Today’s MVM wants to stare deeply into your peepers.
Fredd Velvet’s “Green Eyes” is a shambling rocker about relationship dysfunction that’s pretty relatable. Erica Qualy teamed up with Ben Siler to translate the song’s frustration into images. Appropriately, there are a lot of ocular close ups. So if you spent your weekend drinking alone in your kitchen wondering what the hell your boyfriend/girlfriend was thinking, this one’s for you.
Music Video Monday: Fredd Velvet
If you would like to see your music video on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com
Snowglobe‘s orchestral pop rock has long been one of Memphis’ best exports. For the single from their self-titled 2016 album “We Were In Love”, they found the perfect video collaborator in experimental filmmaker Ben Siler. The Memphis auteur has crafted a complex, heartfelt story of lost love and mental illness using subtle gesture and rapid fire editing.
The video stars Natalie Higdon, Savannah Bearden, Danny Bader, Kittie Walsh, Snowglobe’s Jeff Hulett, Erica Qualy, and Inside Memphis Business Editor Jon Sparks, with editing by Laura Jean Hocking.
Music Video Monday: Snowglobe
If you would like to see your music video on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com
Dr. James Gholson leads Craig Brewer’s ‘Our Conductor – Artists Only Remix’
Let’s do this.
10. Kphonix “When It’s Tasty”
Director: Mitch Martin
What goes with disco better than lasers? Nothing.
Music Video Monday: Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 2)
9. Hormonal Imbalance “That Chick’s Boyfriend”
Director: Jamie Hall Rising Fyre Productions gives Susan Mayfield and Ivy Miller’s gross-out punk the no-holds-barred video they deserve. Not safe for work. Or life.
Music Video Monday: Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 2) (2)
8. “Our Conductor – Artists’ Only Remix” Director: Craig Brewer
When the Memphis Grizzlies hired Craig Brewer to make a promotional video to help persuade Mike Connelly to stay, he gathered an A team of Memphis talent, including producers Morgan Jon Fox and Erin Freeman, cinematographer Ryan Earl Parker, assistant director Sarah Fleming, Brandon Bell, and Firefly Grip and Electric. Prolific composer Jonathan Kirkscey was tapped to write an inspiring score, which would be performed by musicians from the Stax Music Academy and members of local orchestras, and the Grizzline drummers. Dancers from Collage Dance Collective, joined jookers from the Grit N’ Grind Squad.
After a shoot at the FedEx Forum, Editor Edward Valibus cut together a b-roll bed to lay the interviews on. His rough cut turned out to be one of the best music videos of the year.
Music Video Monday: Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 2) (3)
7. Brennan Villines “Crazy Train”
Director: Andrew Trent Fleming This unexpectedly poignant Ozzy cover was the second music video Villines and Fleming collaborated on this year, after the stark “Free”. Where that one was simple, this one goes big.
Music Video Monday: Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 2) (4)
6. Lisa Mac “Mr. Mystery” Director: Melissa Anderson Sweazy
There’s no secret to making a great music video. Just take a great song, a great dancer, a great location, and some crackerjack editing. All the elements came together brilliantly for Sweazy’s second entry in the countdown.
Music Video Monday: Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 2) (5)
5. Marco Pavé “Cake”
Director GB Shannon
Shannon used the WREC building as the main setting in his short film “Broke Dick Dog”, and he returns with a cadre of dancers and a stone cold banger from Pavé. Go get that cake.
Music Video Monday: Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 2) (6)
4. Chackerine “Memphis Beach”
Director: Ben Siler
This three minute epic keeps switching gears as it accelerates to a Jurassic punchline. Its sense of chaotic fun took the prize at the revived Indie Memphis music video category.
Music Video Monday: Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 2) (7)
3. Yo Gotti “Down In The DM”
Director: Yo Gotti
It was Yo Gotti’s year. The Memphis MC racked up a staggering 101 million views with this video, which features cameos from Cee-Lo Green, Machine Gun Kelley, YG, and DJ Khalid. The video must have worked, because the song peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Music Video Monday: Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 2) (8)
2. John Kilzer & Kirk Whalum “Until We’re All Free”
Dir: Laura Jean Hocking
Two things brought “Until We’re All Free” to the list’s penultimate slot. First, it’s a perfect example of synergy between music and image, where both elements elevate each other. Second is the subtle narrative arc; Amurica photobooth owner Jamie Harmon selling false freedom seems suddenly prophetic. The social justice anthem struck a chord with viewers when it ran with the trailers at some Malco theaters this spring. The parade of cute kids helped, too.
