A music video director is the head of
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
production. The
director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''D ...
conceives of videos'
art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
istic and
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...
tic aspects while instructing the musical act,
technical crew
The technical crew, often abbreviated to the "tech crew" or simply the "crew" (individually often known as "techies", "techs", or "technicians"), are the people employed behind the scenes ("backstage") to control all the technical aspects of creat ...
,
actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...
s,
models, and
dancers. They may or may not be in collaboration with the musical act.
On November 8, 1992,
MTV began listing directors with the artist, song, and record company credits, because music videos had increasingly become an
auteur
An auteur (; , 'author') is an artist with a distinctive approach, usually a film director whose filmmaking control is so unbounded but personal that the director is likened to the "author" of the film, which thus manifests the director's unique ...
's medium. "The case for the director as music video author is strong. It is the music video director who has principal control of everything that is added to the pre-existing recorded sound text."
[Robert J. Thompson and Gary Burns, eds. (1990). ''Making Television: Authorship and the Production Process'', p.177. .] Directors, including
Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry (; born 8 May 1963) is a French filmmaker noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. Along with Charlie Kaufman, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one of the writers ...
,
Spike Jonze, and
F. Gary Gray
Felix Gary Gray (born July 17, 1969) is an Americans, American film director, film producer, and music video director. Gray began his career as a director on numerous critically acclaimed and award-winning music videos, including "It Was a Good ...
, have gone on to direct feature films, continuing a trend that had begun earlier with directors such as
Lasse Hallström and
David Fincher. The most expensive video of all time was directed by
Mark Romanek
Mark Romanek (; born September 18, 1959) is an American filmmaker whose directing work includes feature films, television, music videos and commercials. Romanek wrote and directed the 2002 film ''One Hour Photo'' and directed the 2010 film '' Neve ...
:
Michael and
Janet Jackson's "
Scream
Scream may refer to:
*Screaming, a loud vocalization
Amusement rides
* Scream (Heide Park), a gyro drop tower in Soltau, Germany
* Scream! (ride), a tower ride at Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags New England
* Scream! (roller coaster), at ...
" (1995), which cost $7 million to produce. In 2003, Spike Jonze,
Chris Cunningham, and Michel Gondry founded the
Directors Label
''Directors Label'' is a series of DVDs devoted to notable music video directors.
First released in 2003 by Palm Pictures, the series was created by Spike Jonze, Chris Cunningham, and Michel Gondry, the subjects of the first three volumes. Four ...
.
List
The following list does not include musical artists who have co-directed videos:
See also
*
Musical film
*
Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video
The Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video was an award that was presented to recording artists at the 30th Grammy Awards in 1988, and the 31st Grammy Awards in 1989, for quality, concept music videos. The Grammy Awards (Grammys) is an annual ...
*
Grammy Award for Best Music Film
The Grammy Award for Best Music Film is an accolade presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally named the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality videos or musical programs. ...
*
Grammy Award for Best Music Video
The Grammy Award for Best Music Video is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality short form music videos. Hon ...
*
Grammy Award for Best Performance Music Video
The Grammy Award for Best Performance Music Video was an honor presented to recording artists at the 30th Grammy Awards in 1988 and the 31st Grammy Awards in 1989 for quality performance music videos. The Grammy Awards, an annual ceremony that wa ...
*
Post-production
*
Videography
Videography is the process of capturing moving images on electronic media (e.g., videotape, direct to disk recording, or solid state storage) and even streaming media. The term includes methods of video production and post-production. It used ...
Sources
External links
The Internet Music Video DatabaseThe tvc director global database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Music video directors
Directors
Filmmaking occupations
Lists of people by filmmaking occupation