My Favorite Music Videos as Cinema 🎬🎶

Music videos are an under valued form of film making.  These are a few of my favorite music videos from a cinematic point of view. I am impressed by the story telling, editing, cinematography and/or art direction. This list is not ranked or exhaustive. I like pop music and films. I used to watch TRL every day.

I’ve been learning more about editing over the last few years. People that edit music videos are very talented. There are a lot of quick cuts and they sync the visual to the audio. A lot of patience and skill goes into this line of work.

I’ve had this blog for eleven years. I may have done this already.

My Chemical Romance The Ghost of You

This video is engaging and offers a lot to viewers. It gives viewers a historical narrative, love story, special effects and solid editing.

Diddy Last Night

Last Night is catchy with great vocals over a short story. The song is a nice mesh of R&B and pop. I miss that mid 00s hybrid. And the the editor of Last Night kept up with it all. Good for them. They deserve an award.

Alicia Keys You Don’t Know my Name

This is probably my favorite video ever. I think my favorite thing about it is that it showcased New York City but not Midtown Manhattan. It featured Uptown or one of the burroughs as the back drop of a working class love story as opposed to a crime story.

Lauryn Hill – Everything is Everything

The first time I saw this video I thought it was one of the most creative pieces of film making I had ever seen. The visual metaphor of using the streets of New York City as a turntable while people go on about their every day lives was very clever. I love the part where a piece of litter got stuck under the needle and muted the sound and the Empire State Building is the center of the turn table where you place your vinyl. This concept is brilliant. I miss record players and newspapers. That world will never return.

The Roots You Got Me featuring Erykah Badu

I love the beat and melody of this song featuring two popular Neo Soul singers. The lead singer of The Roots walks down the street singing while everyone else on the street seems to be asleep and sleeping on the sidewalk and busses. It turns out he was having a near death experience after getting shot. Great song and interesting visual concept.

The Roots Break You Off featuring Musiq

Neo Soul, great song, classic car, sex appeal, interesting camera angles. The car put this video over the top.

Thirty Seconds to Mars – City of Angels

This video has beautiful shots of Los Angeles with interviews about the City of Angles.