I’ve been keeping up with Laura Veirs’ video competition that’s been held on her website. Now weeks have passed and winners have been announced and all I can say is, that it’s a pretty clever way of pointing out some of the brilliant tracks contained in Veirs’ latest, Saltbreakers. So yes, I was contemplating on entering the competition myself, but due to very stupid, unreasonable well, reasons, the ideas, the plans were never fully realized. That won't matter no more, because now I could turn my attention towards those who have entered and those who have won which proves to be an enjoyable if not an amusing feat.
1st Place ("Phantom Mountain" by Doug Savage ) – I love the song though Veirs’ vocals resemblance to Karen O is remarkably palpable in this one. Doodles of chicken, animated through stop motion is undeniably charming. A lot of effort’s been put in this vid, no doubt about that, thus straightaway elevating it to the number one spot. There’s definitely amusement, suspense (oh no chicken! Look out!), plus the typical cute factor that’s present, though at times, I find some of the scenes aimless and hence *yawn* boring.
2nd Place ( "Wrecking" by Derek Scearce ) – A slow number is hard for a video to be build around without coming off too cheesy or too dull so it’s no surprise that this video comes off as the most lackluster out of the bunch. Good compositions and cinematography, however it fails to walk loyally hand in hand with the song till the end, a sign of weak synchronization.
3rd place ("Pink Light" by Tyler Jensen ) – I don’t know whether I love the song, or it’s just the video, but this is my favorite one yet. With good synchronization and good composition, you can never go wrong. Plus the idea that came about for the video is original and sheer genius. Simple yes, but sometimes simplicity is the best way to go. After watching the video, I am now amazed by how can one expertly hula hoop, whereas all that I can do is expertly hold the hoop around me mid-height, after which I jiggle a bit only for it to fall down shamelessly to my feet – oh, the agony.
|mp3| Laura Veirs – Pink Lights
4th place ("Saltbreakers" by Eric Collins ) – There’s nothing much I can say about this one, except that it’s just simple animation with a simple storyline; but it definitely got me hooked on the song – good effort though.
