Music Video
A music video was made by fashion film director Ruth Hogben in collaboration with West, who appears in a cameo in the video. The video was shot during the summer of 2011 during a two day shoot. Hogben and West had brainstorming sessions deciding what the video was going to be conceptually, finally deciding something that would aesthetically fit the song the best. About collaborating with West, Hogben commented that the process was very organic and creative in nature, musing that the two went back in forth with ideas for visuals. The dancers in the video were not instructed to dance in any particular way, and according to Hogbe, they "wanted an interpretation of how they felt about the song." The video was eventually released May 4, 2012. The video was described as "belated" because it was premiered nearly a year and a half after the initial release of the album "Lost in the World" accompanies.
The black-and-white clip opens with a warning that "strobe effects are used in this video" and features a group of models dressed in sheer fabric dancing while West poses during his verse. West's face is actually not shown anywhere in the video, which mostly showcases "tortured and slick mirrors and skylines, with a well-placed dancer depicting the heaven and hell in which the rapper wallows." According to Belinda White of The Daily Telegraph, it features designers Gareth Pugh and Rick Owens, stylists Katie Grand and Katie Shillingford and "brands such as Louis Vuitton, Barneys, Mac Cosmetics and Selfridges." Director Hogben mused that ultimately people "are supposed to come up with their individual interpretations of the clip." Kia Makarechi of The Huffington Post offered her interpretation of the video, writing:
"In the black and white video -- which West made with filmmaker Ruth Hogben -- post-rocker Bon Iver's haunting intro plays over images of a model in sheer fabric. When the rapper appears, he's standing on a mirrored platform -- seeing only himself when he looks down. He's 'lost in the world,' grounded by a reality that's isolated and clouded (via wind and fog machines)."
HitFix's Katie Hasty viewed that video played out more like a fashion clip than an actual music video, but mused that it was a probable result considering the past of the director. Hasty commented that it was a "gorgeous way to sell the song." Robbie Daw of website Idolator compared the Nick Knight cinematography to the style featured in the music video for Lady Gaga's single "Born This Way" (which was directed by Nick Knight) and wrote that "the black-and-white extravaganza is a rap video unlike any others released in recent memory — well, unless you count Kanye’s last off-the-wall clip." Luis Tovar of Pretty Much Amazing compared the video trailer of The Dark Knight Rises, and called it "totally Kanye". Popdust writer Katherine St Asaph described the video as an artistic "black-and-white cut that disorients you with lots of falling and flailing and flailing-called-interpretive-dance, with billowing smoke and sudden shifts in art direction", commenting that the video was a welcome change of pace.
Read more about this topic: Lost In The World
Famous quotes containing the words music and/or video:
“Words move, music moves
Only in time; but that which is only living
Can only die. Words, after speech, reach
Into the silence.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“We attempt to remember our collective American childhood, the way it was, but what we often remember is a combination of real past, pieces reshaped by bitterness and love, and, of course, the video past—the portrayals of family life on such television programs as “Leave it to Beaver” and “Father Knows Best” and all the rest.”
—Richard Louv (20th century)