Award Winning Music Video Director RT! Presents “The Art Of Music Video Exhibition”

What: THE ART OF MUSIC VIDEO exhibition

Where: Sleeping Giant Gallery (789 Dundas Street West)

When: Opening night Friday June 12th, 09

Time: 6PM to 12AM

The discipline of photography, is finding hidden beauty in the visual realm we can see everyday. It is changing the way you see things in order to find the unique, the iconic, the visually intriguing. This is the true expression of what THE ART OF MUSIC VIDEO exhibition is about. We've all seen the music videos but to see them as still images, frozen moments, where artistic disciplines such as fashion design, art direction, lighting design, photography, and performance art collide to create stand-alone dreamlike realities can be breathtaking.

The gallery art show (JUNE 12 –19) will display blown up photographs of music artists, stills of music videos and raw footage video installations, to emphasize the artistry that goes into creating hip-hop, rock and pop music art. The show is intended to blur the lines between photography and filmography as it freezes moments in music videos, focusing the audience to the carefully constructed details that go into the production of these often discarded works of art. The important photographic elements of the music video that are present in most other forms of photography (setting, fashion, performance expression) will be given their due time to be thoughtfully deciphered and considered. For the first time in Music video history, the "music" will be separated from the "video" and be given its time to be observed for what it is, raw inspiration captured on film.

The Exhibition will feature work directed by several visual Stylists associated with the NE INC. (the production company founded by RT! And his long time business Collaborator John Nadalin.) Some of the Featured Directors will be: Bruce McDonald, Charles Officer, MMVA nominated David Mewa, Marc Andre Debruyne, AND MMVA Nominated Cazhhmere.

RT! Nominated for the 4th consecutive year at the 2009 MMVAs for Music Video Director of the year! has quickly become one of Canada’s most successful and prolific film directors ( awarded ten International music video awards, and nominated for more than thirty film and television industry awards) since debuting on the music video scene only a few years ago. His knack for dreaming up creatives that tap into youth based cultural demographics, manufacturing all encompassing immersive visual worlds, and his acute characterization has made him one of the most sought after new taste-makers in North America today. RT! is responsible for giving the world new looks at great International music artists Sean Paul, Kardinal Offishall, Simple Plan, Neverending White Lights, Massari, and Shawn Desman.

LUDACRIS' PRODUCER AND MANAGER CHAKA ZULU TALKS ABOUT YOUTUBE AND NEW MUSIC LAUNCHES.

Photo: Kemi Omololu-Olunloyo Keminications Media

I took this picture in February 2004. Karma is a big girl now. You can even hear her on daddy Luda's last album. When Ludacris' manager wanted to create buzz for his client's upcoming CD, he went directly to YouTube.com. But instead of releasing a flashy video for Ludacris' song "Let's Stay Together," Chaka Zulu just uploaded the track directly, with only a photo of the rapper as accompaniment.

"You actually get to visualize the music," said Zulu, who is also co-founder of Ludacris' Disturbing tha Peace label. "Even if it's not a real video, music is emotion. Music has a concept and theme."

Though YouTube is known as the Internet's greatest video warehouse, it's becoming known as the place to find new music, no video needed.

Put in the name of your favourite artist and there's chance that besides an assortment of their videos, you'll find a song with perhaps just a picture or a montage of photos to accompany it - and it still gets thousands of views.

If anyone wants to hear Akon's remake of Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Starting Something," it's there. Someone yearning for the new Guns N' Roses track "Shackler's Revenge" or T.I.'s new release "Live Your Life" featuring Rihanna, all it takes is a quick search of their name and song title. No problem.

While some of the songs are posted directly by an artist's camp, others are uploaded by fans eager to share and discuss new music by their favourite act.

DJ Sickamore, who was director of A&R at Atlantic Records for two years and now has his own entertainment management company, says YouTube is a simpler way to listen to music on the Internet.

"Other file hosting sites have too many steps," said DJ Sickamore. "If I like a song, I can hear it instantly without any problems. You definitely have to take advantage of this tool."

Zulu first noticed the power of YouTube sans video two years ago, when he posted Ludacris' song "War with God" with just the rapper's picture as a visual on the site. Soon after, Zulu's BlackBerry was bombarded with text messages.

"It had the Internet going crazy," recalled Zulu. "I was getting ton of messages about how they loved it. I didn't know that many people heard it.

"It's a viable marketing tool for us now," he added. Read more at the source....

Source: The Canadian Press

Meanwhile, I got to listen in to a press conference on Def Jam's line with my sister blog The Hip-Hop Chronicle U.K where Luda spoke to a ton of DJ's and bloggers about his two new movies and album due out November 11th 2008. Below is Sumit's question. Go to his blog after to read the whole story.