When it comes to music videos, most people know the artists but not the directors. The company Megaforce, comprised of four directors (Charles Brisgand,Clément Gallet, Léo Berne and Raphaël Rodriguez), is calling attention to itself for its interesting concepts, dynamic camera angles and extremely fluid editing.
The Paris-based video company is best known for Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ music video for “Sacrilege.” The video was nominated for best cinematography and best video direction at the 2013 MTV VMAs, as well as many other awards.
In this video, Megaforce backtracks the story of the doomed heroine. Clips in forward motion are put into backwards order. I have never seen this type of editing done before. Megaforce was able to make jump cuts, one of the biggest no no’s of the film world, look like a masterful stylistic choice. (Check out an example of this is at 1:42.) The ending shot is perfect in closing the story. To dorkily quote Harry Potter, this music video “opens at the close,” and I love it.
Another popular music video by Megaforce is Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness” video, which was nominated for a United Kingdom MTV VMA in 2010. There are a series of shots that are put together almost flawlessly. It is difficult to see when one shot stops and the other begins.
At some points it looks as though Kid Cudi is levitating off of the couch. I am constantly wondering what will happen in this music video. (What’s Kid Cudi going to do? Oh,is he going to leave the room 25 seconds into the video? Surprise! No. He’s back on the couch.) All of the fog makes me feel as if I’m inside of his dream, and I’d definitely keep dreaming if I could watch this music video over and over again.