Music Video Monday: Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 2) (9)
1. Don Lifted “Harbor Hall”
Director Lawrence Matthews
Matthews is a multi-tasker, combining visual art with hip hop in his live performances and controlling his videos. His two videos from his album Alero feature his beaten up domestic sedan as a character. Its the total artistic unity that puts “Harbor Hall” at the pinnacle of 2016 videos. Because my rules limited each musical artist to one video, Matthews’ 11-minute collaboration with filmmaker Kevin Brooks “It’s Your World” doesn’t appear on the list. I chose “Harbor Hall” because of its concision, but “It’s Your World” would have probably topped the list, too.
Here it is, Memphis, your Best Music Video of 2016:
Music Video Monday: Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 2) (10)
Keep those videos coming, artists and filmmakers! Tip me off about your upcoming music video with an email to cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
2016 was a good year for music videos by Memphis artists, musicians and filmmakers alike. I resist making a ranked list of movies in my year-end wrap up, but I know the crowd demands them, so every year I indulge my nerdery by ranking the music videos that have appeared in the Flyer’s Music Video Monday blog series. Since I sometimes go back into the vault for MVM posts, this competition is limited to videos that were uploaded since my Top Ten of 2015 post. (This proved to be a source of disappointment, since Breezy Lucia’s brilliant video for Julien Baker’s “Something” was in the top five until I discovered it had been uploaded in 2014). Last year, I did a top ten. This year, there were so many good videos, I decided to do a top 20.
Eileen Townsend in Caleb Sweazy’s ‘Bluebird Wings’
A good music video creates a synergy between the music and the action on the screen. It doesn’t have to have a story, but arresting images, fascinating motion through the frame, and meticulous editing are musts. I watched all of the videos and assigned them scores on both quality of video and quality of song. This was brought the cream to the top, but my scoring system proved to be inadequately granular when I discovered seven videos tied for first place, five tied for second, and three tied for third, forcing me to apply a series of arbitrary and increasingly silly criteria until I had an order I could live with. So if you’re looking for objectivity, you won’t find it here. As they say, it’s an honor to just be on the list.
20. Light Beam Rider – “A Place To Sleep Among The Creeps” Director: Nathan Ross Murphy
Leah Beth Bolton-Wingfield, Jacob Wingfield have to get past goulish doorman Donald Myers in this Halloween party nightmare. Outstanding production design breaks this video onto the list.
Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 1)
19. Richard James – “Children Of The Dust”
Director: George Hancock
The Special Rider got trippy with this sparkling slap of psilocybin shimmer.
Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 1) (2)
18. Preauxx “Humble Hustle”
Director: FaceICU
Preauxx is torn between angels and his demons in this banger.
Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 1) (4)
17. Faux Killas “Give It To Me”
Director: Moe Nunley
Let’s face it. We’re all suckers for stop motion animation featuring foul mouthed toys. But it’s the high energy thrashy workout of a song that elevates this one.
Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 1) (3)
16. Caleb Sweazy “Bluebird Wings”
Director: Melissa Anderson Sweazy
Actress (and former Flyer writer) Eileen Townsend steals the show as a noir femme fatale beset by second thoughts.
Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 1) (5)
15. Matt Lucas “East Side Nights/Home” Director: Rahimhotep Ishakarah
The two halves of this video couldn’t be more different, but somehow it all fits together. I liked this video a lot better when I revisited it than when I first posted a few months ago, so this one’s a grower.
Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 1) (6)
14. Dead Soldiers ft. Hooten Hollers “16 Tons” Directors: Michael Jasud & Sam Shansky
There’s nothing fancy in this video, just some stark monochrome of the two combined bands belting out the Tennessee Ernie Ford classic. But it’s just what the song needs. This is the perfect example of how simplicity is often a virtue for music videos.
Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 1) (7)
13. Angry Angles “Things Are Moving”
Director: 9ris 9ris
New Orleans-based video artist 9ris 9ris created abstract colorscapes with vintage video equipment for this updated Goner re-release of Jay Reatard’s early-century collaboration with rocker/model/DJ Alix Brown and Destruction Unit’s Ryan Rousseau.
Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 1) (8)
12. Chris Milam “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know” Director:Chris Milam
Milam and Ben Siler riffed on D.A. Pennebaker and Bob Dylan’s groundbreaking promo clip for “Subterranean Homesick Blues”, and the results are alternately moving and hilarious.
Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 1) (9)
11. Deering & Down “Spaced Out Like An Astronaut” Director: Lahna Deering
In a departure for the Memphis by way of Alaska folk rockers, the golden voiced Deering lets guitarist Down take the lead while she put on the Major Tom helmet and created this otherworldly video.
