FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Interviews

Is the Music Video Dead?

We asked Reptile Youth and Daniel Kragh-Jacobsen about the future of the music video and how it looks in their new collaboration.

Photo by Rasmus Weng Karlsen

Remember what it was like to watch a music video when you were a kid? It was almost a ritual. You'd run to your TV at a certain time on a certain day of the week; you'd flick on your music channel of choice; then you'd stare at your TV for a straight hour, drinking in video after video after video that was proclaimed to be the hottest shit in music. Things are different now, though. If Britney's 'Hit Me Baby One More Time' video came out today, would it have become so iconic? Probably not. Maybe you'd have seen it on YouTube alongside countless other videos of scantily clad, semi-prepubscent girls girating in front of you. Maybe some music blogger or vlogger would have ranted about it. Maybe you would have watched the entire thing without skipping forward, even. Point is, these are all factors that contribute to the current demise of the music video as we've known it. The iconic status that music videos held for the last few decades is slipping away. It's being squeezed out by the schizophrenia and information overload that characterizes the online sphere—or the primary medium housing music videos today.

Annoncering

Reptile Youth (Mads Damsgaard Kristiansen) and Daniel Kragh-Jacobsen don't view it that way, though. The Danish musician and Danish music video director recently collaborated on a music video for Reptile Youth's "“Arab Spring Break (part 1 & part 2)”, taken from his latest EP Away. According to the press release, the video blurs the lines between music videos and short films. When we asked them about it, though, we discovered they didn't blur the lines out of a necessity to innovate the music video format. They did it out of a need to push each other's boundaries and creative visions—even if it meant flirting with a huge brand like Merceds Benz for a series of (shudder) branded creative projects called prxjects. Here's what else Mads and Daniel had to say about the project.

NOISEY: Hi, guys. First of all, what does blurring the lines between music videos and short films even mean?
Daniel Kragh-Jacobsen: The great thing about music videos is that they don’t have rules. So to me, this isn’t a mix between a music video and something else because music videos allow everything. However, to answer your question, a “normal” music video is not as narrative as what we made here. To many people a music video should just be a portrayal of the band. What I try to do in my music videos, though, is take the style of filmmaking I enjoy and translate it into storytelling that fits the song.

Mads Damsgaard Kristiansen: Just like with any other art form, it is in the music video's nature to explore its own boundaries. Everything moves and becomes something different: this is just the evolution of things. I think it’s very natural that the format evolves; the best music videos to me are the ones that elevate music to new heights or add new perspectives. Plus, experimenting with yourself is key to developing as a human being and going further artistically. It’s essential to test your own assumptions and way of working. That often makes the most interesting output and brings the potential to move something in others, too.

Annoncering

Since this video was so collaborative, what was the process of making it like and how did you split creative control?
Daniel: Mads and I met each other in Los Angeles this winter where he was creating music and I was there to make a fashion film. We didn’t know each other that well, but we hung out and I listened to the new Reptile Youth EP while I was there. The first time I heard “Arab Spring Break (part I & II)” I simply fell in love with the tracks. I was attracted to the way both tracks were cinematic and sparked pictures and feelings inside me but in two very separate ways. I needed to make a video for these pieces of music.
I got to know Mads and became really fascinated by him. Some nights we just drove around L.A. and talked; one day we walked past Leonard Cohen, even. It was like some kind of friendship was kindling. This fascination is so important to me because it motivated me to create a story around Mads and film him.
Mads was willing to take the chance on the story as well, which meant everything—we were in it together. We didn’t discuss the story that much. He trusted me and that’s how stuff like this should be. I know that he makes amazing music and is a great performer so I trust him completely.

Mads: It had been a dream for me to work with Daniel for many years. Every time we had a new single coming out I would kind of have him in the back of my head thinking, "would he fit this one?" I love almost every video he’s ever made. There’s a certain vibe to his work that makes it very charismatic—like some kind of tenderness or vulnerability. I don't know exactly how to describe it. So for this video, the pre-work was a little more thorough than I’d been used to. We hung out a lot before committing to the video. We weren’t necessarily talking about making a video together, but investigating how we felt about a variety of different subjects.

Annoncering

It seems pretty risky to make a challenging, long-format video considering how short our attention spans are. Why do you think doing something like that will pay off and actually resonate with the audeince?
Daniel: I'm not sure it will, honestly. When I watch videos online and find them boring, I always scroll to the end right away. Sorry to be so honest, but I think many people do this.
Quentin Tarantino once said that the reason he made Pulp Fiction such a scattered narrative was because he had worked in a video store. When he was helping people out, he would turn away from the film he was watching and miss a beat of it. He wanted to make Pulp Fiction in a way that felt like the same way he did watching these films at the video store. So I thought it would be interesting to make a film that was the music video equivalent to that.
It’s like how we watch music videos online: we all scroll through yet are still told a story. The narrative to ASB I & II is exactly this. It’s a narrative you can hopefully edit in many different ways by scrolling through it. I think it works best without scrolling but if it bores you, at least now you have the option.

Mads: First of all, I think it's always been the same somehow. The ones who are actually doing interesting things and are able to make a mark on other people stay noticed. I think it was the same in '81 or '94. In fact, I think that now more than ever we're able to reach more people, inspire and get inspired.

Annoncering

Daniel Kragh-Jacobsen's Video for When Saints Go Machine's "Parix"

You're working with a huge brand like Mercedes-Benz, though. Doesn't that make you worry about your image and bad publicity and all that?
Mads: Ever since the Renaissance or even before, the wealthy have provided supportive patronage to artists and musicians. The benefits have been the extreme creative freedom we’ve had and the possibility to actually make the video we wanted.

Daniel: I think it’s really interesting that we have some grassroots guys in Copenhagen that actually want to elevate the Danish music video industry. It’s so tricky doing anything ambitious with videos in Denmark because only a few tracks each year get budget for music videos. The music video is a place to experiment and try and develop your sense of language and to me it’s where talent can show itself. Hopefully, Mercedes can help a couple of new aspiring directors create something outstanding. I personally really miss new voices creating Danish music videos.

Thanks, guys.

If you want to see the video, there's a preview including an artist talk and a live session happening this Friday night at Gloria in Copenhagen; tickets here.