AUDIO-VISUAL.JOURNAL
audio-visual.journal
PROGRAM NOTES
written by Paris Vincent
Music videos are a playground for experimental techniques in filmmaking. One captivating motif in the genre is the use of backwards motion. Consider that odd feeling of someone moving on screen fluidly, yet unnaturally, as you realize a video has been edited to make movement appear in reverse. This brief selection of music videos features a speculative lineage of such creatively complex examples, from the earliest and most well-known (The Pharcyde’s “Drop,” and Cibo Matto’s “Sugar Water”) to its successors and the ways they’ve expanded on the motif (Alt-J’s “Breezeblocks,” and Caroline Rose’s “Miami”). As mentioned on set during the making of “Drop,” a Pharcyde member proudly states “we got the backwards thing.”* This feeling of innovation pervades all of the music videos selected, as they each showcase a unique sense of having that “backwards thing.”
*This can be heard during a behind the scenes segment, currently uploaded onto the MTV Vault YouTube channel.
All of the videos are gathered in a We Got The Backwards Thing playlist, to be watched in order of discussion. The total run time is about 16 minutes.
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“Drop” by The Pharcyde / 03:33
[CLOSED CAPTIONS AVAILIBLE.]
West Coast rap group The Pharcyde and their 1995 music video “Drop” serves both as the conceptual experiment of a young Spike Jonze, as well as the major reference point for the backwards motion motif in contemporary music videos.
Inspired by J-Dilla’s use of reversed samples in the song, “Drop” visualizes its sonic reference into the extremes of choreographic possibility. The Pharcyde members’ movements are wonky, yet perfectly in time with the music. How so? Because of meticulous planning to perform, recite, and shoot the video backwards. The footage is then reversed for the final edit. The resulting piece is something proof-of-concept, and it proves to be perplexing, intriguing and entertaining.
[ID: 4 young, black men lean upon and reach out toward one another, while in a large alleyway. END ID.]
“Sugar Water” by Cibo Mato / 04:02
[LYRICS AVAILIBLE IN VIDEO DESCRIPTION; AUTO-GENERATED CLOSED CAPTIONS AVAILIBLE.]
In 1996, music duo Cibo Matto released the video for their early hit song “Sugar Water.” Surrealist in theme, the vision of director Michel Gondry expands reversed imagery into a merging of experimental concept and narrative tool.
According to Gondry, the video’s inspiration came from symmetry and palindromes, or words that have the same spelling forward as they do in reverse.* The result is a simultaneous choreography of forward and reverse motion shown through a split screen effect, revealing how the two protagonists (played by Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto) mysteriously intersect paths.
[ID:“Sugar Water” written out in lipstick on a window. A split screen effect shows the left half of the window with blue lighting, and the right half with red lighting. END ID.]
*Michel Gondry breaks down this concept in Volume 3 of Directors Label, a DVD released in 2003 compiling his notable music video work. The clip specifically discussing “Sugar Water” can be found on YouTube.
[Editor’s Note: The original footnote included a link to the Director’s Label DVD posted onto Internet Archive, however the link would often re-direct to the incorrect chapter of the DVD. To resolve this, the link has been replaced with one from YouTube, featuring only the relevant segment of the DVD.]
“Breezeblocks” by Alt-J / 03:47
[AUTO-GENERATED CLOSED CAPTIONS AVAILIBLE.]
Alt-J’s “Breezeblocks” is a catchy yet somber 2012 track, whose visuals tell a story outlined within the lyrics. Director Ellis Bahl devises a disturbing plot, building suspense and intensity as the relationships between characters unfold from beginning to end (or, technically, end to beginning).*
The opening shot is heavy, immediately inviting the viewer to wonder how it all got to that moment. With detailed attention to rhythm and plot structure, there is palpable conflict in actively understanding past actions as if they are happening in the present. This brings a level of sophistication to the backwards motif where the ability to tell a story completely in reverse feels polished.
[ID: Two breezeblocks create a makeshift piece of furniture against a brick wall. END ID.]
*Music video commissioning company Radar Music Videos posted Bahl’s treatment for “Breezeblocks” in 2012. This sheds light on the original intentions for the video, including the effect of reverse movement, plot reveals, and the overall sinister tone.
“Miami” by Caroline Rose / 04:38
[LYRICS AVAILIBLE IN VIDEO DESCRIPTION; CLOSED CAPTIONS UNAVAILIBLE.]
“Miami” is both a music video, and chapter one to a larger short film, for the 2023 album The Art of Forgetting by artist Caroline Rose. The collaborative vision of Rose and director Sam Bennett features a reversed narrative as a cinematic portrayal of a night from Caroline Rose’s real life.
Using the backwards motif to tell this story establishes themes of temporality, simulation, and the way nostalgia, melancholy, desire, and longing blend together.* There is also an intimacy to the film’s continuous shooting style and seamless editing, which keeps the audience as in the moment as the characters are. By keeping the viewer present in this reversed narrative, the motif expands into a more expressive realm, where memory and reality become one another.
[ID: A person stands center frame. They have short, blond hair, and have on a red cardigan, a black graphic tee, and a chain link necklace. In the background is a silhouette of a canyon underneath a gradient of pink and purple, with lights resembling stars. END ID.]
*Caroline Rose mentions this particular ‘blend’ of themes in relation to the Brazilian Portuguese term ‘saudade.’
