OMONA'S PICK: MV Producers/Directors Part 3: Lumpens 🎥

[showminomoney.livejournal.com]

Omo! It's time for another installment of "OP is obsessed with finding out who makes what MV for no real reason at all". I like this next group because they always produce beautiful, high quality MVs. The color palettes are well chosen, and there's always something new to discover with every re-watch. Without further ado, here's another one of my favorite MV Producers/Production Houses:

Lumpens is a Seoul based video production house that started in 2014. Possibly best known for being BTS's go to prod company, having worked on 9 of their MVs. They also worked with other groups like Wonder Girls, SISTAR, Block B, and SPICA.

Some notable elements repeated in their work:
- rich colors (sometimes muted)
- art film teas
- explosions / things breaking / falling
- slow close-ups on deadpan faces
- steady camera work that allows the choreography to really shine

Watch some of their MVs below and let me know in the comments if you notice any other similarities in their work

RAIN - 30SEXY (January 2014)

30 sexy, dirty 30! Monochromatic color scheme, lots of creative lighting play. I guess Rain blew his budget on the LA SONG MV (also by Lumpens), so this one had to be simpler. I think the simplicity works though.

SPICA - You Don't Love Me (January 2014)

Gorgeous colors, retro styling, cheeky innuendo. It's beautiful and matches the mood of the song really nicely.

They also did SPICA's Tonight, and Kim Bohyung's Crazy Girl

IU - Twenty-three (October 2015)

Absolutely stunning color palette. I love all the Alice in Wonderland references. It totally makes me want to paint the walls of my room different shades of blue and purple and red.

Block B - TOY (April 2016)

This looks and feels kind of like BTS's RUN. My favorite part is the montage of explosions at around 3:00.

BTS - FIRE (May 2016)

One of my fave BTS MVs. It's just pure unadulterated fun. Blonde Jin was everything. BTS have basically grown up with this production company, do you think they'll stick with them forever? Do the fans want to see BTS work with other production houses?

Other BTS MVs by Lumpens include: Boy In Luv, Just One Day, No More Dream, Danger, I NEED U, RUN, Blood Sweat & Tears, & Spring Day.

SISTAR - I Like That (June 2016)

I like love this! It's so beautiful and some shots remind me of scenes from Tarsem Singh's The Fall (it's probably inspired by another movie, but that was the first thing to come to mind).

They also worked on SISTAR's MVs for I Swear & Lonely, and Hyolyn's solo Lonely.

Wonder Girls - Why So Lonely (July 2016)

This was my personal pick for MV of the year for 2016. Pastel coloured misandry. The makeup was great, the whole 70's vibe, the shots were beautiful, the girls were beautiful. I loved everything about it.

They also did the MV for I Feel You.

SUNMI - Gashina (August 2017)

This MV is incredibly colorful and weird and fun. It's nice to see that Sunmi kept her connections. They really know how to make her look good.

Other Lumpens MVs:
Infinite - Last Romeo
VIXX - Love Equation
Yoonmirae - This Love
Jessica - Fly
Yoonmirae - JamCome On Baby
Lee Hyori - Seoul
Lee Hyori - Black

See a list of all their work here

Sources: lumpens | CJENMMUSIC Official | 1theK | jypentertainment | starshiptv | B2Ment

MV Producers/Directors Series
🎥 Part 1: VM Project Architecture
🎥 Part 2: Naive Creative Studio

I just realized that the girl groups they worked with have disbanded... what a sad coincidence. Which of their MVs are your faves, Omona?

Also, I thought I'd be able to churn these posts out monthly.. I overestimated my motivation. lol

Comments

[fifi-moon.livejournal.com]

it makes sense so far for BTS to have stayed with them considering the storyline aspect of their MVs. It means theres a level of consistency but also the framework to develop and shift because of the experience of working together over a significant period of time, rather than having to worry about developing trust/bond to make it work they can focus on the actual work.

They also did the stupidly gorgeous Prologue video too.

I wonder if they're also doing the new stuff with them as well...

also props on a super cool post!

[showminomoney.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And that's true, I do love consistency. Lumpens seems to have the range to do any kind of MV that BTS would want to do, while having it still feel cohesive with their image/brand.

[3677.livejournal.com]

I hope they keep working together, I really love what he does with BTS
Did Lumpens do the Highlight Reels too?

