Mark Romanek: Music Video Stills (Hardcover)

by Mark Romanek (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
There is a danger in stilling something that's built for speed. Music videos, especially, are the stuff of visual overdrive, and viewing Romanek's award-winning frames on the static page is frustrating for fans overstimulated by computers and television. As 2001 approaches--an important year for Romanek, given his love for the late director Stanley Kubrick and his film 2001--the question remains whether image is enough to hold a gaze. Images from "Jump, They Say" (1993) provoke an affirmative answer mostly because of David Bowie's perversely photogenic face. Madonna, the artist with the most MTV Video Music Awards under her belt, fails to mesmerize, however, with her cliched poses from "Rain" (1993). Overall, the more compelling stills do not feature pop stars. For Nine Inch Nails's "The Perfect Drug" (1997) video, Romanek combined Edgar Allen Poe imagery (ravens and skulls) with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland hookahs and mazes. The 175 color images are clear and finely reproduced, but Romanek's "pleasantly disturbing dreams" remain more beautiful in motion. Recommended only for larger photography collections.
-Heather McCormack, "Library Journal"
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Arena (December 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892041081
• ISBN-13: 978-1892041081
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 8.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,562,511 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best stills of Trent,Fiona,Milla,Janet,Lenny......, January 23, 2000

By A Customer

I wondered,since these pictures are actually video stills,if they'd be grainy or fuzzy in some small way.NOT AT ALL,these look like photographs,you'd never guess they're stills...unless you've seen the videos.Fiona Apple's "Criminal" and NIN's "Closer" are two of my all-time favorite videos,and Fiona and Trent could not POSSIBLY look sexier than they do in those videos.And this book captures the very best frames.There's also a Lenny Kravitz video featuring Milla Jovovich which I'd never seen,where her eyebrows are still bleached for The 5th Element,and she's all buff,pale and otherwordly.And the Janet Jackson video featured has her looking more beautiful than ANY other video she's EVER made-sensual,minimal make-up,funky,earthy....WOO-HOO! This is a gorgeous,totally COOL book,I recommend it wholeheartedly.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I'm sorry, this is not good enough..., June 12, 2000

By	Martin Emborg Hansen (Copenhagen, Denmark) - See all my reviews

My main problem with the book is the quality of the pictures. I read in another review, that the picture quality was great, but it isn't. Instead of doing the pictures for the book, by scanning the original 35-millimeter prints, as they should have done, for a good result, it looks like they've used video-images. yes, that's right: Video. There are those pink and light-green distortions at the edge of white areas. Pixelation happening all over the place. No clear, sharp edges. Very dissappointing. I love Mr. Romaneks work, and this book does not do his images justice, I'm sorry.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At long last !, December 21, 1999

By	Chae Hill (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

I've been a fan of Mark's before I even knew who he was, because all of my favorite videos were directed by him. This beautiful book is wonderful in that it displays many of the breathtaking images experienced in the dream-like environments he so masterfully creates. The book, however, doesn't make him any less elusive and mysterious, because the few pages of text don't elaborate much on him - but I guess - what can you expect, it's a book of video stills. After breathing in each page, you're left unfulfilled. You want more images, more pictures, more Mark! This is an absolute must buy for any fans of the art of music videos, Mark Romanek, and Milla Jovovich :)The fabric cover/binding is beautiful and the picture is perfect eye candy. I'm ready for the Mark Romanek Video Archive !