Spike Jonze is an American director, producer, screenwriter and actor; his work includes music videos, film and television. Jonze is known largely due to his direction of the films 'Being John Malkovich', 'Where the Wild Things Are' and 'Her'. Jonze directs both film and music videos and is known for his collaborations with artists; Fatboy Slim, Weezer, Beastie Boys and Kanye West. Additionally he is the creative director of Vice Media and was a co-creator and executive producer of MTV's Jackass. I am a great fan of his work. As an avid consumer of Vice Media and I was intrigued when I found out that he was their creative director. I frequently find myself watching documentaries and reading articles on their website and social media pages; I am particularly drawn to Vice as their stylized method of creating media appeals to me. I believe that I speak on behalf of many young people in saying that they have an ability to make content that wouldn't ordinarily be of interest to the younger generation, appealing. I have watched many music videos directed by Jonze and the music videos for Arcade Fire's 'The Suburbs' and Jay-Z and Kanye West's 'Otis' are of particular interest to me. Jonze has a unique style and vision for his products which is something I personally admire and has led to critical acclaim for Jonze.
The Suburbs' by Arcade Fire is a music video of particular interest to me; it is a shortened version on Jonze's short film 'Scenes From the Suburbs'. The music video doesn't have dialogue but, as an amplification of the lyrics, it does relate to the lyrics within the song. The video cleverly promotes the short film as well as promoting the song itself; the way it does this is as, to a viewer who hasn't seen the short film, the shortened music video creates a strong sense of enigma due to the lack of dialogue. For this reason, the audience isn't entirely sure what is going on and will consequently be enticed to watch the film to both understand the context of the music video as well as film out the motives of the characters and how the narrative ends. It does a good job of promoting the song and Arcade Fire as it is an interesting music video with a very effective use of camera work and framing in regards to the mise-en-scene - it doesn't conform to stereotypes of the indie rock genre which is another reason that it would interest a viewer and be a talking point.
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