50 Best Music Video Directors (2019)
We all do love well produced music videos, right? So find a collection of the greatest music video directors right here on IMDb. I have added links to their Instagram pages (or Twitter / Wikipedia in case they are not on the gram).
Credit:
Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_video_director
Pigeons & Planes | https://pigeonsandplanes.com/in-depth/2017/11/25-music-video-directors-you-should-know/
Credit:
Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_video_director
Pigeons & Planes | https://pigeonsandplanes.com/in-depth/2017/11/25-music-video-directors-you-should-know/
List activity
17K views
• 3 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
52 people
- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Latest directed music video:
2018 | STOP TRYING TO BE GOD - Travis Scott featuring Kid Cudi, Stevie Wonder, James Blake, Philip Bailey
https://www.instagram.com/dave_meyers/- Director
- Art Department
- Producer
Nabil Elderkin is known for Gully (2019), Frank Ocean: Swim Good (2011) and Dua Lipa: Don't Start Now (2019).Latest directed music video:
2017 | SZA - Dove In The Wind featuring Kendrick Lamar
https://www.instagram.com/nabildo/- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Lacey Duke is known for Queen Sugar (2016).Latest directed music video:
2018 | Janelle Monáe - I Like That
https://www.instagram.com/laceyduke/- Director
- Producer
- Actor
Romain Gavras was born on 4 July 1981 in Paris, France. He is a director and producer, known for Athena (2022), Our Day Will Come (2010) and Sacrifice.Latest directed music video:
2016 | Gosh - Jamie xx
https://twitter.com/romain_gavras- Director
- Producer
- Cinematographer
Melina Matsoukas was born on 14 January 1981. She is a director and producer, known for Queen & Slim (2019), Insecure (2016) and Beyoncé: Formation (2016).Latest directed music video:
2016 | Formation – Beyoncé
https://www.instagram.com/msmelina/- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Eric Wareheim was born on 7 April 1976 in Audubon, Pennsylvania, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! (2007), Tim and Eric's Bedtime Stories (2013) and Master of None (2015).Latest directed music video:
2016 | Dripping – Blonde Redhead
https://www.instagram.com/ericwareheim/- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Spike Jonze made up one-third (along with Andy Jenkins and Mark Lewman) of the triumvirate of genius minds behind Dirt Magazine, the brother publication of the much lamented ground-breaking Sassy Magazine. These three uncommon characters were all editors for Grand Royal Magazine as well, under the direction of Mike D and Adam Horovitz and Adam Yauch before the sad demise of Grand Royal Records. Jonze was also responsible for directing the famous Beastie Boys: Sabotage (1994) short film as well as numerous other music videos for various artists.Latest directed music video:
2015 | Only One - Kanye West feat. Paul McCartney
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_Jonze_videography- Director
- Producer
- Actor
Johan Renck is one of the most respected and sought after directors of commercials and music videos today, so much so that the French magazine CB News dubbed him "the number one director of commercials and music videos in the world".
His directing career started in 1992 when he joined the production company Mekano Film and Television in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1994 he left Mekano to join forces with childhood friend director Jonas Åkerlund. They established a new production company, Renck Åkerlund Films, which immediately became one of the leaders of its kind in Sweden. During the same time he worked with his music project, Stakka Bo, with big success and a lot of his time was occupied by the music career. In 1997 he started to work as a director full time and quickly became a well-known name worldwide and in 1999 he was working with Madonna and Nike among others.
Johan has worked non-stop all over the world and continues to work with many well known brands such as; Nike, Levi's, Mercedes, Dom Perignon, and H&M and artists like Kylie Minogue, New Order, Madonna, The Libertines and The Streets to mention a few. He has achieved prestigious nominations and awards for his work, such as MTV award nominations to his music videos to Madonna and Beyoncé and two Cannes Bronze Lions for the Nike commercial "Racing Marion". In 2005 he won an award for best video in MVPA and was nominated in several categories in CAD for his music video for The Streets. In Cannes he collected a Bronze Lion for the commercial Sagem and a Silver Lion for his campaign for "Karl Lagerfeld for H&M", this film also awarded Grand Prix in Eurobest and a Gold in Epica. In 2006, again he had several MVPA nominations, this time for his videos for Madonna: Hung Up (2005) and for Robbie Williams: Tripping (2005). In The Gunn Report Johan Renck was listed as the 25th most rewarded director of commercials. In 2007 Johans short film 'Cow', for SOS Live Earth, was nominated in Eurobest and in Epica Awards where it won the Bronze price.
