Since I'm doing a music video for Antony and the Johnsons (which I may not be able to show for copyright reasons) it seemed logical that I should look at the official music videos for the band already in existence. The official video for "Cut the World" (link) is definitely shocking. It's got a pretty interesting cast. Marina Abromovic, no less. She's been showing up in some interesting places. What the hell did I just watch?
His video for "Hope There's Someone" (link) was a bit more subtle. Subtle to the point that I stopped watching it and scanned ahead to see if anything happened. I was much more interested in the song than in the video.
"Crazy In Love" (link) was also subtle. The songs are the important part of both of these videos.
"Swanlights" is footage from a film, so it feels a little more like a trailer. It's gorgeous but completely mysterious. I have no idea what the story is but it's incredibly compelling.
Footage from her upcoming film "The Last Hymn"
Featuring Sierra Paris.
"Epilepsy is Dancing" (link) is an interesting portrayal of a seizure. As Antony said himself about the video: "Epilepsy is dancing is kind of like a waltz: a narrative that describes someone sort of losing control of their body and have a kind of transcendental experience then coming back to their body. It’s sort of like, how something can feel so out of control, in the moment, but when you look back it almost had a sort of choreography to it or you could make some sense of it or there's just some things you don’t understand why they happen."
It's a gorgeous video. It reminds me of a sexually charged modern dance version of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. It's fairly direct in it's reflection of the song, but completely effective and not at all obvious or expected.
"The Spirit was Gone" (link) directed by Peter Sempel is interesting. It's a memorial to Kazuo Ohno (link) a Japanese Butoh dancer. I never thought about the Butoh dancers in connection with queer or transgender issues. It's always seemed like a feminist issue, where women were not allowed to be on stage so female characters were played by men.
The video for Future Feminism (link) isn't a music video, but it's a beautiful little lecture by Antony. It's very philosophical/political. "Unless we move into feminine systems of governments, we don't have a chance on this planet."
It's interesting that the video I'm making has nothing to do with transgender issues, though the song might. It's Antony himself saying "I am bird girl." I'm not sure I need to change it but it is important to keep it in mind. The nice thing about painted animation is that the character could be anything. It's more about the feeling and I think that's universal.
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