The poignant topic of police brutality is tackled mano a mano in the just released ‘Close your Eyes’ video for Run The Jewels, directed by Park Pictures’ AG Rojas.
The provocative “Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)” video and track feature searing hip hop vocals by Run the Jewels’ New York City-based artist EI-P and Atlanta-based rapper Killer Mike with Zack de la Rocha (Rage Against the Machine.)
Released on www.runthejewels.net by the Mass Appeal label in conjunction with 9A Films and MAINLINE, the stark black and white treatise focuses in on a young black man (Keith Stanfield, (Straight Outta Compton) and a police officer (Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire), who are locked in a relentless and physically grueling battle in which neither fighter ever emerges victorious or gives up.
Says Rojas of the emotionally fraught clip, “It’s my first video in two years. I really wanted to find a track that meant something to me and when I heard this, I knew it had to be the one.”
In the clip, an already battered policeman meets up with an equally beaten-up kid on unidentified mean streets of an urban town. The teen tries to run but is wrestled to the ground, his face pinned violently to the asphalt by the burly officer. The two wrestle in what seems like a never-ending battle of limbs, sweat and frustration in a purgatory where the gun has long since been lost and the fight is distilled to an endurance match — it’s a visceral tangle which links the opponents to one another in a seemingly inescapable way.
Just as the kid breaks free, he is caught again, and just as he grabs the officer’s pepper spray he is jostled and both of their eyes end up getting splashed. The youth runs into an apartment, dousing his eyes and head with milk, a bizarre baptism repeated by the officer. The fight continues indoors on a stairwell and in cramped hallways before the panting combatants sit – completely spent – on either side of a bed in a stranger’s home. A super reiterates a phrase from the song title (And Count to Fuck) as the kid fantasizes of being free with his arms in the breeze yet in reality cannot move from the bed.
“The only thing that close faster than our caskets be the factory.”
– “Close Your Eyes” lyric
Delving into the all-too familiar clash of law enforcement against people of color was a difficult — but necessary — choice for the director. “I have a desire to only make music videos that have a message and a story that will affect people for a long time. I don’t want to make things that are temporary,” Rojas explains.
Hip Hop sensation Run the Jewels released their first acclaimed studio album, Run the Jewels, in September 2014.
About AG Rojas
AG Rojas discovered his love for directing early in life. Born in Barcelona, Spain, he moved to Southern California to attend Art Center in Pasadena. With a sharp eye for visuals, mood, and sequence, AG started his career as a music video director, working with artists such as Jack White, Spiritualized, Purity Ring, Gil Scott-Heron and Emeli Sandé. AG’s incredible ability to create stunning, poetic and cinematic imagery and his creative ability to construct unique narratives separates his work from his peers.
AG won the award for Best New Director at the 2012 UKMVA’s as well as Best Indie Rock video for Spiritualized’s “Hey Jane”. His video for Jack White was nominated for Best Rock Video at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards.
Since signing with Park Pictures, AG Rojas has directed spots for Apple, Gatorade, and the Duracell spot, “Trust Your Power” with Derrick Coleman, which became a viral sensation leading up to the 2014 Super Bowl, reaching over 22 million views on YouTube. Duracell also made the AICP Shortlist for best direction and picked up a Cannes Bronze Lion in 2014 for best celebrity endorsement. Since then, AG has helmed Apple’s “Strength” for the 5s which gained attention for its use of the historic “Chicken Fat” track and recently directed a chapter of Apple’s iPad “Verse” campaign with “Yao Band’s Verse.” Recently, he directed the highly publicized re-branding campaign, “Be More Human” for Reebok.
About Run the Jewels
A one-off project that quickly evolved into a hip-hop superduo, Run the Jewels feature rappers El-P and Killer Mike. Formed after El-P produced Killer Mike’s 2012 album R.A.P. Music, the duo released Run the Jewels in 2013, an album credited to Killer Mike and El-P and released on Fool’s Gold. Critically popular and with a sizable fan base to boot, Run the Jewels quickly evolved into a going concern when their sophomore effort, RTJ2, landed in 2014. A crowd-funded remix version of the album with all music replaced by samples of cats was released in 2015 as Meow the Jewels. It featured guest appearances from Portishead’s Geoff Barrow, Dan the Automator, and Internet sensation Lil Bub.
About Park Pictures
Founded in 1998 by Executive Producer Jacqueline Kelman Bisbee and renowned filmmaker/cinematographer Lance Acord, Bicoastal/London-based Park Pictures has an auspicious track record of discovering and mentoring new filmmaking talent, and infusing all projects with big screen production values. Park Pictures has forged strong partnerships with agencies, studios and clients worldwide by engaging all members of its team in creative problem solving.
In commercials, Lance Acord won a 2014 Emmy for his acclaimed Apple “Misunderstood” commercial. Acord’s Nike “Jogger” was named Best TV Spot of 2012 by Creativity Magazine and also got a 2013 Emmy nod. Acord has received three DGA Award nominations for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials.
Park Pictures’ feature division, headed by Producer Sam Bisbee, Jacqueline Kelman Bisbee and Lance Acord, has produced four features, all of which were selected for the Sundance Film Festival within a three-year timespan. Picked up by major distributors were Sundance award-winning Robot and Frank (2013), Infinitely Polar Bear (2014), starring Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana, and God’s Pocket (2014), starring the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. In 2015, Park Pictures comes to Sundance with Cop Car (2015), its first thriller, starring Kevin Bacon. Park Pictures won a 2010 Academy Award for the company’s first narrative film, live-action short “The New Tenants,” starring Vincent D’Onofrio.
CREDITS:
Production Company: 9A Films
Director: AG Rojas
Executive Producer: Jackie Kelman Bisbee
Executive Producer: Mary Ann Marino
Line Producer: Pete Vitale
Associate Producer: Laurie Devine
DP: Michael Ragen
1st AD: Michael Dignum
Production Designer: Chris Jones
Wardrobe Stylist: Natasha Newman-Thomas
SFX Make Up: Tony Gardner
Make Up: Anne Morgan
Gaffer: Bobby Wotherspoon
Key Grip: Ryan McGuire
Associate Producer: Jamie Rabineau
Production Supervisor: Harvey Horton
Editor: Justin Dial
VFX + Color: The Mill
Sound Design: Tom Paolantonio
Label: Mass Appeal
Management: Amaechi Uzoigwe & Will Bronson + DWA Inc.
Actors: Shea Whigham + Keithe Stanfield