BUG

The evolution of music video

BUG 03, Friday 14th September 2007, 8:15pm, BFI Southbank

Download these notes as a PDF document, as distributed at the event

The previous two editions of BUG, BFI Southbank's new event showcasing exceptional creativity in music videos, have presented work from the UK, USA, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Italy and Russia. That international flavour is certainly continued in BUG 03, for which we've unearthed superb videos from all over the globe, and adding several new territories. One of those is our opening video tonight... We begin with a thoroughly goofy effort from New Zealand: Mint Chicks' Walking off a Cliff Again by up-and-coming Kiwi director Sam Peacocke, who's made award-winning videos for Kiwi bands like King Kapisi and the interestingly-named Farmer Pimp and recently joined Auckland-based production company Robber's Dog Films. This one – which starts with a barechested chap in rabbit ears laid out cold in a deserted road, and then starts getting a bit weird – is the first to raise Sam's profile above Down Under.

New Zealand's Mint Chicks are followed by New York's Animal Collective, and the new video by Tim Saccenti, top rock photographer and (increasingly) video director. Tim kicked off BUG 01 with his hypnotic video for Battles Atlas. This one, for new single Peacebone, is a rather different beast: a love story between a young woman with a passing resemblance to Poly Styrene from X-Ray Specs and a repulsive alien monster, which takes place in sun-kissed American suburbia. The director was inspired by the competing forces of grotesqueness and beauty in Animal Collective's music: indie folk-rock comedy horror – with stylistic nods to Chris Cunningham and Ridley Scott's Alien. A tendency towards the bizarre is certainly continued with our next effort –this one from South Africa. Here, the musician, Nodern, who's self-titled debut album was released in 2005, has himself directed this intriguing and ultimately funny accompaniment to the track Oh Diamond Diamond. Nodern – aka Mitch Stratton, who hails from Johannesburg – is a sculptor and filmmaker as well as a musician. The video, shot earlier this year, was inspired by South Africa's struggle to find it's own cultural identity after years of Western/American domination, which is manifested in the dance by a slightly disabled woman. As for the creature who arrives halfway through with eye-catching effect that came from the story about Isaac Newton's dog called Diamond who inspired the track...

In the video for Ohio-based DJ/producer RJD2's Work It Out, a man on crutches emerges from a courthouse/public library, and proceeds on an eye-catching journey around a complete New York city block in a scintillating near-one shot. Work It Out was directed by Joey Garfield – a writer, director and performer who began in film as one of Matthew Broderick's classmates in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and played the Octopus monster in the Beastie Boys classic video for Intergalactic. He also directed the feature Breath Control: History of the Human Beatbox in 2002. The star of the video is Bill Shannon, who was born with a degenerative hip condition and cannot support his own weight for long periods – so the crutches aren't a prop (so to speak).

Our next video, for Euro-electro outfit Boys Noize featuring I Robots, is by Daniel Eskils, who was a successful graphic designer before becoming a director with a burgeoning reputation in his native Sweden. This one is certainly graphic: it's an absorbing non-figurative piece which was actually made to be shown as live visuals for a much longer version of the track. However, this palatable videolength edit works just as well. It was inspired by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto and the British architecture group Archigram – and it's amazing what you can do with cardboard, blocks of wood and mirrors. That's followed by the premiere showing of the brand new video by Jaron Albertin, who was our special guest at the last BUG. Then we screened some of Jaron's recent outstanding work, and now he's continued that run with his latest collaboration with Canadian indie goddess Emily Haines. Here he creates a form of Hell, as mentioned in the song, by very special means: its not a negative image, but thermal imaging in black and white (achieved via a special camera usually used for military purposes) and the resulting images of Emily Haines' beach nightmare, are stunning.