You’ll have to excuse this Music Video Monday, because it’s been at the film festival all weekend, and it’s tired.
At the awards ceremony on Saturday night, the Indie Memphis film festival gave trophies to two music videos. The Hometowner Music Video award went to director Ben Siler for “Memphis Beach” by Chackerine. The video won the jury over with its sheer sense of fun, but the climactic pterodactyl attack probably helped too.
Music Video Monday: Indie Memphis Winners Chakcerine and Video Age (2)
The general music video competition winner was “Dance Square” by Video Age, directed by Harry Bartle. Here’s a picture of the New Orleans-based filmmaker and band at the moment they found out they had won.
Music Video Monday: Indie Memphis Winners Chakcerine and Video Age
Indie Memphis concludes tonight with several screenings, including Kallen Esperian: Vissi d’arte and encores of narrative feature winner AWOL and documentary feature winner Jackson. Tickets are available on the Indie Memphis website.
Look to the credits of each short film represented in the 2016 IndieGrants bloc, and you’ll find recurring names of actors and crew members collaborating on one another’s projects.
That’s the film community here — a tight-knit family willing to lend a hand to artists scraping up funds to bring their vision to the screen. But what could a DIY filmmaker accomplish with a full crew and professional resources for production? Mark Jones, who started the IndieGrant program in 2014, wanted to find out.
“My starting IndieGrant is both from an artistic point of view and an economic point of view,” Jones, whose resume includes the 2012 comedy Tennessee Queer, says. “Film is art. Film is jobs. I thought that if Indie Memphis could help fund short films, then perhaps one of those short films made in Memphis could get some funding, and then it could be made as a feature film here in the city.”
What started as two $4,500 grants and two $500 grants has grown considerably in just two years. Now, two winning film proposals not only receive $5,000 while two others receive $500, but they are also awarded an additional $2,500 from FireFly Grip and Electric for lighting work and equipment, and, beginning this year, $1,500 from LensRentals and $1,000 for sound mixing from Music + Art Studios.
“I think you’d be hard pressed to find another film festival the size of Indie Memphis or perhaps bigger that gives this much out in grants to local filmmakers,” Jones says.
Seven films, financed between the 2014 and 2015 Indie Memphis festivals, will debut at 8:15 p.m. on November 1st at the Halloran Centre. That includes Sarah Fleming’s Carbike, a city-trotting, sightseer told through the perspective of two Japanese visitors; G.B. Shannon’s touching family drama Broke Dick Dog; the Flyer‘s Chris McCoy and Laura Jean Hocking’s road trip comedy How to Skin a Cat, which depicts the Collierville, Midtown, and rural divide; Morgan Jon Fox’s Silver Elves, an almost dialogue-free, true crime reverie; On the Sufferings of the World, an collaboration between experimental auteur Ben Siler, director Edward Valibus, actor Jessica Morgan, and musician Alexis Grace; Dirty Money, by Jonas Schubach, who also served as cinematographer on Indie Memphis’ closing night feature documentary Kallen Esperian: Vissie d’Arti and Jones’ black comedy Death$ in a $mall Town.
How to Skin a Cat
IndieGrant serves as a launch pad — a motivator to stay accountable and follow through with a film, says Joseph Carr. He’ll make his directorial debut at this year’s festival after a $500 IndieGrant and a few thousand dollars in personal fund-raising. Returns is inspired by the years he worked in a bookstore, watching as the digital takeover made in-store interaction almost extinct.
“The film is a profile of people who love their profession and, while struggling with honest bouts of ennui, continue to provide their service in the face of an uncertain future,” Carr says.
A testament to the community’s kinship, Carr committed to filmmaking after working on Sarah Fleming’s crew as a production assistant. Years later, he was cast in Fox’s play Claws and, later, in Feral. Fox produced Carr’s short, along with two others in the block, Fleming’s Carbike and Jones’ Death$ In A $mall Town. Carr, in turn, produced Fox’s Silver Elves.
Death$ in a $mall Town
“The Memphis scene is like a family, and, at some point, we’re all working on each other’s productions one way or another. It’s always an honor,” Fox says.
Since 2002, Fleming has captured multiple perspectives of Memphis. Carbike depicts the city through the eyes of tourists. Aside from Fox playing an amiable Airbnb host, the dialogue between lead actors Kazuha Oda and Hideki Matsushige is in Japanese.
“[Carbike] is part of a larger series focusing on stories of Memphis visitors — all of which are inspired by true stories,” Fleming says. “I’m a huge fan of this city and enjoy exploring our unique landscape.”
