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Experimental Film (song)

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Wikipedia article




{{Infobox song

| name = Experimental Film

| cover =

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = They Might Be Giants

| album = The Spine

| released = 2004

| format =

| recorded = 2004

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = Alternative rock

| length = 2:56

| label = Idlewild

| writer = John Flansburgh, John Linnell

| producer = They Might Be Giants and Pat Dillett

| prev_title = Man, It's So Loud in Here

| prev_year = 2001

| next_title = T-Shirt

| next_year = 2005

|misc=}}

"'Experimental Film'" is a song by alternative rock band They Might Be Giants. It is the lead single from their 2004 album 'The Spine'.[http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/t/theymightbegiants-spine.shtml They Might Be Giants: The Spine music review] PopMatters. Retrieved January 23, 2010. The song has been seen by some critics as a return to the band's earlier sound.[http://www.avclub.com/articles/they-might-be-giants-the-spine,11369/ They Might Be Giants: The Spine music review] The A.V. Club. Retrieved January 23, 2010. An animated music video was made for the song by internet animators The Brothers Chaps and featured characters from the animators' internet series 'Homestar Runner'. Cooking Vinyl. Retrieved January 23, 2010.

Though it saw no domestic release, "Experimental Film" was released promotionally in Great Britain. The disc included "Am I Awake?" and "Memo to Human Resources" as well as the single. The song was also released on a one-track promotional disc in Australia.

Subject matter



The song's lyrics are a satire of 'avant-garde cinema', and its perceived tendency toward meaninglessness and pomposity. The "narrator" of the song is an enthusiastic filmmaker who is attempting to make the eponymous movie. He extols its greatness, and makes grandiose statements about his abundance of ideas and his intention to make the viewer's "face implode" in the end, but the film is unfinished and lacks a discernible subject.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf9S1WVVmLM Experimental Film posted by ParticleMan on YouTube]

Homestar Runner video



The video itself is a cartoon experimental film and is ostensibly directed by 'Homestar Runner' cartoon characters Strong Sad and The Cheat. Their individual contributions are wildly different: Strong Sad's footage looks like it has been shot on black-and-white film, while The Cheat's portions are animated in his distinctively simplistic style. Initially the video simply cuts between the two, but as the video progresses, they are superimposed and mixed together more and more until the two become indistinguishable. Strong Sad's footage also includes other characters walking onto the set, and he is shown chasing them off of the set and berating them. The video is full of references to other experimental films.

In spite of They Might Be Giants originally planning to make a separate video for the "MTV crowd",[https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.07/play.html PLAY: Get Your MoveOn Groove On] Wired. Retrieved January 23, 2010. they have declared the Homestar Runner video to be the song's official music video.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUgMpG1I_o8 Experimental Film (with Homestar Runner)- They Might Be Giants (official video) TMBG on YouTube]

Translation



The song has been translated into French on the Homestar Runner Wiki.

References




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