12.10.2008

2008 Music Videos - A look back

2008clearprovids
Following suit with the blogging community, I am here to give a look back into the work I've completed in 2008. I'm very happy with the videos I have made this year and things seem to be picking up for your humble director. So let's take a little journey through the productions of all completed music videos (thus far) for 2008! (in chronological order of course).

VERTIGO JONES - THE STRANGEST THINGS
At the start of the year I was making a transitional move from Dallas back to my stomping grounds of Austin. In my free time I created this animation of a man lost in a dream world as part of my reverse music videos side project. For those unacquianted with this concept, it goes as follows. I make a video then send it to a band to create an ORIGINAL song designed specifically to the animation. It's a way to switch the process back to the musician. I always try to make the videos follow a logical structure and timing to make it easier for the bands to 'match' the scenes. Take a look:

Vertigo Jones - The Strangest Things from Eric Power on Vimeo.

IN CADEO - THE ARCHER
New York band In Cadeo approached me with their song 'The Archer', asking for a suitably cool video. They gave me absolute freedom of control on this one (which is always the best way to work). I opted to tell a loose story of a household gone awry in the form of pictures on a wall. I wanted to use as many styles of animation as I could to tell this story so that each 'painting' would feel like a different artists work. I was fortunate enough to be able to use Bob Sabiston's rotoscoping program for a few short segments throughout the video, thereby helping me achieve the different feels I was going for. Thanks Bob! The band sent me in some hilarious footage of themselves singing the song for me to base these segments off of.

In Cadeo - The Archer from Eric Power on Vimeo.

THE LOVELY SPARROWS - YEAR OF THE DOG
Not long after In Cadeo, I started work on a completely different video for the Austin band The Lovely Sparrows. I'm a huge fan of their music and they just released a new LP called Bury the Cynics that I listen to frequently. It's my favorite album of the year! This project ended up being a stop motion paper cutout animation telling the story of a year in the life of a wolf (close enough) and his ill fated romance. In a few scenes I added digital elements to create some nice camera movements as we roam in and out of forests and treetops. This is my favorite video.

The Lovely Sparrows - Year Of The Dog from Eric Power on Vimeo.

THE BOXING LESSON - DARK SIDE OF THE MOOG
The immensely talented band The Boxing Lesson had been wanting a music video from me for about a year. Finally, we had the opportunity to work together and create something great. The story of the song tells of a time machine type situation. I only implied this idea in the video in order to leave things open to interpretation. I opted for a style of animation I am very familiar with and wanted to push to new heights. I'm very happy with the end result. The band came over one day to shoot some pictures which I based their characters directly off of.

The Boxing Lesson - Dark Side of the Moog from Eric Power on Vimeo.

HUXLEY VERTICAL CABARET NOUVEAU - THE BALLAD OF LETTICE FINDING AND OSCAR CUTLET
The concept behind this video comes from the work of Edward Gorey, notably his illustrations of 'murderous mistresses' where he drew a portrait of Lettice Finding. The song is based on her and I wanted to tell my dramatization of the events that took place. I took some liberties with the original story, but I feel it gets the point across. I made this video in a mere 2 weeks, pushing my self into a state of insomnia. I was dying to get a video out in time for Halloween so I looked around my place and found a ream of matte photo paper that I used for the cutouts. I like this video in comparison to the Lovely Sparrows one I made. They are done in a similar medium with drastically different results.

The Ballad of Lettice Finding and Oscar Cutlet from Eric Power on Vimeo.

Those are all the videos currently completed for 2008, but I have one more that will be released before the years end! Stay tuned. I'm hoping 2009 will be even better than this year.