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So here's the low-down on new Hype Williams videos in the last 8 months since I last updated the site: Superstar - Lupe Fiasco feat. Matthew Santos (premiered November 23, 2007 on BET's 106 & Park) (view on YouTube)
Go On Girl
- Ne-Yo (premiered late-December 2007)
(view
on YouTube) What's Love - Shaggy feat. Akon (premiered March 2008) (view on YouTube)
Homecoming
- Kanye West feat. Chris Martin (premiered April 1, 2008 on
KanyeWest.com)
(view
on YouTube) Grippin' - Sean Garrett feat. Ludacris (view on YouTube)
Stay Down
- Mary J. Blige (premiered April 17, 2008)
(view
on YouTube)
Girls Around The
World - Lloyd feat. Lil' Wayne (premiered June 4, 2008 on
BET's 106 & Park)
(view
on YouTube)
Put On -
Young Jeezy feat. Kanye West (in production) (thanks to Anthony E. for much of the updated info listed above)
Not sure if I mentioned before, but the official HypeWilliams.com website includes streaming clips of many old and rarely seen Hype Williams commercials, including the Visa "Fairytale", Gap "Khaki Soul", Toyota "Matrix", and the Revlon "Take A Shine" commercial featuring Cindy Crawford.
In the SOHH.com posting mentioned above
(re: the Young Jeezy videoshoot Behind-the-Scenes), it's mentioned
that the interviewer asked Hype about the Belly 2 rumors.
Apparently the movie is NOT happening...
Hype Williams has shot a great video for Kenna's Say Goodbye To Love, which premieres this week. It looks like the video was shot at a lower budget than usual (for a Hype Williams video), but much of the video's unique visuals are created in post production. The shots are mainly nighttime shots of the Los Angeles/Hollywood (?) nightclub scene, with the images and characters distorted in weird ways. The video is fast and flashy, but not in-your-face like Hype's Lil' Jon video Snap Yo' Fingers, and fits the track well. Great video overall; and certainly the most unique video Hype's done all year. Stream the video below, or view it here.
Hype directed a new Jay Z video,
Blue Magic, which premiered last
week. The video is the 5th collaboration between Hype and Jay Z
(for a Jay Z-led track), their first since the 2000 video Hey Papi.
Hype Williams shot a new Ja Rule video, Body, which premiered in late-September. It is his 8th video directed by Hype Williams; his first since 2004's Put It On Me video.
Word has it that Hype Williams has
recently shot a video for Lupe Fiasco, for the track
Superstar. The video was apparently shot earlier this
month in Los Angeles.
Nominations for the 2007 MTV Video
Music Awards were announced early last week, and the Hype
Williams-directed video Stronger (Kanye West) walked
away with 3 nominations, including one for Hype himself, Best
Director, Video Of The Year, and Best Editing
(editors:
Peter Johnson and
Corey Weisz). Hype Williams was last nominated in the Best
Director (or Best Direction in a Video) category in 1999
for two separate videos: No Scrubs (TLC) and What's It Gonna
Be (Busta Rhymes/Janet); he was also nominated for Best Direction
in 1997 for The Rain (Missy Elliott). He has never won
the award. The MTV Video Music Awards are set to air on MTV on
Sunday, September 9 at 9pm.
Back in May, behind-the-scenes images from
the Twista Give It up video shoot were posted up on
Think2wice.org. The video has finally been released, and its
a good one. The video is very poppy and colorful; and reminds me
a lot of one of my favorite Hype Williams videos ever: Busta Rhyme's
Gimme Some Mo'.
Hype Williams has shot a new video for
rapper Fam-Lay feat. Pharrell Williams, for the track Da
Beeper Record. I'm not sure if it's premiered on BET or
MTV yet, but I found the (above) clip online.
I had seen this commercial a few months
ago but didn't know if it was indeed a Hype Williams-directed clip, or
simply a knockoff on his style. I've since confirmed that Hype
*did* indeed direct this commercial for Dolce & Gabbana: D&G Time
(watches), entitled "Dancefloor". Taking a cue
from his music video work at the time, the commercial features footage in the main screen, as well as on the top and bottom
widescreen bars (similar to the LL Cool J/Jennifer Lopez video
Control Myself). The commercial features clips of people
dancing and mingling at a club or a lounge, while secondary footage of
product is displayed on the top & bottom bars. As the clip
progresses, people begin to reach *out* or climb out of the centre box
into the top & bottom bars. An interesting take on this
signature technique. The track used in the commercial is
Dancefloor by Stylophonic.
