"What's Right is Right" and What's Right With it

Last night I wrote up a post about this video, included my complaints and observations that may have, for some readers, leaned to the negative side. Today I'll lean toward the opposite direction and go for what I actually like about it.

For one thing, I'm tickled pink there finally is a Taylor Hicks' music video. We fans have waited a long while for such a thing to come to be and now it has. (Rousing shouts of "Yippee" all around.)

For another, Taylor Hicks incorporated a young, artistic videographer, Jake Davis, to design and shoot this work. Mr. Davis has done an admirable job with handling wardrobe, location, lighting, tone. Having to shoot the video in Chicago he used elements that were available, the snow works very well to show Taylor as a man walking a rather lonely and somber path.

There had been a call for extras for this video and a young actress utilized as a love interest. Watching the video I really did not see the need for extras - from what I understand not many showed in the pre-blizzard bitter cold conditions. Jake instead then used the out of focus lighting technique as a way to fill space and also create mood. He captures Mr. Hicks with a film noir approach, a throw back feel to another time in the past. Utilizing what seems to be a film speed that incorporates a grainier texture along with a sepia type tone set the video into a step back in time feel. Outside color beyond the grays and amber tones have been kept to a minimum lending to the video's artistic cohesiveness.

Taylor Hicks is in very fine voice in the video. He sounds absolutely brilliant, this song grooves along much better for me after having seen him enact it live, well live as much as film can get. The song takes on a life with the amber toned lighting and angles, the light effects Mr. Hicks is cast within to communicate a sense of loneliness, giving Taylor a haunting appeal.

This tone is further set in how the scenes with Mr. Hicks are framed with Taylor's screen time predominantly evidenced with his profile emerging in outline, rare are the shots of his face without the light flares and side lighting. Even the scenes shot with the band on stage with Mr. Hicks, members remain engulfed in smokey shadows and the viewer left with that impression that even thought he's on stage with other performers he's inherently alone. I love the use of that large retro microphone, love the side lighting effects and all those 'bubble' light shots of the out of focus orbs following Taylor from the diner to the bar.

There's certain aspects I'd like to have seen done differently but overall there's more right about this video than there is wrong.
"What's Right is Right"