hey joe, if you make a video for soul meets body like you would, that would mean there would be different videos for the same thing. GET IT! shoot me.

James,

Already working on the video concept. I think that this concept might really capture the beauty of the song than the other videos. Let me put it this way - while this video is more about the themes of the song without being obvious.

The first video was more a "performance" video with a brief message about "capturing" music.

Cat's video was about "faded family memories."

Mine will be more about death and love and desire and try to capture the real beauty and romance of the song. Playing on the moments "If the silence takes you..." and "We turn the dirt" but like I said, without being obvious.

But back to this video: Why were some the kids yawning? Were they bored?

it won't let me see it I think it's gonna be like the last one where I'll have to see it at like 2am on saturday morning or something lame like that.

This is my favorite one so far. I just love the thought of all those kids enjoying the song that much! Really excited to hear the kids play it on the DVD.

The kids were probably yawning because they were spending so much time practicing the song. It's easy to get bored playing any song in an orchestra/concert band.

also, the kids yawning weren't playing an instrument, so maybe it was showing the boredom on having to wait.

i love the "if it's out of tune it's the wrong note" i'm using for my senior quote. i don't know who to credit it to though. maybe i'll just credit it to autumn

This reminded me of being in middle school concert band. Those were definitely good times.
This video gets my approval.

one of the best videos ive seen

What a video. Simple, honest. The first video so far that I really like.
The sincerity, the focus, as though what they were doing was irrelevant, so long as they got it right. The piano player quarterbacked the video not just with her determination and focus but also with her childish innocence which was perfectly captured. I can see it in my own daughter, how sometimes even the simple things need to be done with such concentration.
Tha lack of passion from some of the others, perfect in its honesty. "this may matter to you, but I really couldn't give a s**t, where's my nintendo"
This video works perfectly in this format, but I don't know if it would carry over well on tv. I think it would lose its intimacy which is what I think makes it work.
Excellent. I look forward to hearing the band actually play the song.

I really have to say I enjoy this video.

the band room looks exaclty like the one in my old high school.

I like the little kid singing is sooo cute.

hey everybody...i've been reading these forums for a long time now, but for whatever reason this is my first post...so, here goes nothing...

first, i'd like to start off by saying that everyone is entitled to their opinion, and i'm not here to try to prove anyone wrong...so, if i reference something you said, don't take it personal...

i was really psyched when i heard about directions. last semester, i had to make a music video for one of my school projects and when my team got together to discuss songs i suggested about 10, more than 75% of them were DCFC songs. we ended up going with 'A Lack of Color'. i would personally love to see hundreds of videos of each DCFC song. i think music videos are a great way of telling a story that goes along with the song, or to tell the viewer what you think the song is about.

i won't go into too much detail about the first 3 tracks, but i will say that after seeing them i was kind of disappointed. marching bands was ok...i kinda liked where he went with it, but the video progressed too slow, stuff just took to long to happen. i think by cutting out some of the 'excess fat' could have allowed for some more intersting things to come out in the video. i liked where the video ended, but everything before the ending was just...meh...

soul meets body was...meh...yeah, i understand the connection between the lyrics and the visuals, but the visuals didn't change much throughout the whole song...it was just a huge sequence of family images...i think this song has a ton of depth, and the video didn't

summer skin was kinda cool...it wasn't really what i imagined or expected, which is not a bad thing, but for whatever reason i just didn't fall in love with the video...there were a couple really cool moments, for example, when you were able to read what the one kid was stamping (some quote about wasting time), and then the 2nd time that a similar quote was used. i really love the idea of summer music videos (maybe because i'm currently living in freezing cold pittsburgh,pa), so i think that was the primary reason i was disappointed with it. also, i'm a big fan of those summer love stories that end once summer is over, and i kinda wanted to see how someone would paint that in just 3 minutes...

now we come to different names....this is my absolute favorite song on the album, and one of my favorite songs ever. i was so excited for this video. this video alone could make me want to buy the DVD, and forget about how much i was disapointed thus far.....

well, it didn't do it at all...i've watched the video many times hoping that i'd find something i really liked in it, or that it would grow on me, but nothing like that happened. someone posted in another directions thread saying: "Finding these videos to be a little disappointing. They seem to be a little bit too generic indie film footage." That is exactly how i felt when i saw this video. there is no visual connection with the lyrics, no attempt to try and show what the director thought the song was about.

