MEET HARD EIGHT, FUTURE WINNERS OF THE MTV VIDEO VANGUARD AWARD
Okay, friends. Be prepared to have your minds blown.
Thank CHRIST that reader Jake Alder brought Hard Eight to our attention. None of the links on this Colorado band’s MySpace page work (I checked on two browsers to be certain), but I suspect industry people will soon find a way to track them down regardless — a band with this ground-breaking and impressive a videography can only have big things looming in its future.
Seriously, this is some next-level shit. In fact, I felt the need to do an extensive write-up on two of their videos just to prove my point. There is no band making videos as thought-provoking as these in 2011, and everyone should sit up and take note.
The band’s first video, for the song “Heartbeats,” was apparently shot and edited in 24 hours — but the speed at which it was willed into existence is not apparent from watching the video.
See, the director clearly had a plan — take the band to Vegas and have the singer (I don’t know his name because, again, the “about us” link on their MySpace page doesn’t work, but let’s call him Jonathan Bret Edsel Michaels Dope Davis, or JBEMD2, in honor of the three great singers who are obviously his biggest influences, both aesthetically and musically) walk around the slot machines at some casino while looking into the camera. Not only is this both original AND colorful, but because casinos are quiet, thinly populated places, the band didn’t even need to get a permit to shoot there — why rope off an entire area when there is absolutely no chance that some old cowboys will walk by and look into the camera?
Every director complaining about music videos being given too-low a budget these days should also shut the fuck up, ’cause the guy who made this video not only made something innovative and engaging, but did it using only natural light, thereby saving thousands of dollars in equipment rental fees.
And the filmmaker was able to ensure that scenery always remained dynamic, too — for example, check out this shot of JBEMD2 on an escalator.
Also, it’s always good to have smiling old people in your video, and more bands should follow suit.
This video is so good you’re probably already halfway out the door to go have their logo tattooed on your calf, but don’t go just yet — ’cause like I said, “Heartbeats” was only their first video, and it was made in 24 hours. Given some actual time and a little experience, they were able to truly decimate the mold with their second clip, “Death Aside.”
I knew this was gonna be a great video from the moment it started, because it utilizes Papyrus, which is an awesome font that never, ever gets used by anyone for some reason.
What I really like about this video is the amount of thought that was put into its editing. For example, at the :16 second mark, there is a random shot of the keyboard player walking alone — but we don’t get to see the drummer until :46 seconds in or the bassist until :57 seconds in or the guitarist ever, ’cause fuck those guys.
They also managed to save money here by deciding not to give the keyboard player a stand or anything on which to rest his instrument, which I think was a smart move, given that it only takes one hand to play the keyboard, and keyboards are not at all heavy. He’s such an awesome dancer it doesn’t matter anyway!
I also really like how the director opted to punctuate the pause just before each chorus, first with the single greatest high-kick freeze frame in the history of cinema, and then with a random shot of a street lamp in the rain.
The director put the street light to good use multiple times throughout the video, in fact.
I wish the filmmaker had managed to find similar visual poetics to highlight some of the song’s better lyrics, such as “I kissed his girl and I think she liked it” and “Intelligence is not one of your strong points,” but this but a minor complaint. He or she (but probably he — a woman could never make a video this dainty) was doing a lot on a very limited budget already. I mean, look how realistic the blood is! Do you think they cut a real person to get that? I’ve seen a lot of movie blood in my time, and it has never looked like this before!
Hard Eight have two other terrific videos, which you can watch here. But I think I’ve made my point: not since the days of Bon Jovi’s “Bed of Roses,” Guns N’ Roses’ “Don’t Cry,” and other videos where the guitar player takes a solo on a mountain for no real reason, have there been metal videos this cinematic and revolutionary. Jean-Luc Godard himself would blush.
-AR
Thanks to Vince for his additional observations!