Johan works within a variety of different media; films, commercials, music videos, theatre productions, art and music projects and still photography. He shoots stills for magazines like Italian Vogue and brands such as Diesel just to mention a few. Johan finished his feature film Downloading Nancy (2008), starring Maria Bello, Jason Patric, Rufus Sewell, and Amy Brenneman among others. The film has its world premiere in the 2008 Sundance Festival where it also competed in the Dramatic Competition picked out of thousands of submissions.
Johan is based in Stockholm where he runs RAF. In the US and in England he is represented by high profile production company RSA/Black Dog, in France by Soixante Quinze. He is also highly respected by David Unger at ICM for feature film projects.https://www.instagram.com/johanrenck/- Director
- Editor
Brthr is known for Grimes: Shinigami Eyes (2022), The Weeknd: Party Monster (2017) and Joji: Yukon (Interlude) (2022).https://www.instagram.com/_brthr_/- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Anderson was born in 1970. He was one of the first of the "video store" generation of film-makers. His father was the first man on his block to own a V.C.R., and from a very early age Anderson had an infinite number of titles available to him. While film-makers like Spielberg cut their teeth making 8 mm films, Anderson cut his teeth shooting films on video and editing them from V.C.R. to V.C.R.
Part of Anderson's artistic D.N.A. comes from his father, who hosted a late night horror show in Cleveland. His father knew a number of oddball celebrities such as Robert Ridgely, an actor who often appeared in Mel Brooks' films and would later play "The Colonel" in Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997). Anderson was also very much shaped by growing up in "The Valley", specifically the suburban San Fernando Valley of greater Los Angeles. The Valley may have been immortalized in the 1980s for its mall-hopping "Valley Girls", but for Anderson it was a slightly seedy part of suburban America. You were close to Hollywood, yet you weren't there. Would-bes and burn-outs populated the area. Anderson's experiences growing up in "The Valley" have no doubt shaped his artistic self, especially since three of his four theatrical features are set in the Valley.
Anderson got into film-making at a young age. His most significant amateur film was The Dirk Diggler Story (1988), a sort of mock-documentary a la This Is Spinal Tap (1984), about a once-great pornography star named Dirk Diggler. After enrolling in N.Y.U.'s film program for two days, Anderson got his tuition back and made his own short film, Cigarettes & Coffee (1993). He also worked as a production assistant on numerous commercials and music videos before he got the chance to make his first feature, something he liked to call Sydney, but would later become known to the public as Hard Eight (1996). The film was developed and financed through The Sundance Lab, not unlike Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992). Anderson cast three actors whom he would continue working with in the future: Altman veteran Philip Baker Hall, the husky and lovable John C. Reilly and, in a small part, Philip Seymour Hoffman, who so far has been featured in all four of Anderson's films. The film deals with a guardian angel type (played by Hall) who takes down-on-his-luck Reilly under his wing. The deliberately paced film featured a number of Anderson trademarks: wonderful use of source light, long takes and top-notch acting. Yet the film was reedited (and retitled) by Rysher Entertainment against Anderson's wishes. It was admired by critics, but didn't catch on at the box office. Still, it was enough for Anderson to eventually get his next movie financed. "Boogie Nights" was, in a sense, a remake of "The Dirk Diggler Story", but Anderson threw away the satirical approach and instead painted a broad canvas about a makeshift family of pornographers. The film was often joyous in its look at the 1970s and the days when pornography was still shot on film, still shown in theatres, and its actors could at least delude themselves into believing that they were movie stars. Yet "Boogie Nights" did not flinch at the dark side, showing a murder and suicide, literally in one (almost) uninterrupted shot, and also showing the lives of these people deteriorate, while also showing how their lives recovered.
Anderson not only worked with Hall, Reilly and Hoffman again, he also worked with Julianne Moore, Melora Walters, William H. Macy and Luis Guzmán. Collectively, Anderson had something that was rare in U.S. cinema: a stock company of top-notch actors. Aside from the above mentioned, Anderson also drew terrific performances from Burt Reynolds and Mark Wahlberg, two actors whose careers were not exactly going full-blast at the time of "Boogie Nights", but who found themselves to be that much more employable afterwards.
The success of "Boogie Nights" gave Anderson the chance to really go for broke in Magnolia (1999), a massive mosaic that could dwarf Altman's Nashville (1975) in its number of characters.
Anderson was awarded a "Best Director" award at Cannes for Punch-Drunk Love (2002).https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Thomas_Anderson- Music Artist
- Actor
- Composer
Tyler, The Creator is an American musician in all aspects, including producing, directing music videos as well as writing and performing as an artist. He was born in Boulder, Colorado as Tyler Okonma to a single mother. In 2008 Tyler, The Creator founded the hip-hop collective Odd Future, a controversial, alternate group. At such a young age Tyler, The Creator became a hit in 2011 with his first single Yonkers, which was a track from his upcoming album, Goblin. Odd Future are now a popular group with the younger generations, with their own television show 'Loiter Squad', all with thanks to Tyler Okonma's odd imagination.https://www.instagram.com/feliciathegoat/- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Emily Kai Bock is known for A Funeral for Lightning (2016), The Giver (2014) and Arcade Fire: Afterlife (2013).https://www.instagram.com/emilykaibock/- Matthew Dillon Cohen is known for Gus Dapperton: Prune, You Talk Funny (2017), Zach Bryan: Boys of Faith (2023) and Zach Bryan: Nine Ball (2024).https://www.instagram.com/itsbongoboy/
- Director
- Editor
- Cinematographer
Cole Bennett was born on 14 May 1996 in Plano, Illinois, USA. He is a director and editor, known for The Culture: A Chicago Hip Hop Documentary (2016), Jack Harlow & Dave: Stop Giving Me Advice (2023) and Blink-182: Edging (2022).https://www.instagram.com/_colebennett_/- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Austin Vesely is known for Slice (2018), Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment: Sunday Candy (2015) and Chance the Rapper feat. Saba: Angels (2016).https://www.instagram.com/austinvesely/- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Grant Singer was born on 23 July 1985. He is a director and writer, known for The Weeknd feat. Daft Punk: Starboy (2016), The Weeknd: Can't Feel My Face (2015) and Lorde: Green Light (2017).https://twitter.com/grant_singer- Director
- Editor
- Writer
Jesse Kanda is known for Arca - Now You Know (2014), Björk: Mouth Mantra (2015) and Björk: Arisen My Senses (2017).https://www.instagram.com/truekanda/- Director
- Writer
- Actress
Floria Sigismondi is a photographer and director. Apart from her art exhibitions she is best known for directing music videos. Her trademark dilating, jittery camerawork, noticeable as early as her video for Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People", has been replicated by a great number of directors since. Her parents, Lina and Domenico Sigismondi, were opera singers. Her family, including her sister Antonella, moved to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada when she was two. In her childhood she became obsessed by drawing and painting. Later, from 1987 she studied painting and illustration at the Ontario College of Art, today's Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD). When she took a photography course, she became obsessed once more, and graduated with a photography major. Floria started a career as a fashion photographer. She came to directing music videos when she was approached by the production company The Revolver Film Co., and directed music videos for a number of Canadian bands. Her very innovative, but also very disturbing video works, located in sceneries she once described as "entropic underworlds inhabited by tortured souls and omnipotent beings", attracted a number of very prominent musicians. With her photography and sculpture installations she had solo exhibitions in Hamilton and Toronto, New York, Brescia, Italy, Göteborg, Sweden and London. Her photographs also were included in numerous group exhibitions, together with those of photographers like Cindy Sherman and Joel-Peter Witkin. The German art press Die Gestalten Verlag has published two monographs of her photography, "Redemption" (1999) and "Immune" (2005).https://twitter.com/floriamamaroma- Director
- Editor
- Make-Up Department
Hannah Lux Davis is a filmmaker best known for her work in music videos. With a passion for creating striking imagery, storytelling, and making stars look and feel their very best, she has established herself as one of today's most in-demand creators.
