On The Outside Looking In…

GENERAL    By Gotty™ on January 29, 2007 at 3:21 pm

Words by Max Henderson

Mark Romanek is a music video director who has quietly built an oeuvre of meticulous and well-crafted videos by working with Beck and Macy Gray, Lenny Kravitz and Coldplay. The bulk of Romanek’s videos have been compiled here in “The Director Series: Vol. 4,” which is a series devoted to music directors retrospectives. The result elevates the conversation of music videos as more than “low art” or cheap movie fare. In Romanek’s eye and hands, videos are graceful in his execution and in his subject’s performances. A good music video director conveys what words do not in videos because videos are silent narratives and they touch or reiterate the performers’ lyrics and Romanek gets this concept: with G. Love & Special Sauce, we get these simple moments of black-and-white images but they are clean and lasting. There is paranoia and hints of sexual expressions in Fiona Apple’s “Criminal.”

Romanek’s videos also help us dream bigger than what we grapple with in life. I am sure I would have the same feeling of epic by listening to the songs alone, but Coldplay, Audioslave, and Lenny Kravitz benefit from their videos that are respective explosions of rock grandeur. The videos buttress the performers soundscapes and complete them.

Janet Jackson’s “Got Till It’s Gone” uses mauve tones and evokes impressions, of apartheid South Africa, with warmth and a timeless feeling when people are festive. Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” touches the center of me, like many biopics try to attempt with two hours of footage. In four minutes we have a man in his golden years coming to terms with what his life means in sum total. Romanek uses golden-toned cinematography to underscore this point. Through this, Cash realizes that his time is winding to a close. The catalogue of images that are interspersed, which is what Cash is grappling with in silent dignity, quiets me to a halt by the end of the video’s final shot.

“99 Problems” by Jay-Z is Romanek’s only rap-related video. In the commentary, Romanek says this is because no rapper has ever asked him to direct; this is a shame considering the results we have in this video that goes past being a visual coupon of trend. Do not get me wrong I do like some of those videos, but in “99 Problems” Romanek gets it right by steering clear and re-imagining what is brilliant in the people of Brooklyn and complimenting Jay-Z’s astute wordplay. There is no clean, full narrative but the point here is to show the people that populate Brooklyn and what connects them. We have men and women surviving and lasting in church, the streets, jail cells, and project houses. They cathartically purge their feelings by meditating, praising, singing, rapping, dancing, fighting, shooting, dying, and living.

I have included the making of this video to hear the process between both artists which may be of interest and is proof of the intelligence and dedication in both of them. You can see most of these videos on Youtube, although I find most of the picture quality smudgy and the sound sometimes tinny and small and differs when seen on a TV screen. I recommend people go out and rent this if they are searching for a strong dialogue and defense for music videos. Romanek’s dedication and work is great to return to again and again as he captures and compresses images and sounds with tense, terse concentration that has arresting results.

The Making Of “99 Problems” Featurette (Click To Download)

For more info on Mark Romanek, visit www.MarkRomanek.com.

Stray Shots

Juelz Santana-From Me To U

Masta Ace – Long Hot Summer

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Strange Fruit Project – From Devine

Strange Fruit Project – From Devine (Special Edition)

Strange Fruit Project – Soul Travelin

Smoothe Da Hustler – 1996

Trigger Tha Gambler – Life’s a 50/50 Gamble

The_Ranjahz-Who_Feels_It_Works-2003

Juvenile-400_Degreez

Stray Shots File

Posted in GENERAL