The Work Of The Director: Stephane Sednaoui [DVD] [2005]

Where the first series released included the impressive work of Chris Cunnigham, Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze, this new series features Stephane Sednaoui, Maark Romanek, Jonathan Glazer and Anton Corbijn.

For anyone interested in the art of music video, no words can describe the work of director and ocasional photographer Atephane Sedanoui.

Here's the track list, draw your own conclusions.

THE WORK OF DIRECTOR STÉPHANE SEDNAOUI

Music Videos

Mirwais - I Can't Wait

Tricky - For Real

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Scar Tissue

Mirwais - Disco Science

R.E.M. - Lotus

Björk - Possibly Maybe

Alanis Morissette - Ironic

Tricky - Pumpkin

Garbage - Queer

Tricky - Hell is Around the Corner

Massive Attack - Sly

Youssou N'Dour & Neneh Cherry - Seven Seconds

Björk - Big Time Sensuality

Björk - Big Time Sensuality (new night version)

Black Crowes - Sometimes Salvation

U2 - Mysterious Ways

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give It Away

NTM - Le Monde De Demain

U2 - Discotheque (new director's cut)

Extras

Walk On The Wild Side - Short film inspired by Lou Reed's song

Army of Me - Animation inspired by Björk's song

Acqua Natasa - Short film featuring Natasa Vojnovic

Reve Reche - Stéphane's first short film attempt

Interviews and Commentaries

34 minutes and 29 seconds of interviews including Björk, Bono, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Michael Stipe, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Shirley Manson, Tricky and more.

Stéphane's presentation at New York University Film School

52 Page Book

Diary of photos, storyboards, sketches and comments.

I'll start by saying that I wasn't incredibly familiar with Stephane Sednaoui before the release of this DVD. To be blunt, I had no idea who he was, and a good portion of his videos were foreign to me (well, they're French). I'm pretty glad that I got a chance to see some of his material, however. Sednaoui is also a fashion photographer, and it shows in his music video work: lots of color, brilliance, and energy are common in his work. He's almost an opposite of Anton Corbijn in this respect, who tends to choose darker, matte-like subjects over flashy, shiny and colorful ones, but I still grew to appreciate his ability. Plus, I've heard he's quite a ladies man.

To start with the videos, I'm definitely partial to the work he's done with Bjork, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Mirwais (I had never heard of this group until I watched the DVD, by the way) because I think their music fits Sednaoui's style. In fact, his videos seem to fit like a glove over the funky rhythms of Give It Away or Bjork's quirky Big Time Sensuality. There are some cases, one being his work with Tricky, which prove his versatility to some extent.

Another example of his talents in visual art comes from the brilliant short films on this disc...I'm actually curious if he's done more work in this area, because I loved these. Walk on the Wild Side, which Sednaoui describes as a faithful interpretation of Lou Reed's song/poem, describes the lives of 5 teenagers moving to New York in search of glory and excitement. Another one, Army of Me, is an animated short that originally started as a video project for Bjork's song with the same name. Both are just cool, visually stunning, and just another side of Stephane's talents.

I think I'd be more critical of this guy if I knew more about him, maybe. This is definitely not my favorite DVD in the set, nor have I spent nearly as much time with it as I have the Romanek and Corbijn collections. But I'm glad that I got a chance to be introduced to his work, well, besides his U2 videos that I never really cared for too much. And isn't the whole point of this series to get us looking past our favorite musicians and appreciating the ones behind the camera.

One would hope for more than just a compilation of music videos and a few stray bits of material. The Palm Director Series started off with a bang (see the excellent, truly excellent Michel Gondry Director's Series DVD), and has degenerated into formula...throw down a bunch of music videos, go get a few musician soundbites, take the customer's money. No real insight here into Sednaoui, but then again, maybe there's nothing to see.