Tuesday 17 April 2018

Hop Along - How Simple (music video)

Ummmm, this music video is amazing.

Such a striking and 'simple' idea. I'm just so in love with the crossover of budget and conceptualisation. Using just simple lighting set ups, but in such an effective and beautiful way. Solid visuals, solid message, solid concept and solid realisation of concept. The transition of scenes is seamless and each new part remains interesting, but maintain the look / style of the piece. They don't have to come up with new ideas to maintain interest, but the scenes simultaneously doesn't drag or become overused / monotonous. This video's perception of the world is not a new idea, even its method of displaying that perception is not new, but it feels fresh. Partly this is probably because of the lead Frances' perfect delivery and execution of choreography. I loooove it, and feel so inspired by the ability of of low budget film making!


I was watching a whole heap of Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze and Jonathan Demme music videos that other day (btw how good is this, but also how much do you reckon Spike Jonze just wants / needs to make a another music video?), and I feel like this is on that same level of purposeful and experimental film making, but obviously on a much lower budget scale. Not all of the above film makers always use huge budgets either (especially Spike Jonze, and Jonathan Demme who came up through making low budget films), but there is a distinct difference in the freedom of their respective budgets, even if Demme, Jonze and Gondry sometimes choose to use small budgets. I think this music video shows such creative thinking that considers how to best use what they have. I guess film school focused a lot on doing the flashiest, latest thing, and I'm so excited when I see people think creatively within their means and still produce effectively emotive and unique pieces.