Directors

Music video Directors. 

Hannah Lux-Davis: Hannah Lux-Davis

No matter where you stand as a music fan, the world of pop still dominates the industry. Its carefully polished aesthetic has been shaped and refined by committee for years and years, and cynics would have you believe that this means there’s no artistic merit to be found there. They’re wrong.

Maintaining such a sheen while keeping things fresh and within pop’s rigid parameters is no small task, . Still, it’s something Hannah Lux-Davis manages to accomplish time and time again. With a client list that includes Jessie J, Nicki Minaj, Miley Cyrus, Lil Wayne and Paris Hilton, Lux-Davis has produced videos that act as vibrant, conceptual mission statements for the some of the biggest names out there. In a world driven by excess, indie cred isn’t everything. Sometimes it’s enough just to see something cool.

some work includes: 

DANIELS

DANIELS is the collective name of directing duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert – a pair who’ve cut their teeth at the more surreal end of the spectrum (hardly surprising when you learn they were both interns for Eric Wareheim). Since going it alone they’ve established themselves with an incredible body of work that combines very physical comedy, bizarre choreography and an irrepressibly immature charm.

Like almost no other directing force out there, DANIELS’ ability to take an oddball idea and run with it as far as humanly possible shows off their confidence in their productions. One cursory look through their videography and it’s clear to see why they’ve been twice nominated for a Grammy in their short careers. Whether they’re reanimating the corpses of Foster The People, impregnating girls at a glance for Chromeo or awakening the libido-to-end-all-libidos at the behest of Lil Jon (above), their videos spread through the internet like clickbait wildfire

Spike Jonze

Compared to his staggeringly long music videography, Spike Jonze’s film output has been rather sparse; those three flicks listed above as his “Best Movies” are the only ones he’s directed so far in his singular career. Batting a flawless 3-for-3, the Jackassproducer is an auteur we’d love to see more from, and we don’t just mean typically great music videos like his most recent clip, Jay-Z and Kanye West’s simple yet outlandishly fun “Otis.”

Whether he’s working with hip-hop acts or indie rock luminaries, Jonze has always separated his videos from the rest of MTV’s pack with sheer inventiveness: supplanting Weezer into a Happy Days episode for “Buddy Holly”; giving the impression that The Pharcyde are walking the streets in backwards motion for “Drop”; filming Christopher Walken’s mesmerizing one-man dance-off for Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon Of Choice.” Jonze knows nothing about “conventional.”

some other music videos he's directed: Buddy Holly”, Weezer (1994); “Sabotage”, Beastie Boys (1994); “Drop”, The Pharcyde (1996); “Sky’s The Limit”, The Notorious B.I.G. feat. 112 (1997);“Flashing Lights”, Kanye West (2008) 

Brett Ratner

 Ratner managed to get artists such as Redman, LL Cool J, Heavy D, and Wu-Tang on board. He has directed music videos including  Tonight’s Da Night”, Redman (1993); “Nuttin’ But Love”, Heavy D & The Boyz (1994); “Triumph”, Wu-Tang Clan (1997); “Heartbreaker”, Mariah Carey feat. Jay-Z (1999)

David Fincher 

Arguably one of the best music video directer he has directed music videos including Express Yourself”, Madonna (1989); “Vogue”, Madonna (1990); “Cradle Of Love”, Billy Idol (1990); “Freedom '90”, George Michael (1990); “Straight Up”, Paula Abdul (1998); “Janie’s Got A Gun”, Aerosmith (1994). Also directing the critically acclaimed 'The girl with the dragon tattoo' 

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2011/08/the-15-most-accomplished-music-video-directors/

Andrew Goodwins music video theory

Goodwin's theory states that there are 5 key aspects to a music video:

1. Thought through beat- (seeing what the lyrics mean in your head)
2. Relationship between the song and the visuals 
3. Narrative and performance of the song
4. Technical aspect of the music video
5. Star image (protagonist), lots of camera shots making him/her the centre of attention.

Thought through Beat

The first step of the processes is to analyse the music structure understanding the chorus and verses

The Second step, the voice of the artist would be very unique compared to others and will give the person a form of identification that can be related to the star image or singer 

The third step would be the story of an artist which he is trying to tell within his song. It can establish him as a story teller and the music video can aid this by showing us the video through the vocals of the song.

Relationship between the song and visuals 

There are three ways visuals used to promote a song:

Illustrate:
music videos use certain images and shots to illustrate/explain the meaning of lyrics to their song and genre.

