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The debut music video from MGMT is for the song “Time To Pretend” from their debut album “Oracular Spectacular”. And the video is spectacular, indeed.

Combining low-budget elements which include to be what looks like homemade costumes and green screen effects, set at what looks to be the local beach, director Ray Tintori has somehow created a visual experience that is extraordinary. These elements scream amateur but the end result is clearly anything but. It’s risky and the risk has paid off.

Watch The Video: Time To Pretend

Tintori, 24, is no stranger to the scene. He attended LaGuardia High School (the school Fame was based on), has studied film at Wesleying University, has worked on many short films (his short-film entitled Death to the Tinman won praise and an “Honorable Mention” at Sundance last year), and worked in the art department on Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. But Tintori’s shift to music videos is not surprising. In a recent interview, he said “I have a bunch of other shorts I’m writing that are narrative things, but I have a lot of respect for guys like Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze, who go back and forth between these visually inventive music videos to really imaginative narrative projects. And I love pop music; I would just be tremendously thrilled to start working as a video director and have the opportunity to keep making my narrative projects. I just graduated from college and this is the first thing that’s happened. It’s great.”

It’s no surprise that Tintori cites Michel Gondry as a major influence. Gondry is responsible for some of the most visually interesting music videos ever created. Having directed countless White Stripes videos, along with videos for Bjork, Rolling Stones, Daft Punk, Kylie Minogue and many many more, Gondry has indeed managed to successfully maintain a career in many visual mediums.

But Ray Tintori is no copycat - he definitely has a visual style of his own that’s fresh and unique. With a video like “Time to Pretend” he is proving to be the director to look out for, in the same way that MGMT is the band to look out for. Both are capable of great things, so it’s only fitting that they work together.

So Gondry, watch out - it looks like there is a new kid in town.

Links:
Official Site: Ray Tintori
Official Site: MGMT
MySpace: MGMT

Past Video Spotlights:
a-ha - Take On Me
Adele - Chasing Pavements
Missy Elliott - Ching-A-Ling
Protest The Hero - Bloodmeat
Feist - I Feel It All

Posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 at 12:40 pm by danielb and is filed under Music & Videos.

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