Saturday, February 21, 2009

"The Wrap Out: Taylor Hicks 'What's Right is Right'"

by Jake Davis

“Ultimately I’d like this video to stand the test of time.”

With “What’s Right is Right” playing on Yahoo, Videographer Jake Davis had time to reflect on making the first music video for Taylor Hicks. This Manhattan director is an artist who challenges himself with each new endeavor. From Jake’s look back at “What’s Right is Right”:

“I went into directing this project with the same expectations I always do. …you're going to push yourself like never before, and you're going to be a better director at the end of it. That was the bar and I think we raised it. With my videos I want to make timeless, beautiful, cinematic, iconic, imagery that tells a story people can connect with on an emotional level. I want to be able to look back with no regrets and I want the motion picture to hold up the same way my favorite classic films hold up decades later. I think for the most part we're living in a disposable culture right now and I've never really related to that ideology. The concept of quantity over quality has never appealed to me. Ultimately I'd like this video to stand the test of time.

“…The styling was all classic from the Burberry trench coat to the fitted tailoring of the Dolce & Gabbana suit. …Taylor is actually quite a clothes horse and was really into it. We even incorporated a silk scarf reminiscent of a late sixties Miles Davis. We looked at a lot of my references from the great photography of Jim Marshall's book Jazz and Dennis Stock's work of James Dean. If you watch the video closely at 26 and 36 seconds in you can see that iconic James Dean photograph. It was actually already in the Edward Hopperesque diner when we scouted it. That was a sign that what we were doing was right.

“Ultimately Taylor and I wanted to tell the story of everlasting love. From the older couple at the diner who have overcome the obstacle of the husband's physical disability to the younger couple at the diner embarking on their first romance. And finally Taylor's own potentiality of love at the end of the video. These all represent the different stages of true love.”

Their vision was to tell the story of everlasting love as the song does. And just as the iconic images like that of James Dean that inspired this work remain with us, the timeless, classic scenes and music in “What’s Right is Right” promise to never go out of style nor off the charts.

A salute and thank you goes to Jake for caring about what endures and for putting in the hard work and talent to create a beautiful visual of things that really matter. Taylor’s music has touched our hearts and souls, and now Jake has put a face on those emotions.

This is a must read wrap for all those who followed this journey.
Read Jake’s complete “The Wrap Out: Taylor Hicks ‘What’s Right is Right’” at:

http://jakedavis.typepad.com/jakedavis/

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