The Cut, the search for the first ever official music videos for three of Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s most iconic songs reached its conclusion today. The winning works premiering during the Cannes Film Festival.
The talent competition, launched by AKQA and Sir Elton John, YouTube and production studio, Pulse, called for young filmmakers to create the first official music videos for Rocket Man (1971), Tiny Dancer (1972) and Bennie and the Jets (1973). These three somes were released before music videos and never had one made for them. The contest was launched to give aspiring creatives a unique platform to show off their work for these hits, as well as giving the songs new meanings in 2017, the 50th anniversary year of Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s writing partnership. Entries were received from 50 countries.
The winners are:
- Majid Adin for Rocket Man, which had an animation brief.
Majid Adin’s Rocket Man video draws on his personal experiences as an Iranian refugee making his way to England – giving a new perspective to the lyrics and themes of travel and loneliness. A fine art university graduate was working in animation production, Adin travelled across Europe during the 2015 refugee crisis, spending time in the infamous Calais Jungle camp before being granted asylum in the UK.
He is now rebuilding his life as an artist in Britain. Majid partnered with animation director, Stephen McNally, to make his video.
- Jack Whiteley and Laura Brownhill for Bennie and the Jets, which features choreography.
The two directors imagined their video as a futuristic talent show.
The set and central structure takes its inspiration from Fritz Lang’s 1927 science-fiction film, Metropolis, while the synchronised choreography is inspired by Busby Berkeley films, and the black and white aesthetic is a nod to the classic Hollywood era.
- Max Weiland for Tiny Dancer, which has a live-action creative concept.
Weiland’s Tiny Dancer is a tribute to Los Angeles, using the track as the link between the city’s inhabitants. The video shows people experiencing the breadth of life, from Quinceanera to scattering a loved ones ashes, joined in their joy for the song as it plays through their radios.
Elton John commented, “I’ve been moved and amazed by these re-imaginings of our songs and pretty humbled by the process overall. The future of creativity is clearly collaborative, fusing art and technology and it’s been fantastic to open up our work to the next generation of creative talent and to share that process with the world on YouTube.”
To determine the winning entries, shortlists of potential winners were then whittled down by YouTube mentors assigned to each video category: Kurt Hugo Schneider for Live action – Tiny Dancer, Parris Goebel for Choreography – Bennie and the Jets and PES for Animation – Rocket Man. The mentors then joined an all-star judging panel – Barry Jenkins, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Melina Matsoukas, as well as Bernie and Elton themselves to select the three final winners in February 2017. Once chosen, the winners were given the opportunity to realise their music videos and granted $10,000 for future creative endeavours.
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