Greatest single take video ever?

UPDATE FEB 15TH 2012: In searching for GnR's "Garden of Eden" as another eg, I stumbled upon this wiki of 'one shot music videos', which lists a great many more examples!!! See http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/02/one-shot-vids.html

Pete Fraser flagged this one up on his blog; interesting viral-style vid ... yet budgeted at a cool $40k!!!!

The info is notable too, and I'll copy this in below; highlights the industrial nature of the vid - but also the commercial/ideological aspect (a counter to a negative comment about a US town that local businesses felt would be, well, bad for business).

It also suggests a possible major new name to put up there alongside the likes of Spike Jonze in director Rob Bliss, who's aim does seem to be create 'event' vids that achieve viral success but also mainstream news coverage (thus the World Record hook to this vid's backstory). And, of course, what he's done here is what most of you will do: create a new vid for a previously released track (you can work with a band on newer material if you can make the links). His main contact link is a Facebook page.

The idea of the single take is not new, but its so technically difficult to pull off, with cast, props (eg cars), sound [not such a factor for music vids!] and cameras having to be in such perfect synch, that it remains rare. In film, the openings of Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958) [watch it here] and Halloween (John Carpenter, 1979 [USA 1978]), two very different films, remain legendary for their accomplishment as single-takes, while the film Russian Ark (Aleksandr Sokurov, 2002) took this to a new level - a plush, high production-value movie entirely shot in one take:

More recently still, The Silent House (Gustavo Hernández, 2010), a Uruguyan production, took Carpenter's achievement a stage further in making the entire feature-length horror as a single-take.
As much as I admire this tremendously accomplished vid (ask any of last students and they'll tell how difficult it is to get accurate lip-synching, here achieved in one continuous take with a huge cast!), I still prefer the Pixies vid, created as a response to the machinations of the record industry (they were to be barred from appearing on Top of the Pops if their single didn't have a video); nothing like as technically brilliant as this, but a moment of raw inspiration rising from a flash of anger (and a superior tune to boot!)...

THE PIXIES VID

...and here it is in real time!

I've blogged on this before: you couldn't create such a vid and expect a good mark no matter how profound an artistic statement it is, as you simply won't rack up any marks for the many technical aspects assessed in the markscheme ... BUT I highly recommend creating just such a 2ndary vid to show your wider appreciation of the industry/audience (and to have a little fun too!)...

THE YOUTUBE BLURB

Uploaded by sefllc on 26 May 2011

The international sensation that Roger Ebert calls "The Greatest Music Video Ever Made."

http://facebook.com/GRLipDub | http://twitter.com/GRLipDub

Rob Bliss Events: http://facebook.com/robblissevents

Media Inquiries: robblissgr[at]aim.com
Business Inquiries: ask[at]sefvideo.com

"The Grand Rapids LipDub Video was filmed May 22nd, with 5,000 people, and involved a major shutdown of downtown Grand Rapids, which was filled with marching bands, parades, weddings, motorcades, bridges on fire, and helicopter take offs. It is the largest and longest LipDub video, to date.

This video was created as an official response to the Newsweek article calling Grand Rapids a "dying city." We disagreed strongly, and wanted to create a video that encompasses the passion and energy we all feel is growing exponentially, in this great city. We felt Don McLean's "American Pie," a song about death, was in the end, triumphant and filled to the brim with life and hope." - Rob Bliss, Director & Executive Producer

*Note: The "NEW WORLD RECORD" designation refers to size and scope, not duration.

This $40,000 production was entirely financed by the generosity of local sponsors that are listed below:

PLATINUM SPONSORS:
Amway Grand Plaza Hotel (http://amwaygrand.com/)
EasyRotor Helicopter (http://easyrotor.com/)

Grand Vally State University (http://gvsu.edu/)
metroPCS (http://metropcs.com/)
Avanti Law Group (http://avantilaw.com/)

GOLD SPONSORS:
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (http://www.krispykreme.com/home)
Experience Grand Rapids (http://experiencegr.com/)
Grand Rapids Downtown Alliance (http://downtowngr.org/)
A.K. RIKK'S (http://akrikks.com/)
Eastern Floral (http://easternfloral.com/)
United Bank of Michigan (https://unitedbankofmichigan.com/)
The Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation
The Seccia Family Foundation

SILVER SPONSORS:
Fifth Third Bank (http://53.com)
PNC Bank (http://pnc.com)
Steelcase (http://steelcase.com)
Huntington (https://huntington.com/)
UICA (http://uica.org/)
Biggby Coffee (http://biggby.com/)
Mindscape at Hanon-McKendry (http://mindscape-hm.com/)
Harold Zeigler Auto Group (http://haroldzeigler.com)
Express Signs (http://giantgraphics.com/)

BRONZE SPONSORS:
Hanon McKendry (http://hanon-mckendry.com)
HopCat (http://hopcatgr.com)
Cascade Engineering (http://cascadeng.com/)
Rockford Construction (http://rockfordconstruction.com/)
Siegel Jewelers (http://siegeljewelers.com/)
Gentex Corporation (http://gentex.com/)

Rob Bliss Events and SEF video
(http://facebook.com/robblissevents)
(http://sefvideo.com/)
proudly present

in association with Creo Productions
(http://creoproductions.com)

THE GRAND RAPIDS LIPDUB VIDEO

LINE PRODUCER
Josh Rubino

SCRIPT SUPERVISOR
Keri Larsen Kujala

ASSISTANT TO THE PRODUCER
Melissa Dylan

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Andrew Tingley, Creo Productions

DIRECTOR
Rob Bliss

PRODUCER
Scott Erickson

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Rob Bliss
Scott Erickson

FULL CREDITS HERE
http://www.facebook.com/GRLipDub?sk=info

MUSIC
"American Pie," written by Don McLean;
Produced by Ed Freeman for The Rainbow Collection, Ltd.

FACEBOOK
http://www.facebook.com/GRLipDub

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• lipdub
• grand rapids
• michigan
• rob bliss