Street Spirit (fade out)
Directed by Jonathan Glazer
Filmed in a desert outside of Los Angeles, California
A favorite for many fans, this
video features the band surrounded by a bunch of caravans somewhere
east of LA in a desert environment. It was at this point that
Radiohead really started to think carefully and clearly about
their videos. For this one Thom wanted a dream-like atmosphere
to couple the song, in this case made by various clever slow
motion camera effects.
From an interview: Directed by Jonathan Glazer, this again was
shot in the desert outside Los Angeles, showing Thom singing
with his eyes closed while random images of crickets, barking
dogs etc. flickered by in slow motion. The rest of the band
jumped off chairs and other objects, also in slow motion. "Thom
wanted it to be like a dream," explained the film-maker, "and
liked the idea of nobody getting anywhere," while Thom observed,
"We wanted to make something really elegant and beautiful. I
wanted something that would create space in the viewer's imagination
to complement the stream of consciousness of the song."
Review by Karen Hands:
This is an extremely strange video. Well, really it's normal.
For Radiohead anyway. Filmed all in black and white and using
a special photosonics ultra-slow motion science camera which
can track a bullet from a gun, makes it very interesting. Things
go at different speeds on the screen, which is a bit disconcerting
to the eye and the brain. One example is Thom bending over waving
a stick above the ground, another Thom jumping over it in slow
motion. This is a great video for all Thom appreciators. During
the last "fade out" section, Thom does this 'wind-tunnel' effect.
The rest of the band are sitting in the background, and have
an expression on their faces which reads "What is he doing?
Has he gone mad?" With many great moments, this is one of the
best videos Radiohead, or anybody else, has ever had. It was
filmed in the desert outside LA, and directed by Jonathan Glazer.
When coming up for the idea for the video Thom said: "In this
video we wanted to make something really elegant and beautiful.
The song came out of a stream of consciousness and Jonathan
Glazer and I wanted something that would create space in the
viewer's imagination to complete this. Pop videos so often kill
a song stone dead, but when Jonathan suggested using the photosonics
ultra-slow motion science camera coupled with reference to the
surrealist photographers of the early century, we knew we had
something."
