Equally, my love for hip hop and music videos has followed me from my early youth days, watching TRL on MTV, Pop Up Video on VH1, and Rap City: The Bassment on BET, to currently in all the websites, television shows, and blogs I follow.
Needless to say, music videos have made a way into my heart, and recently, my fascination with music video directors have lead me to admire the work of Jason Goldwatch.
A music video director and commercial director, Jason Goldwatch produces dozens of innovative music videos, commercials, promos, and concert footage a year. Don't take my word for it, though. One can see it in his works.
88-Keys ft. Kanye West 'Stay Up (Viagra)' is a perfect example of Goldwatch's hilariously original content in music videos. In it, hip hop artists Kanye West and 88 Keys are depicted as old and decrepit men who go on a date with two significantly younger, very attractive women. The music video shows the double date go to odd places (for old people, that is) including a sex shop, a drug store, and, inevitably, a hotel. Ironically, the old men fall asleep before anything sexual. Goldwatch's hilariously provocative video is a clear cut example of his originality. Also, it functions as a binary art form, showing the CONTRAST of the elderly men and their younger dates and the AFFINITY of all four of the people being perverted, party-loving dates.
Another example of Goldwatch's originality is in his music video 'Soundtrack2My Life,' by KiD CuDi. It is here where we see most of the director's cinematography skills from all the concert footage he takes with charismatic hip hop artist, KiD CuDi. It is such an inspiring music video because Goldwatch humanizes a musician that, to many, may appear larger than life on the surface, without viewing the music video, but more of a best friend and guy's guy (or lady's man, depending on the case) with the viewing of it. Goldwatch once again uses binary concepts again in his music video, this time with OBJECTIVE and SUBJECTIVE themes throughout it. We can see the objective within the video, that KiD CuDi loves being on the road, connecting with the crowd during concerts, and messing around with friends and family on the tour busses and hotels that he stays in. What we DON'T see, and must infer or formulate opinions about, is whether or not KiD CuDi really has a hard life. His song, 'Soundtrack2My Life,' demonstrates many depressing and sad instances in his life, hence making it the soundtrack to his life. However, the visual contradicts that. Possibly, viewers may infer whether or not KiD CuDi has had a hard life, whether before or after his music career (some may believe his life may not even be nearly as bad as theirs; others may think his life is awful).
A final video in which we can dissect Goldwatch's creativity (and why I am inspired by him) is seen in his music video 'Dear God 2.0,' a song by The Roots and Monsters of Folk. It is in this music video where The Roots, Monsters of Folk, and Goldwatch (visually, of course) ask God about his presence and why He allows some of the things in the world that happen actually happen. In the video, two children forcefully rob a convenience store and run away while rapper Black Thought of The Roots drives a cab through Philadelphia picking up a mix of holy, unholy, and a mixture of unholy holy people. Goldwatch's concept is completely original, slightly darker, but absolutely genius. Towards the end of the video, Black Thought is robbed in his cab at gunpoint, and despite knowing he has a gun to protect himself from robbers, he allows the thief to take his money. Goldwatch's storytelling in this particular video is stunning, showing more serious and cinematic content in it, compared to others. Such a video can noticeably have the binary concepts of TENSION and RELEASE. We see it as one big build-up in the end, with Black Thought uncomfortably getting ready to use his gun against the armed robber, but decides to do the familiar, comfortable, and safe thing by giving the theif his hard earned money.
All in all, Jason Goldwatch is an inspiration to me because of his visual story-telling in his music videos, his collaborating roster of talented musicians, and his artistic cinematography. Goldwatch should be an inspiration to any who want to go into the music video field, and I encourage all filmmakers to at least look at a small portion of his work.
Another example of Goldwatch's originality is in his music video 'Soundtrack2My Life,' by KiD CuDi. It is here where we see most of the director's cinematography skills from all the concert footage he takes with charismatic hip hop artist, KiD CuDi. It is such an inspiring music video because Goldwatch humanizes a musician that, to many, may appear larger than life on the surface, without viewing the music video, but more of a best friend and guy's guy (or lady's man, depending on the case) with the viewing of it. Goldwatch once again uses binary concepts again in his music video, this time with OBJECTIVE and SUBJECTIVE themes throughout it. We can see the objective within the video, that KiD CuDi loves being on the road, connecting with the crowd during concerts, and messing around with friends and family on the tour busses and hotels that he stays in. What we DON'T see, and must infer or formulate opinions about, is whether or not KiD CuDi really has a hard life. His song, 'Soundtrack2My Life,' demonstrates many depressing and sad instances in his life, hence making it the soundtrack to his life. However, the visual contradicts that. Possibly, viewers may infer whether or not KiD CuDi has had a hard life, whether before or after his music career (some may believe his life may not even be nearly as bad as theirs; others may think his life is awful).
A final video in which we can dissect Goldwatch's creativity (and why I am inspired by him) is seen in his music video 'Dear God 2.0,' a song by The Roots and Monsters of Folk. It is in this music video where The Roots, Monsters of Folk, and Goldwatch (visually, of course) ask God about his presence and why He allows some of the things in the world that happen actually happen. In the video, two children forcefully rob a convenience store and run away while rapper Black Thought of The Roots drives a cab through Philadelphia picking up a mix of holy, unholy, and a mixture of unholy holy people. Goldwatch's concept is completely original, slightly darker, but absolutely genius. Towards the end of the video, Black Thought is robbed in his cab at gunpoint, and despite knowing he has a gun to protect himself from robbers, he allows the thief to take his money. Goldwatch's storytelling in this particular video is stunning, showing more serious and cinematic content in it, compared to others. Such a video can noticeably have the binary concepts of TENSION and RELEASE. We see it as one big build-up in the end, with Black Thought uncomfortably getting ready to use his gun against the armed robber, but decides to do the familiar, comfortable, and safe thing by giving the theif his hard earned money.
All in all, Jason Goldwatch is an inspiration to me because of his visual story-telling in his music videos, his collaborating roster of talented musicians, and his artistic cinematography. Goldwatch should be an inspiration to any who want to go into the music video field, and I encourage all filmmakers to at least look at a small portion of his work.
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