Thirty Frames Per Second: The Visionary Art of the Music Video
Reiss and Feineman's luxuriously illustrated book is a sort of meditation on the question, "Is music video an art form?" It is full of the quirky camera angles, arresting colors, and arty atmosphere of both music videos and those Calvin Klein commercials featuring brooding young models, frequently in dishabille. It opens with generally fawning critiques of leading music-video directors, which, printed in tiny type, seem rather an afterthought, definitely intended to take a backseat to the lavish graphics. So get it for the glamorous pix, and acquire some questionable genre criticism on the side. That genre, by the way, is basically the rock video, and there is nary a hint of the cowboy-hats-and-fringe ambience of country music videos. A note of caution is, perhaps, necessary: there is some gratuitous nudity herein, but it is quite tasteful and perfectly in context. Again, think Calvin Klein commercials, with a soft "R" rating, as opposed to the approximately hard "PG" for television. And remember--this is ART.Mike TribbyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved