WHITE SWAN - Lolly Jane Blue<BR><I>Takes minute or so to load then plays.</I>

Comments

Wow... That is visually and emotionally
by Cammie Noel

Wow...

That is visually and emotionally GREAT!LOVED it!!!

Unique and very creative thinking in the visual concept. Strange but exquisitely beautiful. I like the music a lot and think that the imagery enhances the musical experience. The pace of the images — the moves through the mine and the movements of the woman are so perfectly attuned to the pace of the music. There's a wonderful tension there. I like the contrast between the darkness and mystery of the mine and the whiteness of the woman and her clothing. And then it really starts to happen for me at about 3:12 when the environment becomes more stylized, like the woman. Somehow we are seeing the woman moving through herself. And I do like it that the woman can be beautiful in a romantic way rather than having to be blatantly sexual. Really amazing!

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Absurdly Amazing
by David Jakubovic

That was one of the most beautiful music videos I have ever seen. As a huge fan of Alice In Wonderland, this evoked a strange, twisted, dark version of it in my mind. A world of random, dark beauty. Amazing work.

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Ron I'm a velociraptor too -
by Jim Hines

Just rewatched the movie Heavy Metal the other night - I always loved it when Frazetta's work was in the mag. Saw Yes back in the '70's with the round revolving stage - waited in line overnight to get the tickets. Rock on!

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I am not mad at you, Jim Hines
by Ron Lindeboom

I love your reviews. You do a great job with them. I was just surprised to see the ranking that you gave this one based on all the other reviews I have read from you. It just came as a surprise is all.

Still, this is one of my very favorite videos in the contest and not just because it is of Dutch origin.

Call me a dinosaur but I like any video or art that makes me think of Roger Dean YES album covers and Frank Frazetta artwork.

:o)

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Ron Lindeboom, thankyou for your comments.
by keidrych wasley

Ron Lindeboom, thankyou for your comments.
Wanted to say that the girl was never supposed to transform into a swan, white swan is simply the name of the song and a metaphoric theme. All of the 'fur' is actually candy floss (cotton candy) being melted by water and reversed. (hence the bad lipsyncing, poor girl had to sing backwards at 30fps!). The idea was that the girl uses her imagination to 'escape' from the world she is in. This takes the form of her changing the environment through the candy floss, though she never fully 'escapes'.

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"Vehemently" - Ron - LOL : - )
by Jim Hines

Sure I'm serious - and you "should" be proud of your heritige - the Dutch have brought a lot to the table in art and science and economics etc. I believe I've detailed my scoring decisions fairly - I'm basing quality on how well the video promotes the music not on "high" production levels - but I am taking into account what an artist did with the resources they had at their disposal - I mean you gave UNCOMMON COURTESY 5 cows and the production on that was fairly low you must admit - sometimes the art just works for you and sometimes it don't - LOL - I scored "drive" a 5 to average it out to 4 - 3 is too low based on the over all quality of videos in this contest. Don't be mad at me Ron I'm trying to be fair but we all know that art is a subjective experience.

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Nobody involved in the production will
by keidrych wasley

Nobody involved in the production will be 'hurt' by the comments. Criticisms are good and welcome.
I just don't want this video to be assumed as professional due to the level of its content.
In terms of how the woman (the singer) is to be perceived, that is a question for the director, though personally i would disagree that because she may be attractive she should be presented partly in a sexual manner. In any case that was not the theme of the video. The nakedness was supposed to be about vulnerability (according to the director).

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Jim Hines: Are you serious, man?
by Ron Lindeboom

Of all your many reviews, this is the first one with which I must say that I most vehemently disagree. ;o)

You give "Drive Like I do" 5 cows, a video that is poorly shot, out of focus much of the time, is little more than a live performance video that is not really all that original -- and you give this one, 3 cows?

For my money, I give this one a 5. And I think they handled the woman's sexuality perfectly. Subtle, without being over-the-top in its exploitative nature -- although I have to chuckle that when Kathlyn saw it was a video from Holland and she looked at me and said: "Ah, Europeans, they do indeed love their naked women in vast quantites, don't they?"

The only part of this story that I would give a 4 cow nod to, was the growing of fur as "feathers" -- if we are to believe that the woman is the White Swan of the video's title.

But the shooting is breathtaking (I will leave cinematographers to the real rating, of which I am not one), and the effects look very dramatic. I especially love the Roger Dean/Frank Frazetta castle ending. Beautiful.

The juxtaposition of light and dark, beauty and ugliness, organic natural images and dirty mechanical images, all plays into a visual world that I find remarkable that it could be done for so little.

Good work, Keidrych Wasley, you make me proud to be Dutch.

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Thanks for clarifying-
by Jim Hines

keidrych wasley - my comments arent' meant to hurt anyone - just my personal, subjective opinions - and not for nothing but 45k Euro is a really good sized budget IMHO - if these "students" are putting out this high level of quality they can start calling themselves proffessionals. : -) Lastly, how can you choose a lovely naked women as the focus of your shot and not intend for at least some level of sexual effect? Why not have real swan that comes back to life and gradually morphs into the singer? Again I only offer my critique in a genuine effort to have the artists see their work form anothers perspective - and - for the purposes of this contest as well. They did good. They should be proud regarless of how I feel about it. Rock on!

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Just to clarify. This video was
by keidrych wasley

Just to clarify.
This video was independently made through Netherlands Tax Clip funding for 45K euro. The work was made by students and young artists trying to break into the professional film-making world, and as such the post production took a laborious 9 months. It is the 4th piece of work from the director. It was not a professional production, just high in ambition.
The artist was not supposed to be sexual.

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I can't see this video here
by Jim Hines

So I went to YouTube and watched it there - This is a professionally produced - budgeted video - so - keeping that in mind - I'm mostly left with only my "subjective" opinion becuase for the most part the work is done by professional artists - However, her tattoo jumps from her left breast to her right breast. Seems like that tatoo could have been masked out - white swans don't strike me as the type to be all tattied up anyway - This song is not easily accessible - it's not a pop song - so the story took such a long time to develop that it was a struggle to watch it - That's not necessarily bad I'm just saying that there maybe could have been a better pay off - although I did love that last shot as we fly out the window of the high tower - so basically we were taken to the depths of some cold place and end up in the sky - seemed like there may have been a little person in the back of her dress to fill it out there at the end on the youtube copy it's around 4:33 - the sky at the end is really nice - she wasn't very sexy - She's laying there naked but there just wasnt' any sex appeal for me - I'm not talking about nasty - just you know - sexuality - I'm sorry - my subjective opinion is that I don't like it.

WHITE SWAN - Lolly Jane BlueTakes minute or so to load then plays.

WHITE SWAN - Lolly Jane Blue
Takes minute or so to load then plays.