Back
in 2000 a surprisingly enjoyable cheerleading movie came out.
Bring It On: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0204946/combined
In
one scene, the main character's mood is lifted after a bad day by a tape that a
guy way better than her boyfriend made. She rocks out to the song, and uses
that energy to rally her team and get her self-respect back.
The
song was "Just What I Need", also often referred to as "Cliff's
Song" by Rufus King. It took a long time to be able to find out anything
about Rufus King.
Some
of that is disambiguation. There was a Rufus King person, and a high school,
and then the band. Also, now that the band has a Wikipedia entry, it says they
broke up in 2000, about the time that the movie came out. The song engendered a
lot of loyalty, but it was hard to find where to put that loyalty, so people
made fan videos.
I
have seen videos for "Just What I Need" using crude computer
animation, cheerleading slideshows, and clips from Bring It On, but also
using clips from High School Musical, "Stargate: Atlantis",
and my personal favorite, this one from "Veronica Mars":
Since
then, and it took a while, there has been some activity on the Rufus King
front. They joined Facebook in 2009, their music is on Spotify and iTunes now,
and in 2012 a video was uploaded for "Just What I Need". It should be
great news, and it was really disappointing.
I
think there are three things that work against the video, so these can be
things to keep in mind for new bands.
The
first problem, and it may just be me here, is that the band members are kind of
a turnoff. I know part of it is the giant bird flipped at the camera, and then
the trading around beer bottles.
Those
aren't things that I am going to love, but I may not be the target audience. I
can think of musicians who give the finger a lot, but some of them do it with
big grins, and it feels different. Some of them may want to come off as crude
and hostile, and if that is the best representation of who you are as a band,
that's a reasonable thing to do, but is that the best representation.
The
attitude might not matter as much, but the video overall is kind of flat and
boring. It shouldn't be. There is performing, surfing, and a girlfriend, so
that should feel more fun, but it doesn't. This is probably a result of the
filming not being focused enough. The standing around is awkward, and too
obviously filling up time, which often appears uncomfortable for the band. More
pre-planning and stronger direction could have helped.
Finally
there is the technology issue. The fan videos were edited by fans, but for the
most part were using professional footage of professional actors, so you would
expect there to be a contrast. That being said, there is still some great
editing. Also, the sound quality on the band's video is not as good as the
sound quality on the fan videos.
If
the band footage is from 2000, there have been huge leaps in technology since
then. It wouldn't resolve the direction issue, but that goes back to how you
present yourself. Those are two separate areas, but they feed into each other
and they both have a huge impact on the final video. So, the next two posts
will be one about technology, and one about presentation.
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