
It’s Christopher Walken. Dancing. Nothing more needs to be said.

Supermen Lovers “Starlight” View on YouTube
Traditionally, 3D animation tends to be quite slick but here the animator has gone at great lengths to make the characters as ugly as possible. It’s a great little story and strangely emotional at the end!

Elbow “One Day Like This” View on YouTube
I’m including this partly because the song is wonderful but also because I think the video is so strange. It doesn’t match the lyrics at all but just focuses on one guy finding joy doing a mundane job. Beautiful.

Nizlopi “JCB” View on YouTube
A wonderfully nostalgic little song with a video to match.

Super Furry Animals “It’s Not the End of the World?” View on YouTube
Another great piece of 3D animation.

Pet Shop Boys “I’m With Stupid” View on YouTube
I’ve never been a fan of the Pet Shop Boys’ videos, but this one is great since it’s the guys from Little Britain doing a terrible (yet accurate) impression of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe.

Peter Gabriel “Sledgehammer” View on YouTube
Most ‘top video’ lists include this at a high position because it was groundbreaking (and it marked the arrival of Aardman Animation – the makers of Wallace and Gromit). It is a very clever video, and perhaps the Coldplay video I mentioned at the beginning of the list wouldn’t have existed were it not for this. Oh, and it’s about shagging, but you knew that…

Definitely not on any of my lists:

Queen “Bohemian Rhapsody” Don’t View on YouTube
Just plain awful.

I hope you liked this list and feel free to write a comment challenging me on any of my picks. I’m sure I’ve left out some great videos, so tell me and I’ll be happy to rethink any of the ones above if you prove that I’m wrong in some way.

September 15, 2009
8:00 pm screening, 10:00 pm after-party

Hammer Museum
Billy Wilder Theater
10899 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90024
310.443.7000

Source: Flux

Um vídeoclip produzido pelo grupo Shynola para o lançamento da música Strawberry Swing, do Coldplay. A história é banal: superherói derrota bandido e salva mocinha. O que chama atenção mesmo (até mais que a própria música) é o vídeo fantástico, feito com técnica stop motion e todos os cenários e personagens adicionais desenhados no chão.  Veja as fotos abaixo.

Como a ferramenta embed foi desabilitada a pedido da gravadora EMI, para ver o vídeo vá direto no YouTube, clicando aqui.

Dica de Creative Side

Today i came across some great motion designers/directors, Shynola these guys have created work that ive seen for years but never known who created it. There most recent project was the genius Strawberry Swing Video for Coldplay. but they also boast clients such as Radiohead, Blur, Queens Of The Stone Age, and Beck as well as corporate clients such as Nike, Orange and Honda.

Check out there Strawberry Swing Video below.

Coldplay’s new music video for ‘Strawberry Swing’ captures fantasy in a story conveyed in the form of vivid chalk drawings assembled through stop motion animation, wherein Chris Martin plays an animated superhero fighting a giant mouse and other obstacles before saving his girl. Superb artwork and beautifully directed by Shynola. I’m so excited to learn more about how they created this!

Such a cool and well directed video. It needed to be shared. Go ahead. Use them eyeballs.

Good job, Creatives

Strawberry Swing, canção da banda inglesa Coldplay de seu último álbum “Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends”, ganhou um clipe, um dos melhores do ano, diga-se de passagem, no dia 20 de julho.

 O grupo havia disponibilizado uma semana antes uma prévia com alguns segundos do vídeo para os fãs, que ficaram com água na boca para ver o restante do clipe, muito bem feito pelo coletivo de artistas visuais Shynola, grupo artístico que já trabalhou com Radiohead (“Pyramid Song”), Blur (“Good Song”), The Rapture (“House of Jealous Lovers”), Queens of the Stone Age (“Go With the Flow”), entre outros.

Em “Strawberry Swing”, a ação acontece em um mundo desenhado com giz, no qual Chris Martin, vocalista do grupo, é um super-herói e precisa salvar a mocinha de um perigoso esquilo gigante. As imagens são muito belas e empolgantes, sem citar a música com ótima letra e melodia. O vídeo é de muita criatividade e combina com Martin, artista excêntrico e que, com seu jeito carismático, não consegue ficar parado no palco quando está se apresentando.

Após a estreia no site Babelgum.com, o clipe foi veiculado nos cinemas Odeon, no Reino Unido, antes da exibição dos filmes Brüno, de Sasha Baron Cohen (o Borat) - no qual o vocalista Chris Martin faz uma aparição – e A Proposta, estrelado por Sandra Bullock e Ryan Reynolds.

Segue o trailer do clipe que havia sido disponibilizado pela banda:

Para assistir ao vídeo completo, acesso a página oficial do Coldplay no youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/coldplaytv?blend=2&ob=4

Music video’s. Art? Well… Those days are over, I guess. But as it’s going to be the hottest day of the year in Belgium today and we ‘ll all be needing little bits of refreshment, I’d like to make an exception to my rule of  ‘no music video’s on Utopia Parkway’. Cause the new Coldplay-video is actually too cute to be true. It’s made by Shynola, a group of British visual artists. They already created video’s for Unkle, Radiohead and Queens Of The Stone Age. You can watch the video here, and if you might be wondering how it was done, then click here.

Allez une petite sélection de belles réal pour bien démarrer le mois d’août.

Côté trailers

Tron Legacy, l’incontournable trailer du mois : le retour du célèbre film des années 80, avec toujours dans le rôle titre Jeff Bridges et produit par le réalisateur d’origine Steven Lisberger. Une réalisation futuriste signée Joseph Kosinski sur une bande son de Daft Punk. Le film sera présenté avec une animation en 3D ( Disney Digital 3-D & IMAX 3D). Soyez patient, la sortie n’est prévue que courant 2010.

