The song’s music video was directed by Francis Lawrence and produced by Caleb Dewart of DNA Inc.
The video deals directly with the lyrics’ theme of Stefani’s search for inspiration in songwriting. It opens with a lengthy non-musical section in which Stefani arrives in Los Angeles off of No Doubt’s Rock Steady Tour. She receives several calls from manager Jimmy Iovine, who attempts to push her forward with her solo debut project, but she replies that she is tired and uninspired.
After a failed studio attempt, Stefani sees a flyer advertising help for writer’s block. Upon arrival she is asked to fill out a suspicious questionnaire, where the camera pans to the questions which will be important. She is then told that she’ll be billed when she is finished. She asks for clarification only to discover that she is already back in the studio by herself. When Stefani picks up an oversized pocket watch from the piano, a rabbit knick-knack that she had previously seen jumps across the room. She throws the watch at the knick-knack, causing her to fall back on her chair and find herself transported to a fantasy world based on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.
 
Stefani portrays several characters from the books, including Alice, the White Queen and the Red Queen, in dresses by British-Gibraltarian fashion designer John Galliano.
 
The video frequently cuts to Stefani back in the studio to show her singing and performing in semi-synchronization with her actions within her fantasy world. As this transpires the song is recording itself. Stefani ultimately rediscovers her confidence, and her full awareness is transported back to the ordinary reality of the studio just as she dances in front of her four gigglingHarajuku Girls. She then is presented with her bill by the consultant as a wooden chair topples to the floor.
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There are four versions of the video. The full long version is one minute longer than the Making the Video version, while the cut version omits the scenes in which she leaves the airport and is sleepy and in which she fills out the questionnaire. The short version begins with Stefani practicing on the piano and her finding the watch just seconds after that. Her being billed is not shown in this version, so the video ends with the Harajuku Girls laughing at her performance.
 
The music video was well received by many reviewers. Sam Bloch from Stylus Magazine referred to it as a short film, comparing it toMichael Jackson’s Thriller, and commented, “I sigh with admiration and wish every video was this alive.” The video debuted on MTv’sTotal Request Live on October 19, 2004 at number eleven.
The following month it reached the top of the chart and was there for three non-consecutive days, remaining over five weeks on the program. At the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, the video won the award for Best Art Direction and was nominated for Best Editing.
In Canada, it only reached number eleven on the MuchMusic‘s Countdown, though it remained on the chart for eight weeks.
At the 2005 MuchMusic Video Awards, the video was nominated for Best International Video but lost to Usher‘s “Caught Up”. It won the award for Best Dressed Video at the first MTV Australia Video Music Awards,and was also nominated for Video of the Year and Best Pop Video.

Gwen Stefani – What You Waiting For?

Artist: Gwen Stefani
Direction:
Francis Lawrence
Techniques:
3D animation, video editing, color correction
What's Cool:
the Music-World meets Wonderland
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August 27th, 2012


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