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| Photo credits: Screenshots by Rita - Placebo Anyway |
Today let's take a closer look at the super talented and renowned British director of music videos and commercials, ๐ฏ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, who has done a truly outstanding job making a series of videos - dare I say - some of the most memorable in ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐'s history.
It had to be made a post dedicated to him and his videos, don't you think? ๐
๐๐ฏ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ (02.19.63) studied a ๐ด๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐จ๐๐๐ (MA) focused on Film / Video and Photographic Arts at the ๐น๐๐๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐จ๐๐, setting up the firm ๐พ๐๐ ๐ต๐๐ after graduating. He is an expert in music videos, short films, television commercials, advertising and camera shooting. Throughout his career (which began in 1988) he has worked with countless artists around the world, for instance with ๐ณ๐๐๐ & ๐น๐๐๐๐๐๐ in the clip for the song "๐บ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐" (1989), with ๐บ๐๐๐! in the clip of his eurodance hit "๐น๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐๐๐" (1992), later he was hired by the ๐ท๐๐ ๐บ๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ to make the videos for their album "๐ฝ๐๐๐", which led to him winning a ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐จ๐๐๐๐ for the video "๐ฎ๐ ๐พ๐๐๐" in 1994. ๐บ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐, ๐ด๐๐๐, ๐ฑ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ด๐๐๐๐๐๐ and the list goes on… In this link you can check out what other music videos ๐ฏ๐๐๐๐๐ has directed:
๐ https://bit.ly/39zsL0p
As you can see in that list there are very different artists from each other, nevertheless what is clear is that all the videos directed by ๐ฏ๐๐๐๐๐ are quite innovative, artistic, with futuristic elements and with beautiful frames that totally capture your attention. That is why he is such a successful and requested director both in the music industry and in the advertising field. In this link you can see an interview where ๐ฏ๐๐๐๐๐ talks about his work and what inspires him to make his videos:
๐ฌ https://bit.ly/2Lt5ZiN
๐ฏ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ has directed 8 videos in total for ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐, but to give each video the place it deserves and make it more exciting, today we will only see four videos and next week we will continue with the rest. Having said that, let's get started!!
⭐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐✨
๐ฌ ๐ต๐๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ - ๐ถ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฝ๐๐
๐๐ ๐ถ
https://youtu.be/PBxuq_eWW94
๐ฝ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ : 20.01.1997
๐บ๐๐๐๐ ๐ณ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐: Clissold Leisure Centre.
๐️๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: This is the first time we worked with Howard Greenhalgh, who we’ve made several videos with since. He kind of became Placebo’s resident video director. There’s a few interesting stories about this. I remember Steve was still under contract to another record company. And we couldn’t show his face in the video, so we had to blur his face.
๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ง: Cum shot!
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: There we go!
๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ง: Right there!
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: I’m amazed we got away with that. The video police objected to that frame which shows a plastic ass, but they didn’t object to the cum shot, which is interesting. We were so impressed with this video, and we continued to work with Howard and built up an understanding and a good relationship with him. These days we just show up and he films us. We leave it in his hands, because we trust him so much. We wanted to work with him, because he directed an amazing video for Soundgarden’s called ‘Black Hole Sun’. That really impressed us, more than his videos for Sting and The Pet Shop Boys.
๐๐ญ๐๐ฏ๐: It’s probably his most masochistic video.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: Yeah, it’s quite S&M.
๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ง: It’s quite Dali.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: Yeah, it’s surrealist. Howard manages to be extremely subversive and very sexual, but puts it in a context, a polished sheen, so he manages to get away with it somehow. That’s what’s really interesting about him.
๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ง: It’s filmed in an empty swimming pool and continues the theme of Placebo and water. It’s not the only video we filmed in a swimming pool. There’s another couple coming up.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: This took about a day to film, if I can recollect correctly. Thanks to huge amounts of radio play and this video we managed to go to number four in the UK charts with our third single, which was nice.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: Great ass.
๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ง: Nice ass.
Was the guy with the spikes in Hoggboy?
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: No, he was in ‘Real TV’.
▪️ Placebo, Commentaries on the Videos, Once More With Feeling DVD, 2004
⭐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐✨
๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ - ๐ถ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฝ๐๐
๐๐ ๐ถ
https://youtu.be/v6XhoHTDFSM
๐ฝ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ : 12.05.1997
๐บ๐๐๐๐ ๐ณ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐: Albany House, Middlesex.
๐️๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: This is the second video we filmed with Howard Greenhalgh. I’m wearing a polyethylene suit. And Stefan’s wearing a shirt which Noel Gallagher also owned at the time.
๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ง: I look better in it though.
They had air bubbles with people inside.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: Those big air bubbles are what they keep cars in, before they put them into showrooms. Lots of gratuitous panty shots.
One thing I remember from this video is that Howard, being quite sick, decided to bring a cow to the video shoot. And this poor cow - there it is!
It was sliding around on the floor and kept falling over. All the vegetarians on the video shoot were very upset, but we carnivores thought it was quite funny.
๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ง: Someone from Animal Rights was ensuring we didn’t mistreat the cow. Which we didn’t.
That’s a shot Howard’s used before, in a Pet Shop Boys video.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: As you can see, there’s a continuous theme in Howard’s video of milk dropping off skin. Which is meant to represent something, I can’t imagine what.