We then introduce our special guests for this BUG: Dom & Nic. They are directors who emerged in the mid-Nineties as precociously talented youngsters making videos for one of the key bands of Britpop. Dominic Hawley and Nic Goffey were shooting film of Supergrass (for whom Nic's brother's Danny is drummer) before either were known, and naturally graduated to making their videos. Their instinctive talent meant they were making videos for other big artists, including Oasis, Robbie Williams, and Bowie, in no time. They worked with The Chemical Brothers in 1996 for the first time, with the video for Setting Sun (screened tonight) and have since made five more videos for the dance outfit who tend to only work with top people (like Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, WIZ, to name but three). These days Dom and Nic – and their producer John Madsen, the crucial third part of this highly successful partnership – work mainly in commercials but have made two memorable forays into videos recently, both for The Chemical Brothers. Their video for Believe won last year's Video of the Year at the CADS, and their latest work, for Salmon Dance, is an extraordinary accomplished entertainment and a joy to watch. This will be the first time Salmon Dance has been shown on the big screen anywhere, and Dom and Nic (and John) will be talking with Adam Buxton about their collaboration with Chemical Brothers, their work in general – and wondering what surprises that Adam has in store for them...

Salmon Dance is followed by one of the latest videos for the brilliant and prolific Patrick Daughters. Last BUG we featured his wonderful award-winning video for Feist. This is a world away from that but in it's (fairly demented) way just as wonderful. Daughters' video for Liars has been likened to David Lynch's Lost Highway, also to the work of Chris Cunningham and even Saam Farahmand's videos for The Klaxons. You could also add Tarantino at his most grindhouse bizarre in there too. Plaster Casts Of Everything is astonishing – and apparently Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs guest stars. Frankly its difficult to tell...

For our second special feature we move to Japan via Scotland. That is, the videos are Japanese, and they both featured last month at Mirrorball, the strand of the Edinburgh International Film Festival which for twelve years has focussed on great music videos from around the world. The presentation of Japanese videos and short films at Mirrorball is an annual highlight, and we're showing two special efforts – plus this year's Japanese-made Mirrorball. The first is a brilliant exercise in high-speed photography – or is it high-speed camera tracking? – for 10 Feet's Stone Cold Break by Daisuke Shimode. It's followed by a real treat, the latest video for Cornelius by Koichiro Tsujikawa. The longstanding collaboration between the musician and the director is becoming the stuff of legend, with previous works of genius like Fit Song featuring at Antenna – BUG's illustrious predecessor. But Like A Rolling Stone might top everything that Koichiro Tsujikawa has done before. It's simply amazing.

We end with two works from closer to home: the video for Daniel Johnston's True Love Will Find You in the End is a labour of love by members of British directing collective Minivegas. It's a stop frame animated version of Johnston's own artworks rendered in plasticine. Or is it? Well, whether or not its true stopframe, this is a riot of visual imagination from the versatile Minivegas, who are now established among the most prolific directors currently working in music videos in the UK. And we finish with an entry into last year's Straight 8 festival – where each entry has to make a film with a single cartridge of Super 8mm – which is also a video. Jacqueline Wright's Sticks and Balls ends this BUG on a funny – and sexy – note.

David Knight

Artist	Title	Direction	Production company	Record company	Nationality
Mint Chicks	Walking Off A Cliff Again	Sam Peacocke	Robbers Dog New Zealand	Flying Nun Records, Warner Music New Zealand	New Zealand
Animal Collective	Peacebone	Timothy Saccenti	Timothy Saccenti Photography	Domino Records	United States
Nodern	Oh Diamond Diamond	Mitch Stratton		Sub Rosa Records	South Africa
RJD2	Work It Out	Joey Garfield	Ghost Robot	XL Recordings	United States
Boys Noize featuring I Robots	Frau	Daniel Eskils	Eskils Junker Films	Boys Noize	Sweden
Emily Haines	Our Hell	Jaron Albertin	Rokkit	Last Gang	Canada
The Chemical Brothers	Setting Sun	Dom & Nic	Oil Factory	Virgin Records	United Kingdom
The Chemical Brothers	Believe	Dom & Nic	Factory Films	Virgin Records	United Kingdom
The Chemical Brothers	Salmon Dance	Dom & Nic	Factory Films	Virgin Records	United Kingdom
Liars	Plaster Casts Of Everything	Patrick Daughters	The Directors Bureau	Mute Records	USA
10 Feet	Stone Cold Break	Daisuke Shimada	Yotsuba Kakou	Universal Music Japan	Japan
Cornelius	Like A Rolling Stone	Koichiro Tsujikawa	Spoon	Warner Music Japan	Japan
Daniel Johnston	True Love Will Find You In The End	Minivegas	Agile Films	Primary Wave	United Kingdom
Kitty Litta	Sticks And Balls	Jacqueline Wright	Liberty Films		United Kingdom