Category: BEST MUSIC VIDEO – 2024 ARFF BERLIN

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: Ancient Lands and Lives-Above the Grand Canyon Rims

Director’s Name: Carol J. Amore

Writer’s Name: Carol J. Amore

Producer: Carol J. Amore

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 9 minutes

Film Description:

Ancient Lands & Lives- Above The Grand Canyon Rims is a high impact and fast-paced short Docu-music video that embraces Arizona’s Grand Canyon wildlife experience through versatile animal habitats and its resilient pinyon-juniper evergreen trees on the Canyon’s Rims. Its vast colorful canyon rock formations reveal layers in geological time, dramatic thunderstorms with rising cloud formations, dark night skies (Milky Way Galaxy visible) and sacred tribal lands.

The emmy-award-winning composer-electric violin performer for this music video, Mark Wood, original member of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, played his unique seven-stringed viper electric violin like a series of high-powered symphonic movements interpreting the Grand Canyon, portraying wildlife behaviors and reaching up into its ever-changing skies. His music inspires one’s spirit.

Elusive Grand Canyon predator families includes mountain lions, bobcats, wolves, coyotes, gray foxes and even birds of prey

( American eagle, Golden eagles, Red-tailed hawks, Peregrine falcons). Resident desert Bighorn sheep, mule deer and other wildlife are also part of the Canyon’s eco-system. These wildlife are often portrayed in Hopi stone wall petroglyphs thousands of years old.

In the Hopi culture, the animal Kachinas (Ka means “respect”, china means “spirit”) have been used as the introduction to Film Chapters within this Docu-music video to create an interpretative window into their world.

The Hopi craftsman carves each animal to represent its unique physical characteristics. Just like a compass each animal is viewed as a guardian to the North, South, East and West.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: Glitter Tsunami! (Eurovision Parody)

Director’s Name: Matthew Blakemore

Writer’s Name: Matthew Blakemore

Producer: Matthew Blakemore

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Country of Filming: United Kingdom

Language: English

Runtime: 3 minutes

Film Description:

“Glitter Tsunami (Love, Peace & Sequins)” is a groundbreaking music video that showcases the creative potential of AI-assisted artistry in filmmaking. This innovative project, created by award-winning filmmaker Matthew Blakemore, merges human ingenuity with generative AI technology to produce a visually stunning and cost-effective production.

Set against a backdrop of Eurovision-inspired visuals, the video features over 35 references to iconic Eurovision entries, celebrating the contest’s rich history. The project utilizes AI across multiple aspects of production, including music generation, sound effects, and visual content creation, all while maintaining a remarkably low budget of £600.

“Glitter Tsunami” not only demonstrates the power of AI in enhancing creative expression but also highlights its potential for sustainable filmmaking. By significantly reducing energy consumption compared to traditional production methods, the project challenges industry norms and paves the way for more environmentally conscious content creation.

This music video serves as a testament to the synergy between human creativity and artificial intelligence, offering a glimpse into the future of innovative and sustainable filmmaking.

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: Im Süden / Güneyde

Director’s Name: Sezin Ertek

Writer’s Name: Sezin Ertek

Producer: Initiative Musik

Country of Origin: Germany

Country of Filming: Germany

Language: German, Turkish

Runtime: 6 minutes 41 seconds

Film Description:

“Im Süden / Güneyde” is the German and Turkish song the singer-songwriter Pina Berlin composed to the same named poem by Friedrich Nietzsche and its translation to Turkish by Prof. Ahmet Inam.
In the song and the video, we explored the perception of the “South” as an abstract concept and the search for the feelings we associate with it in our current location/situation with the theme of Alice in Wonderland.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: A Celtic Woman

Director’s Name: John Bermingham

Writer’s Name: Audrey Bridgeman, Gerry Hendrick

Producer: John Bermingham, Audrey Bridgeman, Gerry Hendrick

Country of Origin: Ireland

Country of Filming: Ireland

Language: English

Runtime: 3 minutes 44 seconds

Film Description:

Women in Celtic times determined public life and participated in political power. Women were chieftans, healers, poets, and warriors. Like many other indigenous societies, women held a place of power. It is possible that women were the first drummers. But as time passed, and with colonialism, that power shifted, and women’s rights diminished. The song reflects on the time it has taken to reclaim some of that ancient power and wisdom and the importance of connection to ancestors. The lyrics ‘I have changed, I’m not the same anymore…’ are a reminder that ‘Modern Celtic Woman’ may look different now, and that is a positive change to be embraced and one that ‘makes this a better place’. We should ‘all stand together’ and ‘move through time walking hand in hand’. ‘A Celtic Woman ‘ was filmed at Mahon Falls and Dunhill Castle ruins, Co Waterford, Ireland

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: This is the way

Director’s Name: Jörg Tochtenhagen

Writer’s Name: Jörg Tochtenhagen, Zacharias Drosos

Producer: Zacharias Drosos

Country of Origin: Germany

Country of Filming: Germany

Language: English

Runtime: 6 minutes 48 seconds

Film Description:

After a successful bank robbery, a group of gangsters return only to find their members being killed one by one. Could it be that someone among them is hiding a dark secret?

