Archive for the ‘pop culture’ Category

By Mollie Shapiro

Thank you to everyone who nominated a video for this week’s “Pop Dance Phenomenon” theme! We really enjoyed getting a chance to see your favorite viral videos!! This was the last week we were accepting submissions and nominations for our Videodance Contest. Next week will be guest curated by Doug Fox of Greatdance.com, who will be presenting wonderful dance animation videos.

If you didn’t get a chance to participate in the contest, don’t fret. We have a brand new opportunity for you! Movement Media is excited to introduce UMove, our First Annual Online Videodance Festival!! UMove will feature short dance and movement-based videos that were made specifically for the web and other new media formats. For more information about the festival and for submission details, please click here.

POP DANCE PHENOMENONS

As technological advancements continue to infiltrate our society, YouTube has emerged as the new hit-maker of today. This platform has led to the discovery of countless videos that would never have been shown on TV, and given them the chance to spread swiftly through virtual word of mouth. Although there are many videos that have gone viral on YouTube, the six that we have selected are each strong representations of one of three categories; “The Earlies,” “Global Phenomenons,” or “Sponsors/Marketing.”

The videos representing “The Earlies” are:

“Here It Goes Again” by Ok Go

and ”Evolution of Dance” by Judson Laipply

“Here it Goes Again”

The American band Ok Go struck gold when their quirky music video choreographed on treadmills was released. This video, which debuted on YouTube on July 31^st, 2006, was one of the earliest viral YouTube videos to mesmerized audiences across the world. As of 2009, it is still one of the most iconic videos of all time with over 46 million views.

“Evolution of Dance”

Judson Laipply’s “Evolution of Dance” was first put on YouTube in 2006 and became an overnight internet sensation reaching over 123 million viewers. One of the first comedy performances ever to go viral, the video features Laipply performing popular dance moves from the 1950s all the way to the present. Even now, it remains the single most watched video in the history of the web.

Our “Global Phenomenon” videos are:

“Filipino Prisoners doing Thriller”

and ”Korean Madness”

“Filipino Prisoners doing Thriller”

Featuring over 1500 inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in Phillipines performing Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” music video, this video became a surprise smash hit on YouTube. Conceived by Byron F. Garcia as an enjoyable exercise regimen for the prisoners, it has now been viewed over 30 million times throughout the globe and given the prisoners a great source of pride, proving the immense effect that YouTube has had on people and cultures worldwide. Here is a link to an earlier blog post written by Anna Brady Nuse comparing the Filipino Prison dances with Busby Berkeley and the Balinese Kecak.

“Korean Madness”

This hilarious video, which has now become a global phenomenon, was actually taken from a Korean TV show. It features two young girls singing karaoke, and from the looks of it, they are truly enjoying themselves!

Our final category this week is “Sponsors/Marketing” and our winning videos in this category are

“Where the hell is Matt” by Matt Harding

and The “T-Mobile Dance”

“Where the Hell is Matt?”

This video, which features a guy named Matt Harding performing a ridiculous and amusing dance at various locations around the world, began as a joke between friends. Over time, these videos of unexpected bursts of dance by a goofy man in exotic locations sparked a media frenzy that ultimately led to a sponsorship by Stride gum company. Stride has sponsored Matt’s last two excursions simply because they were amused by his ideas, however by associating themselves with a fun-loving guy who is a YouTube sensation, they have craftily created a more progressive brand image.

“T-Mobile Dance”

This video, which documents a brilliant publicity stunt used to promote T-Mobile, was filmed in a crowded London train station in the middle of the day. This seemingly spontaneous yet choreographically synchronized dance was a viral hit, and since then many other brands have posed similar media marketing stunts, such as the Belgian TV company’s “Sound of Music” in Central Station in Antwerp, which was our “Choreographed” videodance contest winner on June 12th.