[pourtant.livejournal.com]

yep!

[volume1995.livejournal.com]

i forgot how good iu's 23 mv was!! its so quirky and fun
also yoon mirae's jamcomeon baby was really simple but so effective cause it's on my mind once a day

[queenhinata.livejournal.com]

oh I love lumpens!!!

run/bst are my favorite kpop music videos (ever); loved last romeo, why so lonely, gashina, too. their attention to detail is so cool and the final products tend to have a cinematic feel.

[showminomoney.livejournal.com]

CINEMATIC! Exactly the word to describe their work. lol I can't words today.

[jyusou.livejournal.com]

omg lumpens directed spica's you don't love me mv?? that's one of my favourite mvs!! good for themmm (wow this post is making me miss spica :((( ). and of course i love what they've done for the wonder girls, bts and sistar.

[pinklunacy.livejournal.com]

no truer words were ever spoken

(23 is such a masterpiece too, tho)

[annayism.livejournal.com]

this

[mc1a.livejournal.com]

+1

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

Idc if it's every months or just once in a while, I really enjoy these posts OP! thank you 😚

I knew they did most of BTS' MVs but I didn't know they worked with Wonder Girls and Sunmi!!! Makes sense because some parts of Gashina reminded me of the two last WG MVs so much, I hope she'll keep working with them, it's a good match!

One of my recent favourite MVs by them is Seoul by Lee Hyori. I found it absolutely gorgeous, even moreso than Black - the transitions between Jeju's sunny, green nature and Seoul's harsh city landscapes by night were so well done. I wasn't sold on the song at first but the visuals had me hooked and now I just love the whole package.

[showminomoney.livejournal.com]

Aww! I'm so glad you enjoy these post whenever I get to make them. <3 haha

I should check out Lee Hyori's MVs. I haven't yet.

[arysthaeniru.livejournal.com]

Prologue is maybe Lumpens' best work, but I LOVE their stuff with wonder girls. Maybe my fave MV directors.

[pinklunacy.livejournal.com]

thanks for the post(s) op. I had no idea all these videos had been produced by the same house! I definitely love their work. Everything's so pretty and polished. There's a lot of my favs in here, such as BTS' HYYH/BST/Spring Day, IU's 23 and WG's Why so lonely. Block B's Toy, Sistar's I like that and Sunmi's Gashina are also gorgeous. It probably helps a lot that I not only love the videos but also the songs!

[mntsuklaa.livejournal.com]

Just came here to say that I agree about the similarities between I Like That and The Fall and that this post has reminded me that I need to rewatch that (excellent) movie.

[showminomoney.livejournal.com]

It's a great movie. I love Tarsem Singh's movies. Have you seen Mirror Mirror? The story is eh, but the production design and costumes are really nice.

[mntsuklaa.livejournal.com]

I haven't, but it's on Netflix and I have time so I'm going to watch it right now. Eiko Ishioka did the costume designs for The Fall as well so I'm confident that everything will look amazing.

[hpn88.livejournal.com]

Love love love the WSL MV and IU's 23

[unelixir.livejournal.com]

iu's 23 is one of my fave kpop mvs next to i like that!!!

[chimpansee.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, Why So Lonely, 23 and Fire are some of my favorite kpop mvs ever. No idea they were by the same company. Like others have said, I loved the Run mv too. It's so gorgeous and the colors are just right.

[ironicmustache.livejournal.com]

lots of great videos in this list!! wg's, 23, fire ... bts's videos are sometimes "too much" for my taste (esp, spring day, prologue and bst), but i acknowledge that they're pretty.

[dio-elaclaire.livejournal.com]

wow, they did some really great videos!

i really love these posts btw. keep up the good work, op!

[jeliza]

They did MFBTY's Sweet Dream, Bang Diggy Bang Bang and Bucku Bucku as well -- Sweet Dream is one of my all time favorites of their videos, I think.

[sra-interesante.livejournal.com]

uuuuh that explain all those references IU's 23 and Sunmi Gashina have in common .... i mean beside obvious lyrics similarities

[annayism.livejournal.com]

i love lumpens exactly for bts' prologue video aka their masterpiece

[rainstormraider.livejournal.com]

This is such a great post OP! Checking out all these other MVs I haven't seen!

