Film Junk Presents a Brand New Feature: The Short Works of… Spike Jonze
Hello magical Film Junk readers. Here’s a great new feature that should be a lot of fun for you AND us. A good amount of my web surfing is spent looking at 9/11 conspiracy videos and back episodes of American Chopper, but when i’m not googling ‘Paul Senior’s Vintage Bike Project’ i’m usually looking up early or alternate works of some of my favourite directors, whether it be short films, commercials, or music videos. After coming across loads of great stuff, I figured it might be a great idea to start a regular feature here at Film Junk in which we share some of these videos with you. Think ‘Weird Web Wednesdays’ minus the men shitting while running at full speed.
What better way to launch this feature than with the works of Spike Jonze? As a major influence in the music video industry and a new talent in feature films, Spike Jonze has a massive back catalogue of unique and entertaining videos to pull from. In fact, i’m sure we’ll end up revisiting some directors in second or third parts in the future. So without further ado, welcome to the first edition of Film Junk’s ongoing feature, ‘The Short Works of…Spike Jonze’.
Here’s a clever short film which was featured on the Palm Pictures ‘Work of Director Spike Jonze’ DVD. Apparently this was shot amongst a commercial shoot Jonez was hired for, taking advantage of some 35mm equipment, a stuntman friend and his beat up car. The short stars professional skateboarder Mark Gonzales whom you may recognize as the ‘Chair Wrestler’ from Gummo!
Y Control – The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s
Perhaps not Jonze’s most iconic music video, but definitely one of my favourites.
Similar to Aardman Animations ‘Creature Comforts’, Jonze filmed some real life actors auditioning for this Miller commercial and simply replaced them with animals, retaining their original voices. You can find many more where this came from.
‘Pardon Our Dust’ Gap Commercial
Apparently the final version of this commercial featured a peppier soundtrack, as fine folks at the Gap felt this version might be too intense.
Unseen Al Gore Campaign Video Directed by Spike Jonze – Part 1 of 2
In 2000 Jonze was commissioned to shoot this short documentary for Al Gore’s presidential campaign. I don’t believe it was ever used, but thanks to the wonders of YouTube, you can check it out in it’s full two part, flash video, 320×240 glory.
Unseen Al Gore Campaign Video Directed by Spike Jonze – Part 2 of 2
Comments (6)
That video was totally disturbing.
This looks like a good feature, pretty extensive. I don’t really have much interest in Spike Jonze, but hopefully some better filmmakers will be featured down the line.
I’m just kidding by the way.
Posted by Henrik on October 10th, 2007I love that in Jonze’s GAP commercial, he equates gap consumers with zombies, look for the 2-3 “… of the dead” references.
Posted by Kurt on October 11th, 2007He is working on Where the Wild Things Are…It should be fantastic
Posted by movies on October 11th, 2007Spike Jonze is my hero. I love How They Get There. Mark Gonzales is my favorite skateboarder. The Al Gore doc was pretty good but I’m wouldn’t say quite as good as some of his other ones (Fatlip VIP – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd6tXVuU9sk). I think they should have used it somewhere. It makes Gore seem sincere and personable.
Posted by Jack on October 11th, 2007i hope that if you’re watching 9/11 conspiracy video all days, you’re at least watching the debunking ones too…
I work with a full on 9/11 conspiracy theorist, and i know most of the explanations that are out there for thinks she believes, but every time i bring it up she says (and i’m serious) that i’m one of “THEM”. because of her i think i’ve gone from simply being annoyed and embarrassed by conspiracy people to going into snap judgment pissed off mode.
Posted by Goon on October 13th, 2007lois griffin naked
Posted by agrynukro on February 16th, 2008Leave a Reply