gondry motorola ad

I was delighted to see some new Gondry work in a medium that he is really well suited to: the advertisment. Showing here with an ad for Motorola. Gondry is the king of the lo-fi look. In his last movie The Science of Sleep there were several dream sequences where the city seems to be made of cardboard. He is obviously exploring this a little further here. I absolutely love the way he explores the features of the new phone by imagining it as a real world entity complete with people inside operating the various functions. Gondry loves the surreal but he is never over-indulgent. Always charming and forever creating a tangible and enticing world to explore. His new movie Be Kind Rewind is out soon.

gondry for hp

Oh I love Michel Gondry and he loves experimenting with film as is shown in this nice ad for HP photosmart printers. It reminds me of that great HP ad "out of the picture" of which I can only find the dutch version (below). It's that one with the picture frames going over the guys head. A simple effect to do in After Effects but effective none-the-less. It is kinda cool for HP to align themselves with all these trendy people as they have done for this campaign with famous singers and snow boarders also in the line up. They want to show a variety of ways their product can be used to invent. The Gondry ad just shows again how this eccentric French man thinks and dreams and how this is all realised into something tangible. Nice....

gondry the ads

I thought for this rather glorious Sunday I would indulge into a little more Michel Gondry this time with his TV adverts. His love of repetition and loops is evident again here in a stunning ad for Smirnoff where narrative and time are irrelevant as our hero dives from one unrelated scene to the next. Each fall into a new land is made possible by peering through the Smirnoff bottle and seeing the new world unveil. What is great here are the transitions between scenes. I especially like the way the bald guy's head becomes the spaceship. Next up is Gondry's ad for the Gap. Here his perfect sense of rhythm has his dancers perfectly orchestrate a routine that has them blending with each other and exploding into others in a full range of colour. A very memorable winter season ad. Oh and I have left you also with his Levis ad which is shot in delicious black and white with a totally edgy feel. Again a powerful sense of drama here as a scratchy sound track delivers it's punch in a wry narrative. A bit of a diversion for Gondry but a classic none-the-less.

Smirnoff



Gap



Levis

michel gondry

So we went to see the Science of Sleep last night, Michel Gondry's follow up to the brilliant Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. And what a treat it was. Gondry is the master of creating twisted realities with his artful blend of experimental film techniques. In this he melds stop-motion with blue screen effects to create a world where dreams meet reality. Gondry is famed for his work on music videos which is a medium where his creativity can be explored. The Science of Sleep is his third foray into feature film and with it the challenge of creating a narritive flow over the course of 90 or so minutes. Hating CG effects he often goes to great lengths to achieve the shot he wants. I remember watching the making of Eternal Sunshine where Gondry wants his two stars to be laying on a sheet of ice on a frozen pond and a car with headlights on passes beneath. From a budget and technical point of view it just wasn't possible although probably achievable with some heavy After Effects work. His style is extremely distinctive and I really wanted to share this in my choices and highlights of his music video work. I am hoping that this little taster will encourage you to watch his movies which are undoubtedly challenging but ultimately rewarding.....

The Chemical Brothers - Let Forever Be (look out for a narrative style very similar to the Science of Sleep and obviously a great jumping point)



Gary Jules - Mad World (from an organisational point of view this must have been really challenging)



Kylie Minogue - Come Into My World (the narrative flow picks up on itself as past catches up with future)



Bjork - Joga (just visually stunning)



Daft Punk - Around The World (a classic)



The White Stripes - Fell In Love With A Girl (anything involving stop-motion and lego is great in my book)



The Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar (incredible mix of film to match the music.... watch this to the end)