Disjuncture:
in this situation , the meaning of the song is completely ignored in the music video

Amplify: 
Repeatability-This is when the images and camera shots are manipulated and shown repeatedly through out the music video and is drummed into our vision


Narrative and performance of the song

Andrew Goodwins believed that it was important for an artist to be involved in the music video by performing or acting out a role as the main character or singer. It helps to make the song seem more realistic and gives the audience a better connection with the song. A good exapmle of this is Roar by Katy Perry. She is the main character in the video as well as the main singer, helping making the song look more realistic








Star Image, lots of camera shots making him/her the centre of attention


Goodwins referred to the star image as a vital aspect of the music video, he/she makes the music video look appealing to the audience, while bringing a unique style to the video in the way he/she is portrayed to the audience. The star image is always very unique in the way he/she is presented i.e. the costume, moves and appearance. This helps promote the artist/star's image in public and also helps to promote the video while creating a public reputation for the artist.




https://www.slideshare.net/FortuneRioba/andrew-goodwin-music-video

Best music videos of all time

Best Music Videos Of All Time

According to NME the best music video of all time is Johnny Cash's-Hurt (2002) 

The montage of shots of Cash served a poignant purpose at the time; after Johnny’s death seven months later it became even more powerful. A fitting audiovisual epitaph.

According to timeout the best music video is Michael Jacksons-Thriller (1983)

The “Thriller” video was iconic from the moment it was released in December, 1983, and remains profoundly influential and supremely audacious, even to contemporary eyes. Burnishing its pedigree with loving allusions to seminal horror films

Screen rant had different ideas, they gave the best music video to the Beastie boys-Sabotage  

Third time’s a charm for director Spike Jonze and his throwback to the forgotten world of 1970s cop dramas. The Beastie Boys are known for their unique approach to music

Grammy award for Best Music Video 2017: Beyonce-Formation 

It received mixed response for its alleged anti-police stance, which the singer denied, in addition to controversy over documentary footage used in the video. However, some critics praised its depiction of African-Americans not frequently seen in mainstream media.

Finally Billboard gave the best music video title to Lady Gaga- Bad romance 

Bad Romance, which won Video of the Year at the 2010 VMAs. As an android queen with an evil streak in the Francis Lawrence-directed clip, Gaga struts around a Balkan bathhouse in Alexander McQueen couture,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_for_Best_Music_Video

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/468680/the-10-best-00s-music-videos-poll-results

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/music/best-music-videos-of-all-time

The History Of The Music Video

The History of the music video

The term “music video” first came into usage in the early 1980’s, when MTV based their format around the medium.

While MTV popularised the medium, prior to that time, these works were described by various terms including “visual music”, “filmed insert” and “promotional clips". 

A brief timeline:

1923- Musical short films were made by Lee De Forest, featuring bands, vocalists and dancers.

1940’s – One song films called “Promotional Clips” were made for the  visual jukebox, Panoram.  These were short films of musical selections made for playing.  These were popular in taverns

and night spots, however they fell out of popularity during WWII.

1950’s - Musical films were also an important precursor to the music video (i.e. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Westside Story – both major influences on Madonna and Michael Jackson’s videos in the 1980’s)

1959 – Disk-jockey/singer J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson coins the phrase “music video”, as the rise of television allows popular music to gain exposure through programs such as “The Ed Sullivan Show” and “American Bandstand”.

1964 – The Beatles took the music video further, and began starring in a series of feature films which interspersed comedic dialogue with exciting and innovative musical sequences.  These films helped cement their international fame and exerted a massive influence on the style and visual vocabulary of the genre.

1966 – Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” deliberately eschewed the attempt at performance or narrative and simply presents Dylan standing in a city back alley silently shuffling a series of large cue cards with lyrics from the song in time to the music. The cue-card device has since been imitated in numerous other music videos.

 1975- Queen had a major hit due to their promo for Bohemian Rhapsody, and Pink Floyd’s confrontational and apocalyptic The Wall helped transform their image.  In 1980, David Bowie scored his first UK number one thanks to his eye catching promo for “Ashes to Ashes”.

1981- MTV debuted

In the U.S., Video Concert Hall predated MTV by three years and was the first nationwide video music programming on American Television.  This was followed by Night Flight, which was one of the first American programs to showcase videos as an artform.  Premiering in June 1981, Night Flight predated MTV’s launch by a mere two months.

1985 – MTV launches VH1: Video Hits One, featuring softer music and meant to cater to an older demographic than MTV.

1986- Peter Gabriel’s song Sledgehammer used special effects and animation techniques developed by the British studio Aardman Animation. This video was renowned for its innovative techniques and went on to win nine MTV Video Music Awards.

    

1992 – 2004- In December 1992, MTV began listing directors with the artist and song credits, reflecting the fact that music videos had increasingly become an auteur's medium. Directors such as Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Mark Romanek and Hype Williams all got their start around this time; all brought a unique vision and style to the videos they directed. These directors also started to receive much more credit and attention .

2005 - Present- saw the release of the website YouTube, which made the viewing of online video faster and easier; MySpace's video functionality, which uses similar technology, launched in 2007. Such websites had a profound effect on the viewing of music videos; some artists began to see success as a result of videos seen mostly or entirely online. In 2007, the RIAA issued cease-and-desist letters to YouTube users to prevent single users from sharing videos, which are the property of the music labels. After its merger with Google, YouTube assured the RIAA that they would find a way to pay royalties through a bulk agreement with the major record labels. MTV itself now provides streams of artists' music videos, while AOL's recently launched AOL Music features a vast collection of advertising supported streaming videos. The internet has become the primary growth income market for Record Company produced music videos.