Paul Thomas Anderson’s excellent video for Radiohead’s “Daydreaming” gets broken down in this video essay by Rishi Kaneria. While his analysis involves some questionable number crunching — and specifically the number 23, which calls to mind all kinds of conspiracy theories — it’s also a solid analysis of the easter eggs in the video that tell the story of the dissolution of Thom Yorke’s longterm relationship.
by Filmmaker Staff on Aug 18, 2016Auteur Paul Thomas Anderson, for whom Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood scored his There Will Be Blood, has directed the band’s new video, which has dropped just days after their stop-motion animated clip for debut single Burn the Witch. Check out Dreaming above.
by Scott Macaulay on May 6, 2016After doing a masterful job of getting the entire internet’s attention by simply deleting their entire social media presence, Radiohead dropped an honest-to-goodness new single and music video this morning. Chris Hopewell, who previously directed “There There” for the band, is behind this stop-motion clip (which bears traces of what appear to be 16mm scratches). In keeping with the song name “Burn the Witch,” the video draws on imagery from The Wicker Man and other manifestations of the “old, weird Britain.”
by Filmmaker Staff on May 3, 2016Here’s hoping this becomes a new tradition — surprise releases from great bands that are actually pretty good! The first, what will become a seasonal classic for melancholics everywhere, is from a band that technically doesn’t even exist anymore: LCD Soundsystem. And the second is an unused theme for the James Bond film Spectre by Radiohead. First, here’s what LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy wrote to accompany “Christmas Will Break Your Heart”: so, there’s been this depressing christmas song i’d been singing to myself for the past 8 years, and every year i wouldn’t remember that i wanted to make it […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 25, 2015At the Sundance Artist Services Day at the IFP Filmmaker Conference, I witnessed — and wrote about — the confusion and sometimes anger that erupted during the panel discussion on BitTorrent Bundles. BitTorrent Bundles use the peer-to-peer file sharing protocol of BitTorrent to package, give away and/or sell digital goods. Some vocal members of the audience challenged the panelists to justify why filmmakers should lie down with a site many associate with piracy. Replied BitTorrent’s Director of Brand Marketing, Straith Schreder, “It is a separate website and has nothing to do with the pirate ecosystem. As for monetization, one way […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 26, 2014Hailed as revolutionary back in 2007, “the Radiohead model” — pay-what-you-wish downloadable media pricing — never flourished in the years following. Even Radiohead abandoned it. Yet, as Bond/360 is setting out to prove, it may still have its place when it comes to independent film. Tonight at midnight they’re launching a four-film “Creativity Bundle” download through VHX. Pay what you want to own — not rent — four movies. And, just as Radiohead’s In Rainbows was one of their best, these titles (or at least the two I’ve seen) are excellent: Indie Game, Helvetica, Sign Painters and Beauty is Embarrassing. […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 13, 2014When and how did Edward Burns become the mouthpiece of micro budget cinema? That’s a question I asked on Facebook after a late night holiday bender and noticing the ridiculous amount of press Ed got for making a film that certainly didn’t cost him 9K. Then I thought, who really does make a film for 9K? If you add up all the favors and salaries that are not getting paid you’re in the hundreds of thousands. Then I thought, oh man is there any such thing as micro-budget at all? Or is it like the myth of cover girl beauty. […]
by John Yost on Feb 16, 2012From last night’s remarkable appearance on The Colbert Show.
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 27, 2011A couple of years ago at a film panel discussion I had to smile at the irony of a $600/hour entertainment attorney solemnly intoning to an audience questioner that his indie-film revenue issues would be solved if he embraced “the Radiohead model.” That is, if the filmmaker decided, like the English superstar band did with their album In Rainbows, to allow fans to pay what they want, even if that was only a penny. But that was back when free was the thing. Indeed, while others had previously experimented with such pricing models, that Radiohead did so with one of […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 15, 2011Four Weddings and a Funeral director Richard Curtis scripted this commercial promoting a climate change campaign that’s been pulled from theaters in the U.K. due to its…. exploding children. Gillian Anderson did the voiceover, Radiohead provided music, and it also features soccer star Peter Crouch. In their report, The Guardian notes the inspiration of Monty Python, but many people didn’t seem to get the joke. Learn more about the 10:10 campaign that urges people to cut their carbon emissions here.
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 7, 2010