January 10, 2006
Plympton vs. Gondry
Remember a couple months back when Kanye West commissioned two music videos for the same song? One was from Bill Plympton, the other from Michel Gondry. We wrote about it HERE and HERE. Now, Bill Plympton writes in his JOURNAL about how he got associated with Kanye. Apparently, West had originally commissioned a super-expensive video from Gondry, but wasn't satisfied with the results, so he got Plympton to create a new video in one week. For those that want to compare the versions, here's Gondry's version (the animation director of this video was Peter Sluszka) and here's Plympton's version. It's interesting to note how the visuals add an entirely new layer of meaning and effect to the song. Personally, I prefer Plympton's hand-drawn version, with its raw, smudgy style, which is a more honest expression of the song's earthy (if somewhat labored) tone. Gondry's slick, candy-colored treatment, on the other hand, screams, "Look, how big my budget was!" in every shot, and, in my view, largely misses the point of the song.