At last year’s festival, Jones was asked why there were only two big winners. Rather than hand two people $5,000 each, why not give 10 people $1,000?
“My response was that I want to see the bar raised,” Jones says. “The IndieGrants are important to me because I want to see Memphis grow as a film city. This is one way I can directly help make that happen.”
Chris Milam’s new music video, “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know”, pays homage to one of the earliest, and most famous, music videos. In May 1965, documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker had following Bob Dylan to London while filming his seminal rock documentary Dont Look Back. Dylan wrote the lyrics to his song “Subterranean Homesick Blues” on a handful of cue cards, and Pennebaker and crew popped out back of the Savoy Hotel to film a short title sequence for the documentary. The resulting promo clip was an instant classic that has been parodied, emulated, and revered over the years.
Milam enlisted Memphis experimental film auteur Ben Siler to riff on the timeless concept for his song “Tell Me Something I Didn’t Know”. Where Dylan had a cameo by Beat poet Alan Ginsberg, Milam and Siler got a cavalcade of Memphians to silently confess their secrets on camera, ranging from touching to funny to harrowing. Milan says the total budget for the video, shot on an iPhone, was “about $9”, but the results prove that some ideas are evergreen, and you don’t have to have elaborate sets or costumes to make a great music video.
Music Video Monday: Chris Milam
If you would like to see your music video on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com
Indie Memphis announced its full lineup for the 2016 festival at a bustling preview party at the Rec Room last night.
Bad, Bad Men,
The most striking feature of the 150-film collection is the strongest presence by local filmmakers since the early-2000s heyday of DIY movies. The Hometowner Competition boasts six feature films, including Old School Pictures’ Bad, Bad Men, a wild comedy of kidnapping and petty revenge by directors Brad Ellis and Allen Gardner, who have racked up several past Indie Memphis wins. Bluff City indie film pioneer Mike McCarthy will debut his first feature-length documentary Destroy Memphis, a strikingly heartfelt film about the fight to save Libertyland and the Zippin Pippen rollercoaster. Four first-time entrants round out the Hometowner competition: Lakethen Mason’s contemporary Memphis music documentary Verge, Kathy Lofton’s healthcare documentary I Am A Caregiver, Flo Gibs look at lesbian and trangender identity Mentality:Girls Like Us, and Madsen Minax’s magical realist tale of lunch ladies and gender confusion Kairos Dirt and the Errant Vacuum.
‘Silver Elves’
Usually, Hometowner short films comprise a single, popular, programming block; This year, there are enough qualified films to fill four blocks. Sharing the opening night of the festival with the previously announced Memphis documentary The Invaders is a collection of short films produced by recipients of the Indie Grant program, including G.B. Shannon’s family dramedy “Broke Dick Dog”, Sara Fleming’s whimsical tour of Memphis “Carbike”, Morgan Jon Fox’s impressionistic dramatization of the 1998 disappearance of Rhodes student Matthew Pendergrast “Silver Elves”; Indie Grant patron Mark Jones’ “Death$ In A Small Town”, actor/director Joseph Carr’s “Returns”, experimental wizard Ben Siler (working under the name JEBA)’ “On The Sufferings Of The World”, and “How To Skin A Cat”, a road trip comedy by Laura Jean Hocking and yours truly.
Other standouts in the Hometowner Shorts category include three offerings from Melissa Sweazy: the fairy tale gone dark “Teeth”; “A.J”, a documentary about a teenage boy dealing with grief after a tragic accident, co-directed with Laura Jean Hocking; and “Rundown: The Fight Against Blight In Memphis. Edward Valibus’ soulful dark comedy “Calls From The Unknown”, Nathan Ross Murphy’s “Bluff”, and Kevin Brooks’ “Marcus”, all of which recently competed for the Louisiana Film Prize, will be at the festival, as will Memphis Film Prize winner McGehee Montheith’s “He Coulda Gone Pro”.
The revived Music Video category features videos from Marco Pave, Star & Micey, Preauxx, The Bo-Keys, Vending Machine, Nots, Caleb Sweazy, Faith Evans Ruch, Marcella & Her Lovers, John Kilzer & Kirk Whalum, Alex duPonte, Alexis Grace, and Zigadoo Moneyclips.
Internationally acclaimed films on offer include legendary director Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson, starring Adam Driver; Manchester By The Sea from Kenneth Lonergan; and Indie Memphis alum Sophia Takal’s Always Shine. Documentary cinematographer Kirsten Johnson’s spectacular, world-spanning Cameraperson, assembled over the course of her 25 year career, promises to be a big highlight.