Howard always casts very beautiful people, which makes the whole boring process of making a video a bit more bearable.
๐๐ญ๐๐ฏ๐: It was the second video with Howard, and we were still finding out the way his head works. He puts it together as he goes along. You can get a bit confused. But since we got to know him more, we understand how his head works so it’s easier to understand on the day. But I remember thinking “Where’s this guy going with this?”.
๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ง: A lot of ideas.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: All the smeared lipstick was personally done by the band, on the models.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: And it looks like somebody just farted.
▪️Placebo, Commentaries on the Videos, Once More With Feeling DVD, 2004
⭐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐✨
๐ฌ ๐บ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐พ๐๐๐ - ๐ถ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฝ๐๐
๐๐ ๐ถ
https://youtu.be/7B4wcjANYjg
๐ฝ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ : 25.09.2000
๐บ๐๐๐๐ ๐ณ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐: University of East & Cyprus DLR Station, London.
๐️๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: This video was inspired by two things. The content was inspired by the only summer job I ever had, which was working in a bank, shredding documents. We try to use that as a metaphor for the drudgery of having a nine-to-five in the modern world. And the second, aesthetically it was by a film ‘Gattaca’ starring Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman. It was the film where they met and first fell in love.
Another video with Howard Greenhalgh, who did ‘Nancy Boy’ and ‘Bruise Pristine’.
๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ง: It’s filmed at the University of East London, on a sunny day.
๐๐ญ๐๐ฏ๐: Kind of a weird building. Modernist architecture and stuff like that.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: I remember there was an airstrip at the halls of residence. Very weird. How do they expect the student to get any sleep whatsoever?
๐๐ญ๐๐ฏ๐: There was quite a lot of extras on this one.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: There’s another Howard Greenhalgh gratuitous panty shot coming up, which managed to slip by censors.
There seems to be a gratuitous panty shot in every video.
๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ง: A bit of post production on this one.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: It’s amazing car, it’s from an eastern bloc country, before the Wall came down. A Czechoslovakian or Bulgarian car which they used to drive the politicians around it.
๐๐ญ๐๐ฏ๐: There’s a cool shot where you have wings and you stand in front of the bus.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: Closest I’ll ever been to an angel.
๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ง: You grew those after ‘Pure Morning’.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: And naturally the clothes have to come off.
๐๐ญ๐๐ฏ๐: It’s probably Howard’s most postproduction-heavy video so far, apart from ‘Nancy Boy’.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: It’s a good time to mention that Howard used to be an Olympic gymnast.
๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ง: That’s true.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: Yes ๐ฌ
▪️Placebo, Commentaries on the Videos, Once More With Feeling DVD, 2004
⭐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐✨
๐ฌ ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฒ - ๐ถ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฝ๐๐
๐๐ ๐ถ
https://youtu.be/-6FvsKo162U
๐ฝ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ : 12.03.2001
๐บ๐๐๐๐ ๐ณ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐: Nat West Media Centre St. Johns Wood, London.
๐️๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: That pod is the media centre in Lord’s Cricket Ground in St John’s Wood. This is one of my favorites videos. It’s based on a 60’s movie ‘Fantastic Voyage’. Raquel Welch and a few other people get shrunk and injected into the president’s body and try to save his life. In this video I play Raquel Welch. Unfortunately, the budget didn’t stretch to fake breasts.
๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ง: Steve’s had one too many hard nights.
๐๐ญ๐๐ฏ๐: I was lying down the whole shoot being nursed.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: I don’t remember you complaining for once.
๐๐ญ๐๐ฏ๐: I was fine, asleep with lovely ladies around me. It was one of the best locations. You get a lift up to this place. One little lift up to the top. It’s like getting into a spaceship itself.
๐๐ญ๐๐ฏ๐: Doctor Stef.
๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ง: Going in
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: I had a great time pretending to be in a spaceship. It’s like being a kid again.
๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ง: I was looking out over the cricket field, trying imaging these images of…
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: What a shot! (Ladies singing to Steve)
๐๐ญ๐๐ฏ๐: Yeah, baby.
๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ง: That’s Howard’s sense of humour. Kind of sticks out that scene. How funny.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: I’m ejected from the spaceship. And I think the white blood cells are just starting to attack me here.
That’s Steve trying to get some attention.
๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ง: I’ve been spiked.
It’s contagious.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: Just in case you’re wondering, Stef is actually a robot.
Fantastic video, one of my favourites along with ‘Pure Morning’. Splendidly executed and really out there.
Mini-me.
Howard’s quite a sadistic bastard. For that shoot (the last one) he had me in a tank of freezing water.
▪️๐ฟ๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐ฒ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐พ๐๐๐ ๐ผ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ต๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ณ๐ ๐ณ, 2004.
⭐So far we have known ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐'s point of view on these videos. In the link below you can read an interview with ๐ฏ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, made by ๐จ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ณ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ for her wonderful "๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐บ๐๐๐๐" project, where ๐ฏ๐๐๐๐๐ tells very curious stories about making these videos and his experience working with the band:
๐ https://bit.ly/39Ehhsr
๐ถ "๐ฌ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐."
~๐ฏ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐บ๐๐๐๐, 2016.
๐ธ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ? ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ต?
Have an excellent weekend dear soulmates! Keep taking care of yourselves & lots of love ❤️๐❤️
๐ช๐น๐๐๐๐ช