Alice in Wonderland : le trailer du célèbre Alice au Pays des Merveilles produit par Walt Disney. Tim Burton à la réalisation et Mia Wasikowska et Johnny Depp dans les rôles clés. Sortie prévue le 5 mars 2010, avec une diffusion 3D dans quelques salles.

A serious Man : une bande-annonce hypnotique et hilarante pour le dernier film des frères Coen, poursuivant dans la comédie après le déjanté “Burn After Reading”. Sortie prévu le 2 octobre prochain.

Let’s Get Mystical : superbe trailer du film Let’s Get Mystical mettant en scène les meilleurs riders en BMX, filmés dans les plus beaux spots du monde. Produit par le collectif Mutiny Bikes, et réalisé par Joe Simon. Sortie en dvd & Blu-Ray prévue en septembre prochain.

Côté clips

Coldplay “Strawberry Swing” : le dernier clip du groupe Coldplay réalisé en stop motion par le collectif d’artistes londonien Shynola.

Lawrence Cepstral “Supernova” : du pixel art avec un très beau travail réalisé par l’artiste spécialiste du genre Siggi Eggertsson.

Pour finir, un joli spot de pub en stop motion pour la marque australienne de peinture Target et sa campagne “Every Colors you can dream of”, directement inspiré du clip d’Oren Lavie “Her Morning Elegance”. Par l’agence de Melbourne The Campaign Palace, Gerhard Myburgh et Brent Liebenberg à la direction de création.

love ‘em or hate ‘em, the new coldplay video for strawberry swing is badass:

Directed by visual artists at Shynola:

What’s the inspiration behind the story in the video?
First and foremost we really wanted it to be nonsensical and almost dream-like. We also knew that the technique itself would also be a lot for the eye to take in. So when we had the idea of a day with a superhero on some weird adventure we chose to frame the journey with a very simple, easy-to-understand narrative: superhero saves girl from baddy. So it’s pretty weird, but makes some sort of sense. I saw the video referred to as “ten-steps-left-of-centre” which we take as a great compliment. I might even get that as a tattoo.

Read the rest of the interview here.

I’m not the world’s biggest fan of Coldplay, but you can’t fault them for total videoclip ecstacy. The video for their latest tune “Strawberry Swing” has been directed by Shynola, and features some sexy, sexy stopframe and a resolution to put most modern motion pictures to shame. And giant squirrel attacks! Thanks to Sam at LeanMean for the link via Twitter!

Coldplay nos trae un nuevo video, dirigido por los artistas visuales Shynola.

En ésta oportunidad Chris Martin es un super héroe que tiene que salvar a su amada de una ardilla gigante, el video es un gran trabajo de animación basado en la técnica stop-motion, con dibujos realizados en el suelo con tizas de colores.

Un verdadero trabajo visual de Shynola para una gran banda como Coldplay.

Directed by Shynola, this stop-motion video of Coldplay’s Strawberry Swing is dynamic. I love the colors and the wacky subject(s):

Awesome.

Stop motion is all the rave right now. Well, it never really went away. But the higher tech one end of the spectrum gets, the more there will be a group that will revive something from yesteryear.

Sometimes, they blend lo- and hi-tech. Like the Drench commercial featuring Thunderbird’s Brains, which used the classic Thunderbird marionette together with CGI to achieve some moves which conventional puppetry cannot, no matter how skillful the puppet-master may be.

I’m curious if this video by Shynola for Coldplay’s single, Strawberry Swing was 100% stop motion. Whether the chalk backdrops were drawn out scene by painstaking scene (because the texture of the ground canvas doesn’t move) by.

Stop motion purists, rub your hands in glee. I gotta look out for a making-of.

Pondering how they did it is good and always part of the wonder and entertainment. But in the meantime, also just sit back and enjoy.

Ok, whether you love them or hate them you can’t deny this fact: Coldplay have released an astoundingly awesome new music video for Strawberry Swing. The whole video is a chalk animation with Chris Martin laying on the ground, apparently there is no cgi, these guys spent a whole week drawing things around Chris and filming it all! It was made by an artist collective called ‘Shynola‘ who have been responsible for the clips to Radiohead’s Pyramid Song, Beck’s E-Pro and Queens of The Stone Age’s Go With The Flow, amongst others. The video stars Chris as a superhero saving a drowning princess from a deranged squirrel. It really needs to be seen to be believed.

You can find an interview with the directors of the clip here.

I actually always really liked this song but if you’re not a fan you can just turn the sound off and enjoy the show.

O stop motion fofo de Strawberry Swing, novo single do Coldplay. O vídeo foi dirigido por Shynola, um grupo londrino de artistas visuais que já produziu vários clipes do Radiohead, Blur, Morcheeba, Rapture, Beck…

*Strawberry Swing, Coldplay

this blew my mind. animated video done entirely in sidewalk chalk on a street. wow. talk about patience.

A Muse végre közszemlére bocsájtotta a szeptemberben megjelenő, ’The Resistance’ albumon helyet kapó új nótáját, a ’United States of Eurasia’-t. Ezt – egy rövid regisztráció után – itt hallgathatjátok meg.
A Coldplay elkészítette legújabb videóját, méghozzá a ‘Strawberry Swing’ című dalocskához, melyet Shynola rendezett. Chris Martin szuperhősködését a tovább mögött nézhetitek meg. A dalhoz készült kislemez egyébként szeptember 14-én jön ki.

Back from holiday and right back to work!

I’ll start here: the genius boys at Shynola have added yet another stellar music video to their resume.  This time they’ve convinced Chris Martin of Coldplay to star as a superhero battling a giant,  evil squirrel.

Check it out here… Enjoy!