First, pause that song — you really ought to first watch the music video below.
Impressive, right? Straight off of The Weeknd’s XO til we overdose Tumblr, this highly stylized, non-official video mixtape version of “House of Balloons” by two students from The Netherlands pairs together their visual interpretation of the album with a smashed up remix by a local DJ named Fullscale.
Described as a combination of passion for the music, budget constraints and a constant learning process (the producers said they had never heard of “video tapes” before), these short vignettes reveal that you don’t need a lot of money to produce high-quality videos these days. Each section, approximately 20-30 seconds in length, shifts in color and pace, and pairs so perfectly with the music you’d think it was made to be that way — although honestly the music itself is too jarring to listen to on its own.
Personal favorite is the second videotape (“The Morning”) as it does a great job of setting up exposition for the whole video; introducing the female lead in a slow, unfocused, black and white montage and then cutting back and forth in color to the protagonist smoking and walking along the picturesque canals of Amsterdam. I absolutely love the way they flutter the camera to mimic first-person eyelids and then throw leaves in front of the camera to establish the hazy, dreamlike scenario. Well done indeed.
You can find out more about the director and DJ here and here.