The best of One Shot Videos
Posted on 16. Jul, 2010 by jessekg in Internet, Music, Uncategorized
One shot music videos, in which the camera never cuts out and the action takes place in one fluid motion, have been around for almost as long as the music video itself. Just think back to Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues released in the ’60s. But as of late there have been a ton of great additions, some on par with what I consider one of the best one shot videos ever. As such, here are the best of recent one shot videos, just from memory (aka no Google). Feel free to post yours in the comments.
LCD soundsystem, “Drunk Girls”
I may be one of the only people that didn’t go crazy over the lead single off of LCD Soundsystem’s latest record, but the video is a great example of what you can do with one room, a shitload of props, and a bunch of hooligans dressed up as cats.
The second from J. Cole and director BBGun, this one shot video is similar to the video for Simba, even down to the shot that pans up, then pans down to reveal a crowd has slipped into the bottom of the screen, but there is something about the cinematic quality of them both that makes it still work. Plus, for Who Dat they added some explosions, which always works in the summer.
Whether you like Asher Roth or not (psst, I hope you don’t), it’s the video for this one, again by BBGun, that does it. Also, I guess when you release videos mostly just online, they can be sort of NSFW (as in, it shows boobs, male and female, at the same time).
When I was a kid I lost my shit for those massive domino performances/shows/whatever they’re called where basically some dude spent half his life setting up a bunch of dominoes and silly stunts that automatically go off, like some messed up useless machines from Terry Gilliam’s dystopian vision that is Brazil, only to set it off for two minutes of pure fun.
Saving the best for last, this awesome homage to a classic Pharcyde video takes it up a notch by not only doing it in one take, but by doing it in reverse first, then stopping half way to play it in forward, and synching up lyrics to actions the whole time. Plus, a solid song by a great Canadian rapper.
chickentoday
Jul 17th, 2010
Great site. Ones I can think of are the Feist – “1234″ and this one from Nyle “Let the beat build,” http://vimeo.com/4189528
jessekg
Jul 20th, 2010
Totally agree Chickentoday. I almost posted 1234, and I totally forgot about that Nyle one. The fact that it’s a student project makes it that much more amazing.
Jef
Jul 20th, 2010
Yeah, those J Cole vids work really well, though simple. I second (third?) the Nyle clip too.