Imitation of Life

I never watch music videos anymore, and I haven't for several years. I think the music video has run it's course. It's ironic that the very channel that brought us music videos also killed the music video by showing less videos and more scripted programming. That is why they're less important to our culture than they were 20 years ago.

I heard an R.E.M. song today and it reminded me of one of my favorite videos. It is a song called "Imitation of Life" from the band's 1991 album, "Reveal".

Michael Stipe explained how the video was shot.
"The entire video took twenty seconds to shoot. What you're watching is a loop that goes forwards for twenty seconds, backwards for twenty seconds, forwards for twenty seconds, backwards for twenty seconds, with one camera, static, and then using a technique called 'pan and scan', which is a technical thing that is used when they go from a widescreen format and reformat to fit your television or DVD, moving in on certain parts of the entire picture. And you'll see that we do that picking up various people within the frame."

I think it's an interesting video in that you see something new each time you watch it. Enjoy!