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: Feel No Burn

Director’s Name: Aryna Tsyltsyna

Writer’s Name: Aryna Tsyltsyna

Producer: Nastya Mulyarova

Country of Origin: Belarus

Country of Filming: Belarus

Language: English

Runtime: 5 minutes 24 seconds

Film Description:

“Feel No Burn” is a mesmerizing music video by Aryna Tsyltsyna for the eponymous song by the classic rock composer and performing artist Mark Hudnall.

Step into a captivating world of Native American heritage, where enchanting flames dance and flicker, reflecting the divine presence within their radiant glow. As the music resonates, immerse yourself in the warmth and transformative healing power that fire embodies. Get ready to be transported on a journey that awakens the spirit and ignites a profound sense of renewal.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: Not in the mood

Director’s Name: Sergii Bublyk

Writer’s Name: Sergii Bublyk

Producer: Sergii Bublyk

Country of Origin: Ukraine

Country of Filming: Ukraine

Language: English, Ukrainian

Runtime: 3 minutes 2 seconds

Film Description:

The animated clip “Not in the Mood” is created for Pur:Pur music band. It’s a lyrical story about relationships, depicting stages from infatuation and love to irritation and indifference. The clip illustrates how small and seemingly insignificant things can ruin relationships in the long run.

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: AMMO ‘Harm’

Director’s Name: Adrian Pruett, AMMO

Writer’s Name: AMMO

Producer: Adrian Pruett, AMMO

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 4 minutes 23 seconds

Film Description:

For eight years on the journey from Palm Beach trap rapper to Los Angeles vulnerable indie artist, Lil Toe (AMMO) has worn a mask. He’s finally decided to take it off and in the most exciting, dramatic, sensual, and harrowing way possible.

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: Twisted Mind

Director’s Name: Nathan Benisty

Writer’s Name: Nathan Benisty

Producer: Libelo productions, Valentine Wurtz, Mélisse label

Country of Origin: France

Country of Filming: France

Language: English

Runtime: 4 minutes 56 seconds

Film Description:

A clinical white room, plunged into darkness. In the half-light, a male figure on a granite table. A large one-way glass panel fills one wall.

In the adjacent room, behind the glass, a woman turns a potentiometer on the control panel. In the room, the light comes on and the character gradually opens his eyes. With a robotic gesture, he stands up and sits on the edge of the table. His perfect features and the precision of his gestures suggest he is not really human.

The woman is typing on a touch screen and enters a computer code: “start_programlearning”. She teaches the humanoid robot how to look like a human, by teaching it highly complex gestures using digital sources and a video server. These are very old ballet sequences, in black and white. Dancers, always solo, perform some of the best-known and most difficult steps from the repertoire.

From the control unit, the one-way glass provides a view of the main auditorium. On the auditorium side, the glass looks like a projection screen.

The robot reproduces precisely every movement caught on the screen, much to the satisfaction of its creator. But a new sequence – a pas de deux between a man and a woman, depicting a love scene – seems to have a peculiar effect.

Frozen, the robot stares at the screen with an intense and palpable emotion. Perhaps the robot is also aware of its loneliness and inability to experience this kind of humanity. A tear rolls down its cheek.

Faced with this sign of humanity and the potential of her creature, the woman is frightened and reluctantly enters the line of code “erase_all_memory” on the keyboard.

At the same moment, in another room of the laboratory, in a total darkness, Edouard Ferlet plays on his PIANOÏD2 device with two pianos, one of which is mechanical.

(WINNER)

Original Film Title: Hot Air Balloon

Director’s Name: McKenzie Alexandria Van Oss

Writer’s Name: McKenzie Alexandria Van Oss

Producer: McKenzie Alexandria Van Oss

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 2 minutes 48 seconds

Film Description:

“Hot Air Balloon” is the official music video centered around processing and demonstrating female rage in a non violent and color filled manner, involving female artists of all backgrounds and donations from female owned bakeries.