This music video was directed by Michel Gondrey, whose name you might recognize because he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2004 for his work on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In this piece made for the New York based band, Cibo Matto, Gondrey uses split screen to tell a surreal visual story involving two young women, who are played by the band’s founding members. The actions of both characters are shown side by side, and halfway through the video it becomes apparent that the two perspectives form a chiasmus. One is just the other put in reverse. The planning required to accomplish this is nearly unimaginable to me.

Because I’m filming a rock band for my winter term project, I’ve been revisiting some of my favorite music documentaries and music videos. (Recommendations are welcome!) I’m particularly intrigued by Gondrey’s video because I think the split screen is totally necessary for the story to be effective. The words to the song are essentially nonsense. However, the accompanying visuals establish a mood in which lyrics like “the velocity of time turns her voice into sugar water” can come across as having a deep, cryptic meaning.

The director’s editorial choice plays with his audience’s perception in a way that causes viewers to lose grasp of temporal continuity, and to simply revel in the sweetness of the music. Even though the viewer learns halfway through the video that the second half will be exactly like the first half, but in reverse, he or she is compelled to continue watching. At least, I was. Maybe I just wanted to be sure that the split screen continued until the end.

Anyone else want to suggest a video in which the director’s editorial choices, rather than the characters or plot points, drive the story?