HAERSKOGEN from David Luepschen on Vimeo.

He directed Aesop Rock’s “Fast Cars” video back in 2005 and it’s still sick five years later. It’s one of my all time faves and remains permanently placed in my memory bank. If you’ve seen it, you already know why. If you haven’t, you will.

He did this one for The Roots “Trilogy Video” (feat. “All in the Music”, “Here I Come” & “Don’t Feel Right”) in 2006. I love how it starts all dark, builds anticipation and then segues stylistically into the two other songs. Seamless and smooth.

Because three is the magic number, here’s another one that’s waaay different from the two above – both musically and stylistically. It’s the video he did for Woodhands “I Wasn’t Made For Fighting” in 2008. What I really appreciated about this video was the sharp contrast between what you hear, and what you see…instead of a textual oxymoron, it was a sensorial oxymoron. I saw it as a metaphor for the moments we felt like we were going in slow motion while everything else continued speeding past. At least that’s how I interpreted it.

DARK SIDE OF THE LENS from Astray Films on Vimeo.

The first Short Stories film, by renowned photographer and body boarder Mickey Smith, explores his world as a true waterman – both as an athlete and artist, and is called The Dark Side of The Lens.

“Originally I planned for the film to be more anonymous, rather than biographical, an all encompassing piece, to represent the photographers keeping the surfing machine afloat”, explains Smith.

Something that offers insight into what it takes to grind out a living as a water-based photographer in the surfing industry: a short experimental glimpse at a life lived in the shadow of obsessive photographic pursuits.”

“It also gave me the chance to ask myself a few questions, like, if you’re always observing and documenting what you see and experience, are you ever truly present? Questions like that where I could step back think and then see what the answers were”, Smith says.

As well as documenting various voices and experiences across surf photography, Smith worked with Allan Wilson from the Astray Collective, who acted as Director of Photography on the project. Together they logged hours of footage across the Atlantic coastline, traveling around Ireland, Cornwall and Manchester. Shot in Super 16mm film, as well as groundbreaking work with Canon 5R Digital SLR, Smith also projected images of the huge walls of water within which he works, on to monster urban landscapes such as sky rises and castles in Manchester, as well as the cliff lines at his home of Ireland.

http://video.mpora.com/watch/nit3ypZst/

The Japanese Popstars Feat. Green Velvet – Let Go from David Wilson Creative on Vimeo.

Directed by David Wilson. The team that put this together in 20 days includes a primary Illustrator named Keaton Henson. Secondary Illustrators are David Wilson and Andres Guzman. Drawn Animation is by Malcolm Draper, Matt Lloyd, Ed Suckling, Toby Jackman, Elena Pomares, David Wilson, and Jamie Page.

Skateboardanimation from Tilles Singer on Vimeo.

Opens this Friday, April 16th and checking it out with my friend Timmy C.

Skate Video by Salazar for Creative. I kinda dig how they introduced color in this and made it a physical element rather than doing something in post.

A promo piece Salazar did for Lifetime Collective. Beautiful, timeless, and paced so elegantly, you forget that you just sat in front of a computer for 4 minutes.

Oh WOW. Is it just me or does anyone else feel like Tim Burton can do no wrong? Watching this trailer gave me the impression that he’s at it again. This time he’s joined forces with Timur Bekmambetov and from what I can tell, their union gave fruit to something ridiculously dope. Read the NYT review here.

YOUNG OFFENDERS: Big Cities from Yogurt NYC on Vimeo.