Big Ideas (don't get any)

Big Ideas (don't get any) from James Houston on Vimeo.

 
  

Here is a little gem I just discovered via threeminds and that illustrates how creativity and talent can transform a challenge into a master piece. This short film is the work of James Houston, a student of the Glasgow School of Art who decided, for his final project, to respond to the online challenge launched by the Radiohead. The band proposed on a dedicated site a contest to remix their latest single "Nude". Here is what James did out of it. Although he was too late to enter his work within the deadline, I think he deserves a big huge online wave of applause from all of us.

Here is how James describes his quest on Vimeo :

"I've just graduated from the Glasgow School of Art's graphic design course. This was my final project.

Radiohead held an online contest to remix "Nude" from their album - "In Rainbows" This was quite a difficult task for everybody that entered, as Nude is in 6/8 timing, and 63bpm. Most music that's played in clubs is around 120bpm and usually 4/4 timing. It's pretty difficult to seamlessly mix a waltz beat into a DJ set.

This resulted in lots of generic entries consisting of a typical 4/4 beat, but with arbitrary clips from "Nude" thrown in so that they qualified for the contest.

Thom Yorke joked at the ridiculousness of it in an interview for NPR radio, hinting that they set the competition to find out how people would approach such a challenging task. I decided to take the piss a bit, as the contest seemed to be in that spirit. Based on the lyric (and alternate title) "Big Ideas: Don't get any" I grouped together a collection of old redundant hardware, and placed them in a situation where they're trying their best to do something that they're not exactly designed to do, and not quite getting there.

It doesn't sound great, as it's not supposed to.

I missed the contest deadline, so I'm offering it here for you to enjoy.

Sinclair ZX Spectrum - Guitars (rhythm & lead)
Epson LX-81 Dot Matrix Printer - Drums
HP Scanjet 3c - Bass GuitarHard
Drive array - Act as a collection of bad speakers - Vocals & FX"

PS : And I'm really wondering what my friend Tom (DirectorTom Thomas Clifford) will think about this film. ; )

  

UPDATE :

Check this film James did as he mentioned it to be his "...first ever project working with live action video". Wow! Definitely worth being pointed here as well. Read the comments on Vimeo and find out how he did it!

MTV from James Houston on Vimeo.

 

Comments

[Thomas Clifford]

Hi Luc,

Thanks for throwing this my way, Luc...I'm speechless. Which, BTW, rarely happens. :-)

"It doesn't sound great, as it's not supposed to."

That's too funny...the second time I played it, I put on my headphones and I started enjoying the cacophony of it all! How bizarre!

Since I'm a narrative filmmaker, I'm asking myself, "Where's the narrative? Where's the story?"

What do I think?

This rock n roll band of collected "redundant hardware" reminds me of the stories my parents must have told others about the many rock n roll bands I was in during high school. My memory says we didn't sound this good!

While I tried to sound like Alice Cooper, Grand Funk Railroad and Deep Purple, my bands were probably closer to a "collection of redundant wannabe's" amped up to 11.

That's probably why I played this about five times and actually enjoyed it. :-)

The narrative and story? You create it.

Thanks, Luc. Rock on...

[Paul McEnany]

I think it's safe to say that kid may have a future! So are we going to have to face off in the race to hire him? :)

[Luc Debaisieux - mindblob]

- Tom,
Thank you for your long comment. I kinda knew you'd be interested but didn't expect this film to have such an impact. As a matter of fact, it did act the same way on me too. Funny you mentioned the headphones, because I did so and started to like its strange fascinating effect immediately from then on.
Funny you pointed your quest to find the "narrative". I also liked James' way to share the story of his film on his Vimeo page and it did definitely influence my reading of his film.

Thanks also for sharing your experience in Rock bands. This brought some "imaginative pictures" in my mind and the smiles that come with it (question being what kind of hat were you wearing then?) ; )

Really glad you liked this story.


- Paul,
Excellent point about "the kid"! I think he's gonna catch the attention of quite a few producers with his work! Go go go Jimmy! ; )