The frenzy of the Housing Day video drops has finally subsided; Spring has sprung, freshmen wear the swag of their respective houses, and the staggering crop of clips have already started to fade into obscurity. With distance, however, comes esoteric critical reassessment. Arts Blog presents a pretentious analytical examination of the Housing Day videos, complete with stylistic comparisons to famed directors (play clips of the directors’ works simultaneously with the Housing Day videos for optimal effect). Look out later this week for the remaining three installments of our Housing Vid Critique.

Adams – Royals

Director of inspiration: Phil Pinto

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One of the most coveted houses on campus, Adams House gives its incoming sophomore class even more reason to anticipate house life with its excellent rendition of Lorde’s “Royals.” This charming video would fit in perfectly with Phil Pinto’s other works, including music videos for Sleigh Bells’ “Infinity Guitars” and Black Lips’ “Raw Meat.” The refreshingly clear storyline is coupled with intriguing direction, and the hodge-podge of emotive detail is barely but succinctly held together by thematically linked alternating washes of sepia and full color that act as subtle supplements to the driving plot. Tasteful music production by Jamie Dickerson ties together a riveting emotional journey.

The parallelism between Adams’ video and Pinto’s alternately frenetic and static camera work in “Infinity Guitars” is overwhelming

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Currier – What Does the Tree Say?

Director of inspiration: Andrew Adamson