The Video Music Awards are quickly approaching, and are set to have a hilarious host in Kevin Hart and plenty of great performances, from One Direction and Green Day to Rihanna and Frank Ocean. But the awards are the biggest part of the night. Here are a few predictions on which nominees will take home a Moonman.

Best Male Video

Nominees: Chris Brown’s “Turn Up The Music,” Drake feat. Rihanna’s “Take Care,” Frank Ocean’s “Swim Good,” Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend,” Usher’s “Climax”

This year’s list features drunken nights in Tokyo from Breezy, random slow motion birds from Drake and even awkward car leaning from Bieber. However, Usher and Frank Ocean rose above the madness. Usher’s video for “Climax” showed off his theatrical side, spending most of the video sitting in his car outside of his old flame’s house, which isn’t creepy at all. Viewers see real inner turmoil as the singer decides if he should stay in the car and keep daydreaming about his lost love or bust into the house and shoot up his ex’s new man.

Ocean’s video for “Swim Good” takes the cinematic cake. The song is a dark but upbeat suicide note, matched by a video in which Ocean mysteriously drives around in a samurai suit. He finally emerges from the car wielding a samurai sword that somehow makes the car blow up. He walks away with blood on his sword, possibly from the girl he was imagining throughout the song.

Best Female Video

Nominees: Beyonce’s “Love On Top,” Katy Perry’s “Part Of Me,” Nicki Minaj’s “Starships,” Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris’s “We Found Love,” Selena Gomez & The Scene’s “Love You Like A Love Song”

Queen B dropped it like it was hot even while pregnant, Gomez sang of love in a karaoke bar, the moon and every place she could think of, and Minaj had so much fun dancing on the beach that she could barely contain her chest. Yet Perry and Rihanna stood out from the pack. In Perry’s video for “Part Of Me,” a broken heart leads to cutting her hair and binding her chest up “Mulan”-style as G.I. Perry joins the Marines.

In Rihanna’s video, she and her boyfriend have a tumultuous love story. Fighting, drugs and alcohol come into play, and their obsession with each other comes to blows. Darts are thrown, and Rihanna throws up cartoon ribbons. What’s more impressive, though, is the cinematography and editing of the video. Several scenes use time-lapse photography, special effects and green screen effects that go perfectly with the chaos of the song. Give those crazy kids a Moonman.

Video of the Year

Nominees: Drake feat. Rihanna’s “Take Care,” Gotye feat. Kimbra’s “Somebody That I Used To Know,” Katy Perry’s “Wide Awake,” M.I.A.’s “Bad Girls,” Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris’s “We Found Love”

When it comes to the biggest video of the year, simple story lines and fancy pyrotechnics won’t cut it. The most creative and artistic video has to be something so out of the box that it doesn’t even make much sense. That’s were Gotye comes in. The Australian singer’s first No. 1 hit has gotten plenty of airplay since its release. However, the eccentric video was spoofed by “Saturday Night Live” for its interesting concept. Gotye and Kimbra are seen throughout the video singing while their bodies and the walls behind them are gradually painted.

The singer pulled out old-school, stop-motion animation to create the effect, and the result features the two magically painted into the backdrop, which is actually based on a piece of artwork created by Gotye’s father. The quirky concept is possibly the most creative work we’ve seen all year and is definitely worth a VMA.

 

Published on September 3, 2012 at 11:58 pm

Contact Ibet: ieinyang@syr.edu