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Gnarls Barkley: Who’s Gonna Save My Soul
Director: Chris Milk
Production Company: Radical Media

In comments on videos.antville.org, a critical consortium of anything-goes posts on music videos where the video was voted Best Narrative Video, Milk added some inspired feedback on present state of music videos:

I was going to write a quick simple acceptance, but something the Encyclopedia Pictura guys said is leading me to go further with this than I normally would, or probably should. And I’ve got time today as the video I was to do for my absolute favorite “all-I-want-to-do-is-a-video-for-this-band-before-I-die” band, died because 12k total was too much to spend on a music video at the end of 2008. So, in the dawn of this new year, and hopefully a new direction for our shattered war-mongering country, a word to my most beloved ville… If you work in music videos in this market, you are by definition a struggling artist. Respect. There is a lot of hate on this board. It’s fun to sling it, entertaining to read it, and most of the time, somewhat crushing to receive it. If you love music videos, realize we are all in this together now. No one is buying any houses in Malibu with video money, they do it for the love of the form. Pro co’s are closing, labels are laying off whole video divisions, reps are writing children’s books, directors are moving back in with their parents. And while I’m at it, on the topic of directors… I’m not aware of any other art form or medium where the artist, not just a director, but a writer as well, essentially create their works almost for free now, with multi-national corporate conglomerates as the clients, and while owning absolutely no rights or interests in their own art, which is being sold as content, for profit. Respect that, even if you don’t respect the work. Music video is a dying art. MTV, our birth mother, has abandoned us on the stairs of the internet like a shriveled up old man baby. Imagine if radio suddenly switched to all talk shows, all the time. That happened to us. The web is our last hope of survival, antville is one of its most visible outlets; instead of just lobbing stones at the art form you love behind a cloak of anonymity, try being positive and constructive, show some love for your fellow mv kind, cause right now no one else out there is.

Respect one and all, and to all a good night.

CM

Thanks to CJ Roy for forwarding the link.