Reviewing DVD’s…
A Sternberg showreel received by A. Bruno management, Italy
The work of Sternberg.
Ok, I gave a look at some music videos shot by Marcus Sternberg in Italy quite a while a go and I ended up having this opinion about them. I have to admit, I did not see all of his work but those ones gave me a certain idea of what he has been up to in Italy, at least musicvideowise.
Marcus Sternberg’s style is quite repetitive. The way he portraits the artists in those clips is always the same: they look like fashionable Pop Icons, with no irony, no creativity at all.
If any of you has ever seen Sternberg’s videos, I challenge you to recognise his “unique” film language. In all of his videos you will always find these themes:
- The role of the singer: the performer is almost constantly in the frame, portraited with the brightest colours in full fidelity
- The choice of evocative landscapes (as in “River”) and the presence of photo-models.
- A fashion-magazine style more remenicent of Vogue, Elle and Mari-Claire than Rolling Stones
- The use of evocative words on the screen such as “life is too short” or “We love” makes the connection complete between fashion magazine and music video… possibly an attempt to move Moschino and Dolce & Gabbana brand-styling to MTV?
In those clips I have been reviewing, the attention is often given to the architecture of the location, for example Roman Neoclassic landscapes in “Ich wurd fur dich Tun”.
The camera movements are mostly forward and backward, some slow motion, and that’z it. This creates a quite repetitive effect, centred on the singer’s eyes… again there is no escape.
Finally, the strong light and bright colours makes it quite difficult for the spectator to understand the message of the video (if there was any).
Quite frankly, I believe that in these Sternberg promos, the artists look extremely artificial, like stereotypical pop icons, maybe Neoclassic Pop icons… but nothing else.
What waz it?
Filmology:
Schiller mit Kim Sanders “Dancing whit loneliness”
Storm “We love”
Kai Tracid “Life is too short”
Marquee “River”
Mc Renee “Ich wurd fur dich Tun”
Kami “Sie mich an”
