MACKI*

Director Chris Cunningham’s work in music video, commercial, and video art are well known and loved. Cunningham first made a name for himself in the early 90’s in the art departments of major motion pictures, designing robots and creatures for Clive Barker and David Fincher. His work on Judge Dredd propelled him, in 1995, to work with the late Stanley Kubrick on his then-unfinished project A.I. (which was picked up by Speilberg).

While working with Kubrick, Cunningham directed his first music video, Autechre’s Second Bad Vilbel. What followed was a series of videos with various alternative English rock bands where Cunningham learned the ropes of filmmaking.

In 1997 Chris Cunningham directed the orgiastic mind-fuck known as Come to Daddy, a video which landed him squarely on the radar of every artist on the planet — except the Spice Girls, of course. Over the next two years Cunningham directed six videos and seven commercials, each with their own brand of genius.

In 2000 Cunningham directed two short films for the Anthony D’Offay Gallery titled flex and Monkey Drummer. Those works showed a very modern and hyper-realistic take on the world.

In 2005 Cunningham released Rubber Johnny, a six-minute short that showed just how disturbing a vision Chris has. It came released with a book whose photos are definitely unsafe for work.

Since then, the Englishman has helmed a video for garage rock band the Horrors. He also famously attempted an adaptation of William Gibson’s cyberpunk novel Neuromancer, as well as an adaptation of the comic RanXerox. He is reportedly currently working on one or more feature films.

“Most video directors have one trick that they use all the time. Then there are people who build a whole world around them. Chris is like that. We have only seen the tip of the iceberg with Chris.”

Bjork – All is full of love

All is Full of Love is an elegant, moving description of two Björk robots in love. As they are pieced and wired into existence, they sing to each other and fall in love. The video reaches its harmonious climax as the robots join in embrace while still being detailed by the industrial machines beside them. Each robot was designed by Cunningham, faces reminiscent of Björk’s own delicate features.

“When I first heard the track I wrote down the words ’sexual,’ ‘milk,’ ‘white porcelain,’ ’surgery.’ [The video]’s a combination of several fetishes: industrial robotics, female anatomy, and flourescent light in that order.” (Dazed and Confused)

Chris Cunningham’s first promo in 7 years is Sheena is a Parasite for The Horrors, a band that Chris picked off MySpace. The 1.5-minute clip, narrated by lead singer Faris Badwan, stars Samantha Morton as the song’s manic, transmogrifying subject, a punked-up Carrie who whips around like a banshee and spews her intestines at you. Sharply edited and shot on a low budget, the video burns on the bass’ running pulse, and provides more fleshy fodder for Cunningham fans. The video’s producer was Jim Wilson; it was posted at Golden Square.

The video was released on a DVD single on 7 August 2006 via The Horrors’ homebase, Loog Records. It was included on their following single, actually, for Death at the Chapel, in a limited edition of 1500 copies.

Dazed & Confused talked exclusively with Chris about Sheena is a Parasite in issue: Vol. 2 #40. In it Chris says, “I’d find it hard to make a video for a track which sounded completely retro. It would just make me think of old things. To me, ‘Sheena is a Parasite’ sounds very special and futuristic.” There are pictures of the video in a July 2006 edition of the New Musical Express.

On The Horrors’ myspace blog, Badwan comments about the making of the video, which was shot in Ealing on 29 April 2006. “Most of the video was shot in a massive aircraft hangar. Consequently there was plenty of climbing apparatus on which to amuse myself during breaks in filming. My personal favourite was one of the ladders that led up to a “crow’s nest” style installation. I used this platform to store my cigarettes, hip flask, and savoury snacks, safely away from [bandmate] Spider’s grasping clutches.”

Shots talked to Golden Square’s Rachel Mills, who was their Inferno artist for the vid. She said, “The main takes of the promo were filmed in a studio on DV CAM with many other elements shot specifically to fit in with the edit, at a later date, by Chris working at home.

“The post work involved multi-layer composites, seamless transitions between takes and cleaning up backgrounds. One of the challenges of working on the video is the frame accuracy of the visual/audio synchronization. This predetermines the necessity to use multiple takes for shots to sync perfectly.”

The Horrors are a garage rock band with unusual choice of apparel and obscure musical inspirations.

Band members

• Faris Rotter (Faris Badwan) – Vocals
• Joshua Third (formerly Von Grimm) (Joshua Hayward) – Guitar
• Tomethy Furse (Tom Cowan) – Bass
• Spider Webb (Rhys Webb) – Combo organ
• Coffin Joe (Joseph Spurgeon) – Drums