Alanis Morissette covers BEP’s “My Humps”

Yesterday, recording artist Alanis Morissette, who is best known for her unique vocals and memorable lyrics, released a video on YouTube in which she parodies both the song and video for the Black Eyed Peas’ club bumper “My Humps”. The video is funny, but it’s her cover of the song that really shines, exposing the pure absurdity of the lyrics in “My Humps”. It is difficult to pay close attention to the song when watching the video, in which Alanis mocks the booty-shaking Fergie of Black Eyed Peas, however if you do, you’ll notice how great a cover it actually is.

According to Wikipedia, the video welcomed an astounding 200,000 hits in its first day, and as of posting this, has nearly 1,000,000 hits, not including the duplicates that have cropped up across YouTube. That a video can reach more than a million people within 48 hours of being published is yet another great example of how YouTube is changing the way we obtain and share new sources of information and entertainment, not only online, but in our lives in general.

Holy Sh*t, David O. Russell

Alright, this video is definitely NSFW, or if you’ve got kids around, but I had to share it. It’s from the set of I ♥ Huckabees and shows director David O. Russell’s meltdown, including cussing and defacing the set, after he gets in a spat with Lilly Tamlin regarding his directions. Keep an eye on the crew member on the right by the door. You can almost hear his/her thought process: “Should I stay? Should I go? I’ll go this way. Crap! No, this way, out the door! RUN!” Anyways, you know what they say: “The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success.”

My latest directorial project

Here it is, my latest project: a music video for my best friend, Stephanie K, an up-and-coming recording artist out of Michigan. She’s an incredible musician with so much talent and I was so excited to collaborate with her on this video. The promo is for her pop/R&B ballad titled “It’s You”, and while the style is very different from my first music video for Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek”, the two carry the similar theme of a girl with a terribly broken heart that deals with it in her own unique way.

I produced and directed the video, as well as shot it on my new Panasonic AG-DVC30. The shoot lasted two days, one day per location. I edited it in Final Cut Pro on my black Macbook and have uploaded it to YouTube, as well as to the site in HQ format.

I truly hope you guys like it, and would greatly appreciate any feedback and comments, either here or on the YouTube page. Thanks!

Download QuickTime Movie 50.0 MB

You can also watch the video on MusicNation, where Stephanie and I have entered it into a video music competition for independent artists. If you liked the video, the song, or both, and would like to support me and Stephanie, we would both appreciate it very much if you could take the time to vote for it at MusicNation. It only takes a second to register and you vote for it by giving it stars. (Hint: the more stars, the better!) You can also vote by texting VA77 to NATION (628466).

We are currently placed 10th out of 359, so help us keep that momentum going. Thank you from both me and Steph!

My very first music vid

Last summer I took a couple classes at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, one of them being music video production. I fell in love with the entire process and since it has been my goal to work in the field, hopefully one day as a director.

The final assignment was, of course, to write, direct, and shoot a music video. We were responsible for everything, including choosing a song, casting actors (who graciously work for credit and lunch only), lighting, shooting, editing… the works.

I chose Imogen Heap’s electronic ballad Hide and Seek. I love everything about the song: the layered vocals that are almost haunting, the heartfelt lyrics, and from what I’ve read and seen on Imogen’s site, it was recorded by a very talented, down-to-earth person. The video features actress Heather Tyson, who did an incredible job conveying the emotions that run through the song, and took about seven hours to shoot. It’s the first and only music video I have directed so far, and although I have considered re-cutting, I am still proud of how it turned out.

Only a few people have seen this, so I hope you guys like it!

Download a higher-quality Quicktime version of the video.