[nickyromain.livejournal.com]

!!! I always referred to them in my head as the brilliant I feel you/why so lonely director, I had the feeling gashina was the same director, but I never thought to look further (let alone realise it was an entire production company that decided on these MVs), thank you OP for giving us the name and background info. I'm definitely checking out their other MVs now but I wanted to thank you first a+ post

[showminomoney.livejournal.com]

Haha you're very welcome! It annoys me to no end that most Kpop MVs don't directly credit who the producers are, that's pretty much the main reason I started this series. It's fun finding out the ones I like are done by the same companies.

[sunlight-kisses.livejournal.com]

this is such a great post, thank you!

[abcd123.livejournal.com]

Ooh thanks for this post op! As someone who studies film I always love learning more about the creative minds behind music videos (which is what I want to specialize in honestly)!! Gonna go check out those two other posts right now!

Lumpens is seriously my production goals honestly. It's very noticeable with their bts MVs (probably because there is an actual "storyline" there lol) but I love how they try and create a story with their MVs - even if it's as simple as Rains 30sexy video. I also agree with you on their use of colors! They definitely try and match the colors to the song choice - like with why so lonely that was upbeat - the colors popped out more as opposed to bts prologue which was more subtle and calm (matching the mood/butterfly that was used in the song). I do hope they continue working with bts - like Someone else uncle this post said they would be able to keep consistent with bts style having known the basic "plot" (whatever it is) of their ongoing series. (I wanna say they also worked on the love yourself highlight reels?)

Also op if you need help picking a next production company - check out sunmiah@tumblrs behind kpop series - I think you covered most of the companies she did lol but there might be one or two more that can help you find music videos made by other production houses! Looking forward to your next segment if you decide to make one!

[showminomoney.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'll look into sunmiah's list. I've actually compiled a really long list of companies that I've found, I was supposed to do at least one a month, but then I ended up just.. not. Anyway, hopefully I'll find the motivation to make another one soon! I'm glad you enjoy them!

[cedric-mcfly.livejournal.com]

I love these series of posts so much!

A lot of great MVs by them, but i just looove "Why So Lonely" so much.
"Gashina" is also a fave, and it makes sense BTS works with them a lot, given their more thematic/storyline MVs.

[leavesabound.livejournal.com]

Amazing post, very interesting! I have completely missed the previous posts in the series so I'll have to check them out.

I just realized that the girl groups they worked with have disbanded... what a sad coincidence.

This sad trend. I recently realised I'm pretty much just a boy group fan now since all the girl groups I was into are over, be it official or not. It's depressing.

[seulgibear.livejournal.com]

this post reminded me how much i LOVE toy! and how great that shot of zico and the sign saying trash only is lmao

i love the 23 mv. it has a lot of nifty editing and camera tricks aside from the tons of little details to pick up that makes you wanna rewatch again and again. it's so well done. same for why so lonely, love the color palette for it too.
lumpens' aesthetic game changed so much by looking at their mv list. they went from dark and ~gritty to really colourful cinematic pieces. & i see they've worked a lot with mfbty

[rosiemotleymind.livejournal.com]

I'm always here for pastel colored misandry. Always.

I like that has to be my favorite Sistar music video besides I swear. It's just gorgeous. Lumpen's use of colors give me tingles.

I can talk about how sexy BTS all were in the fire mv. Jin stole the show tbh but my favorite scene will always be Taehyung ironing him at the start. It's just really fun and I love eccentric shit like that. BST though is tied with Run for most gorgeous mv for me. The pastels in Run versus the bright colors in BST is hard to choose. The imagery in both are fantastic. Tae falling into the water at the beginning of Run?!? Amazing.

[cakeeatingidol.livejournal.com]

I love these posts. It makes me fee like less of a weirdo as I do the same thing. I did a deep dive into DPR and my eyes were opened.

Keep it up! Please! We love it!

[showminomoney.livejournal.com]

lmao! I love that my obsession is relatable. I've actually already started on the next one, so we'll see how that goes. Thanks for the encouragement!

[cakeeatingidol.livejournal.com]

Gahhhh jisung!!! I just started watching broduce and it's so addicting omg. I want all of them to win!!!

[showminomoney.livejournal.com]

I remember you saying that you were! Don't worry, most of the ones that don't win have debuted/plan to debut soon anyway. So basically they all win.