oh well, the theme of the video wasn't what i expected...i like to try to appreciate things for what they are, not hate it for what it's not. well, i can't even appreciate it for what it is. ok, the girl who sings the lyrics, she is singing out of time, but thats cute, right? yeah, it's cute the first couple shots of her, but it is not cute anymore 4 minutes and 30 seconds into the song. furthermore, it isn't really cute anymore when she is saying "the same place" when she is supposed to be saying "the same thing" at the end of the song. by that time, i just wanted to turn away everytime they cut to her. then we get about 2 minutes into it and the song is about to speed up. i see some people changing instruments and getting ready and i'm getting psyched hoping that picking up the tempo will pick up the quality of this video...but it doesn't...some kids seem excited, other kids seem bored...the girl is leaning on the piano while singing. what is up with the yawning? was wilde really trying to connect with the viewer, because i sure was yawning.

i have to agree with musicman that the piano player was definitely quarteracking this video. she was one of the few people who looked like she cared about playing the song.

this video could have been totally awesome if when the tempo picked up they cut to the band performing the song at their spring concert or whatever...and show the crowd just sitting, and then everyone gets up and starts dancing and whatnot...if that happened i would have appreciated the first part a whole lot more. however, as it was, the whole video, 1st and 2nd half, were pretty much the same, and i don't really blame the kids for yawning towards the end, i sure did...

some people have talked about how they like how honest the video is, and i think they mean that this is what they would expect a middle school concert band to look like. i agree, but the visuals had nothing at all to do with the song. i feel like you could put so many different songs on top of the visuals and gotten the same effect (none, really). that is what i mean when i say this video feels too generic.

i have to say that i don't think autumn spent too much time working on this video. it doesn't look like too much thought was put into it, and not much time was spent executing it either, it just looks very sloppy. when my team made our music video we did it with 4 people, 1 camera, about 3 days of work (shooting, editing, synching), and no budget. also, we had no experience with making music videos at all. i don't think our video was perfect or super amazing, but it certainly looks like more effort was put into it than this video.

i'm really glad DCFC decided to show these videos before the DVD is released. i can't imagine what i'd be feeling after seeing the first 4 videos if i had waited so long and finally purchased the DVD.

that said, i am still excited to see what the other artists come up with, and i will be checking each and every monday in hopes to see something truly special

--Lucas

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SoundsLikeSettling,

Dissapointing... the footage was cool, but I really was expecting something more creative, especially for one of my favorite songs on the album.

Well said, Lucas. Here we do try to value everyone's opinion, though be careful of ciriticizing these videos -- certain people will not have it.

I agree with you, the visuals aren't very strong - which is strange for Autumn, and yes, the out of synch singing was distracting. But overall I think this video does capture a certain "innocence" about the song. What I took from this video is I heard a lot more things in the song that I never heard before, just by watching the kids play certain notes on their instruments.

I'm aslo a fellow filmmaker, and my music video budgets have never really exceeded about $250 (mainly lights and costumes). And it is frustrating to see when professionals who have access to a lot more money do not take advantage of their resources. That's how I felt about the Soul Meets Body video. That video FELT (to me, Joe Nava) sloppy, and "tossed-together" very quickly, like a kid doing his homework right before class.

I keep encouraging you to make videos, and also post them on here. Let's show the band and the board members what Death Cab songs mean to us and how we interpret them...Just be original, have a vision, and most of all TELL A STORY VISUALLY!

Cheers,
~Joe

Good comments all. I wonder though, if when listening to a record initially or in this case watching a much anticipated video, there is a tendency to focus on small points at the expense of the whole. One can quibble about the voice being out of sync or lack of crescendo, but the overall emotion captured is as delicate as it is wonderful. The beauty, innocence, and movement of the kids connects with the song in an unexpected way. I needed to turn off my amateur critic mind and just enjoy what was in front of me for what it is - a delicate visual concept of innocence that connects with a terrific song. My favorite "Directions" submission yet and alone worth the eventual price of the DVD.

I think the short comings of the video are not from the video, but more from what you expected, or envisioned the video should be.
Interesting though how a couple of comments talked about the music picking up pace and how the video should have changed at that point. Maybe Autumn was trying to go against what would have been expected?
Of course I only say this because I liked the video.