The Youth Gone Wild. In Reverse.

I stumbled on this a while ago and forgot to share… The controversial UK teen show came to the USA.

Let’s skip the debate about the morality of the content–whether it’s exploitative or informative or neither. On a purely visual basis, I’d say Writer/Director Evan Silver comes up gold in the promotional intro to MTV’s “Skins” about the youth gone wild.

IMHO it’s dope. Inspirational cinematography that’s not over the top technically. Well written. A killer edit (by Nathan Byrne). An elegant use of timeline, speed ramps, and the content marries exceptionally well with the shooting style. Perfect beats for the piece as well. It’s got RVI. Raw visual impact.

[BTW, if you took moral issue with the spot… (or if there’s cynic in your soul) then you’d better watch the parody version here. You’ll be happy to know that the kids are all perfect–monopoly, sunny delight, and bubbles–just like you thought they’d be.]

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54 replies on:
The Youth Gone Wild. In Reverse.

  1. Really well done. Watched the first 4 seasons. The shooting style doesnt really change through all of them. We dont get it up here in Canada because of our igloos and copyright issues.

    What does IMHO stand for?

  2. “On a purely visual basis” this is propaganda disguised as “art”. Its design and editing are stating “as long as something is edited and shot well it’s content doesn’t matter”. Wow, now that’s “killer”.

  3. Awesome show and video. I hate the conservative American TV critics. They killed public American talk radio and now want to kill cable TV programming. C’mon, turn off the TV if you don’t like it. 🙂

  5. there’s a great compare and contrast to be done here, as Channel 4 (who show Skins here in the UK) sink millions into their promos.
    Season 1 – way more grimy and explicit than the USA version (this is 4 years old now):
    http://www.vimeo.com/3030368

    Season 2 – Directed by Nigel Gorringe, uses Radiohead and dance to really abstract the “misunderstood teen” vibe (season 2 of skins was dynamite, btw)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbnXnvHsOdg

    So in all, it sits well in the canon of sexy, dirty, well shot promos for the show. I haven’t seen the US version, but the UK version lost it’s way terribly after the original cast left.

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