-
click here
to view commercial at the D&G Time website
Kanye West's new video,
Stronger, premiered on
MTV's Total Request Live on Tuesday.
The Hype Williams-directed video for Kanye West's new single, Can't Tell Me Nothing, premiered May 25 on his official website (KanyeWest.com). As posted on MTV.com earlier in May, Kanye mentioned that he had gone out with Hype Williams for 9 days to shoot two videos (one of which is Can't Tell Me Nothing). The video was available as a free iTunes video download in late-May (but has since been added as a pay-iTunes download). The video is also available as a high quality streaming Flash video on KanyeWest.com.
click here to view Can't Tell Me Nothing in streaming Flash, on
KanyeWest.com
Stereogum posted a piece over the weekend about the new Hype Williams-directed video for Kanye West's Stronger. The track samples heavily from the Daft Punk song Harder Better Faster Stronger; the Daft Punk robots actually make a cameo in the video.
I also found this blog-post on the
Stronger video:
click here to read article about the Stronger video on Pitchforkmedia.com
Hype Williams has also directed a new
video for Twista (feat. Pharrell Williams) for the track
Give It Up. In an interview with
MTV.com about the video, Pharrell Williams explains his idea for
the video: "alluring women appearing next to equally alluring items."
The video features a series of models in different outfits posing
against a variety of colored backgrounds (signature Hype Williams;
similar to his video for Kanye West's Golddigger video).
The images above are behind-the-scenes photos taken at the video shoot
back in mid-May (as posted on the
Think2wice.org blog); and goes to show the variety of colors (and
models!) used in the video. The video should be premiering any
day now.
click here to read MTV.com article from the set of the Give It Up
video shoot
The Hype WIlliams-directed John Legend video, Heaven, made its premiere back in late-October 2006. As reported before, the video was shot on location in London. The video features a lot of interior shots in old churches and other rustic countryside locations. View the video on YouTube.
Hype Williams won the Element Award: Director of the Year at the BET Hip-Hop Awards back in November.
And an update on the Speed Racer
project: Hype is now officially off the project, as the
Wachowski Brothers (Larry & Andy Wachowski, the pair behind the Matrix
trilogy) have officially signed on to write and direct the movie, as
reported back in Novemeber.
Here's a recap of Hype Williams' work in 2006. Hype directed about 12 videos in 2006. He continued his signature method of putting secondary footage on the top & bottom 'bars', sandwiching the widescreen-shot video in the middle. This technique was used in a subtle manner in videos like Ne-Yo's So Sick (helicopter shots of snow-covered mountains) and Pharrell Williams' Angel (a variety of picture frame mouldings 'framing' the video); as well as in an all-out visual assault like in the LL Cool J/ Jennifer Lopez video Control Myself (in which images of Jennifer Lopez & various models are split and projected around shots of LL rapping). Hype also forayed into the world of rock music, directing a dramatic clip for Hoobastank's If I Were You. And at the other end of the spectrum, a totally fun and colorful video for Lil Jon's Snap Yo Fingers. My personal favorites this year include LL Cool J/Jennifer Lopez Control Myself, Lil' Jon Snap Yo Fingers, and the beautifully-photographed videos for Ne-Yo So Sick and Mary J. Blige Enough Cryin'. My least favorite video was Janet/Nelly Call On Me (great visuals, horrible concept). 2006 was also a great year for Hype's career, as he received the prestigious MTV VMA Vanguard Award (ie: their lifetime achievement award) for his contributions to music videos. His compilation DVD was also simultaniously re-released. And also, his official website (hypewilliams.com) finally went live. In terms of other projects, Hype was officially detached from the movies Captivity (now directed by Roland Joffe) and Speed Racer (recently announced to be directed by the Warchowski Bros.). No word about the Thrilla or Superfly projects, but I'm assuming that he's off those projects as well. However, it was announced in June 2006 that Hype would begin production on the sequel to his 1998 film Belly, tentatively titled Beast. |
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