For further intellectual discussion about these videos or any of our previous themes, please click here: Movement Media’s Weekly Online Video Dance Contest

As always, we appreciate your comments and feedback about the contest winners! We’ll be back in September. In the meantime, please submit your videos to our new UMove Videodance Festival, taking place Oct 1-31, 2009 on the web and at live screenings around the world! Deadline AUG 15Th.

by Nicholas James Bruder

If you haven’t read it yet, check out Joan Acocella’s article, “The Faun,” in this week’s New Yorker:

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2009/06/29/090629ta_talk_acocella

It’s a really interesting article about Christian Comte, a French artist, who makes animations from still images. Recently he chose Vaslav Nijinsky, the much revered Ballet Russe dancer and choreographer, as his subject, and posted what appeared to be film fragments of the artist on YouTube that were never known to exist before. The appearance of the clips sparked a frenzy of excitement and debate among balletomanes and dance historians.

If you go to his YouTube page you can see all the videos he’s made and all the comments users have left. They have said everything from praise for Compte “finding” these videos, to appreciation of him using his talent to finally bring some idea of Nijinsky’s movements to life, as well as reprimands for him fooling them. He does insist that he is not trying to pass his films off as originals, but the confusion is understandable…sometimes.

Here are couple of Comte’s videos:

I think Comte is a fantastic artist. Although some people have felt disappointed or duped by his work, Comte’s animation techniques reveal a whole new avenue for movement, film, and photography. If people can let go of their hopes of seeing a legendary dancer come back to life, I think they will be able to appreciate Comte’s contribution to the film and dance world, as well as the web community.  He has only added to our circle of art, and gotten us to think. Shouldn’t those two things be appreciated and asked for in art?

We’d love to hear your responses to this work and the debate surrounding it.

Just in time for the new baseball season, at the next Kinetic Cinema on April 8th choreographer, performer and videographer, Lisa Niedermeyer will present an evening of screen dance through the lens of professional sports. Alongside special guest, sports videographer Ray Wenzel Jr., Niedermeyer will present and discuss dance films that feature heightened Speed, Kinetic Response, Spectacle, Competition and Endurance. Featuring the work of dance film-makers: Charles Dennis, Alan McIntyre Smith, Lemeh42, Miriam King, Kristi Faulkner and Sylvain White.

Coming up next at Kinetic Cinema:

P.O.V: PRO SPORTS

Curated by Lisa Niedermeyer

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 7:00pm

Tickets: $10 (purchase at the door)

*A co-presentation of Chez Bushwick and Pentacle’s Movement Media

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At our last Kinetic Cinema screening on March 11th, guest curator Marya Wethers showed at a different side of the screendance spectrum than our usual experimental fare: Hollywood action films that feature powerful female leads kicking butt.

T-X from Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

The evening was arranged by character, with Marya giving background exposition about each woman and illustrating her points with key scenes from films. The characters featured in the program reflected Marya’s personal favorites, and weren’t meant to encompass the entire range and history of female characters in action films. Rather it was a personal tour of the ladies that have inspired Marya the most, and she made us all feel like we were sitting in her living room sifting through the best bits of her DVD collection.

Some of my favorites from the evening were:

Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) from The Matrix series.

Pure elegance punctuated with vulnerability. In the opening scene from The Matrix, Trinity seduces you with a slow motion leap, before giving you a sharp crack in the nose.

Trinity's Kick

Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) from Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.

The Bungee Ballet scene combines high adventure with silk pajamas. Gotta love Lara’s McGyver-like ingenuity, using her remote car starter to blind the enemies with a garage full of headlights while making a getaway on her motorcycle.

Lara's bungee ballet workout gets interrupted.

T-X (Kristanna Loken) from Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

She’s an advanced cybernetic organism from the future and she kicks Arnold’s ass!

The Angels (Drew Barrymore as Dylan Sanders, Cameron Diaz as Natalie Cook, and Lucy Liu as Alex Munday) from Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.

These ladies take teamwork to a new level. When the lights go out they tap morse code on each other’s palms to communicate. They’re also not afraid to take a punch. You see them get seriously messed up, but no mind, they just spit out the blood, pull out the glass, and keep on kicking ass!

The Angels

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I just want to take a moment to crush on Richert Schnorr’s amazing dance videos that look so damn good on his video blog, REGULARMOTION. Take a look and you’ll see what I’m saying.

He just posted an online version of his fabulous videodance series “GRAPHIC.GLORY” that is also for sale as a DVD (Track 2 is shown above). He mentioned that his concept is to make great albums, like pop music albums but with dance. The result is so sexy, fun, and tasty you just can’t get enough. Rock on Richert! We love you!!!