Michelle Williams and Casey Affleck in Manchester By The Sea
The full schedule, as well as tickets to individual movies and two levels of festival passes, can be found at the Indie Memphis web site.
Sunday brings two films featuring Kentucker Audley, the Memphis filmmaker, actor, and indie film advocate whose films Open Five and Open Five 2 both won Hometowner awards at past Indie Memphis festivals.
Olly Alexander, Kentucker Audley, and Joslyn Jensen in Funny Bunny
In director Allison Bagnall’s Funny Bunny, Audley plays Gene, whom we meet going door to door trying to sign up people for a clearly doomed campaign against childhood obesity. Audley’s performance, which finds the unsettlingly funny territory explored by Bill Murray in What About Bob?, is one of a trio of great turns in the film. Olly Alexander (Enter The Void, Penny Dreadful) plays Titty, an apparently insane twenty-something living in an empty mansion who is the only person who responds to Gene’s pitch. Titty is obsessed with webcam girl Ginger, played by Joslyn Jensen, whose prickly, manipulative exterior is slowly revealed to be a front to hide deep, disconnected pain. The story of three misfits finding solace in each other is one of festival’s major highlights.
Kentucker Audley in Christmas, Again
Audley also appears in Christmas, Again. Director Charles Poekel made the film based on his own experiences as a Christmas tree salesman in Brooklyn, and Audley spent the 2014 season alternately shooting scenes and actually selling Christmas trees on the New York streets. Shot on actual 16mm film, the photography helps imbue the story with a sense of pathos and beauty.
Laura Jean Hocking’s ‘Andromeda and the Sea Monster’
The Experimental and Animation shorts block is consistently one of the best programs at Indie Memphis, or any other festival. This year’s block includes a pair of short works by Laura Jean Hocking (full disclosure: I’m married to her). In “Double Feature”, she and Ben Siler shared a common pool of footage but edited two very different takes on the material. The second one, “Andromeda and the Sea Monster”, is an experimental animation piece that claims to be the credits to a feature that never materializes. But with credits such as “Fiji Vulcanologist” and “Technological Futurist”, you’ll wish you see the nonexistent full length.
Here’s a universal truth about film festivals: If you’re looking at a big schedule of films, but you’re uncertain as to what you want to see, you should choose a block of short films.
Memphis music legend Jimmy Crosswaith in ‘Time Will Tell’
The reason why is simple. If you choose a feature film, and it turns out you don’t like, you’re stuck with it for the duration. But if you choose a shorts block, and you don’t like one of the films, just wait a few minutes and you’ll get something else that you do like.
The second night of Indie Memphis features a killer line up of short films from Memphians. The 6:00 PM Hometowner Narrative Shorts Block includes films from both accomplished Memphis directors and newcomers.
“The Department of Signs and Magical Interventions” by Melissa Anderson Sweazy is a mini epic of one man’s journey through the veil of life and death, and the deadpan humor of finding that the afterworld is just as bureaucratic as the moral coil. “Alphabet” is the latest editing tour de force from Memphis filmmaker and occasional Flyer contributor Ben Siler. You can read more about those two films in Eileen Townsend’s column in this week’s issue.
Also in the block is “Time Will Tell” directed by Mud Boy and the Neutrons percussionist Jimmy Crosswaith along with Theo Patt. Prolific Memphis actor Drew Smith branches out into directing with two short films, “Missed Connection” and “Snow Day”. “Glitching” directors Emily Herene and Lara Johnson led an all-female cast and crew in what they describe as a cross between “Broad City” and “The Twilight Zone.”
Part of the all female cast and crew of ‘Glitching’
The second show at the Halloran Centre features two very different Memphis-centric documentaries. The contemplative documentary Barge by director Ben Powell has won awards at both the Dallas International and Crossroads Film Festival in Jackson. It depicts modern working life on the Mississippi river 150 years after Mark Twain first examined the subject. It is proceeded by “All Day, All Night”, the first film by acclaimed Memphis director Robert Gordon. The film about Beale Street features such remarkable scenes as a meeting of the minds between Rufus Thomas, Evelyn Young, Sunbeam Mitchell, and Earnestine of Ernestine and Hazel’s fame. Gordon, who will speak at a panel on documentary filmmaking at 6 PM, is the co-director of Best Of Enemies, which was a documentary hit this year and is currently gathering buzz for an Academy Award nomination. (As a side note, Memphis musician Jonathan Kirkscey just won an award from the International Documentary Association for the soundtrack of Best Of Enemies.) You can read more about Robert Gordon in this Flyer cover feature from August.