Some of Davis' most notable achievements include her work with international pop sensation Ariana Grande. 2014 saw the beginning of their relationship with the release of her modern-day Moulin Rouge concept video "Bang Bang," featuring powerhouses Grande, Nicki Minaj, and Jessie J. The video racked in over 1 billion views and appeared in a Beats commercial. Since that release, they've collaborated on a multitude of projects including 11 music videos, visuals for two international tours, and two fragrance campaigns, including packaging design and print ads. Most recently, Davis and Grande wrapped up 2018 by breaking both YouTube and Vevo records for most views within 24 hours of release with the "thank u, next" music video.https://www.instagram.com/hannahluxdavis/- Director
- Composer
- Producer
Kevin Abstract is known for Helmet Boy (2017), The Grinch (2018) and Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021).https://www.instagram.com/iansimpson/- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Mark Romanek was born on 18 September 1959 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is a director and producer, known for One Hour Photo (2002), Never Let Me Go (2010) and Michael Jackson feat. Janet Jackson: Scream (1995). He is married to Brigette Romanek.https://www.instagram.com/markromanek/- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Director X (formerly known as Little X) was born on October 31st,1975 in Toronto, Canada, and is of Trinidadian and Swiss descent. About his nationality, he got discriminiated as being a 'black' person. Moving to New York City he became the protégé of pioneering hip hop director Hype Williams, X has been noted for directing high-budget, visually distinctive videos for popular artists, including Drake, Jay Z, Kanye West, Wiz Khalifa, Usher, John Mayer, Korn, Iggy Azalea and many more. His work has been nominated and awarded by the MTV Music Video Awards and Much Music Video Awards. X has directed commercials for Mercedes-Benz, Mc Donald's, Ikea, Directv, Nintendo, Bacardi, Guiness and Yeo Valley. As a film director, X made his directorial debut in 2014 with an edgy drama titled "Undone." His kindness made peace. His actions and attitude changed the world for shalom.https://www.instagram.com/directorx/- Director
- Producer
Canada is known for Dua Lipa: Physical (2020), Tame Impala: The Less I Know the Better (2015) and Beck: Up All Night (2017).CANADA is an international duo of directors and a creative production company based in Barcelona and London.
https://www.instagram.com/lawebdecanada/- Director
- Special Effects
- Editor
Chris Cunningham made his directorial debut in 1997 with the music video for "Come to Daddy" by Aphex Twin, which was instantly praised, banned, and raved about by many people in the business. He followed up by making the music video for "Windowlicker" by Aphex Twin, and the astounding "All is Full of Love" video by Björk. Recently, he made his short-film debut, "Flex,". His incredible style alone makes him a director to watch out for in later years.Know for:
1997 | Come to Daddy - Aphex Twin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Cunningham- Director
- Cinematographer
Daniel Sannwald is known for Yves Tumor Feat. James K: Licking an Orchid (2018), Eartheater: Pure Smile Snake Venom (2023) and M.I.A. & The Partysquad & Kenzo: Y.A.L.A. (2013).https://www.instagram.com/danielsannwald/- Music Artist
- Actress
- Music Department
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles was born on September 4, 1981 in Houston, Texas. Her mom, Tina Knowles designs their glittering costumes & her dad, Mathew Knowles manages Destiny's Child. Solange, her sister (they're 4 years apart) has released her debut album. She dances with her big sister during DC-3 concerts. Beyoncé's of Louisiana Creole & African descent.
She and her group were discovered by Whitney Houston. One of her favorite songs is "Lovefool" by The Cardigans. Her favorite item of clothing is a pair of path work metallic boots. She writes & produces many of the group's songs, including smash hits "Jumpin Jumpin", "Bootylicious", "Nasty Girl", "Independent Women", "Happy Face" and "Apple Pie a la mode".https://www.instagram.com/beyonce/- Music Artist
- Actor
- Composer
Kanye Omari West (born June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur and fashion designer. His musical career has been marked by dramatic changes in styles, incorporating an eclectic range of influences including soul, baroque pop, electro, indie rock, synth-pop, industrial and gospel. Over the course of his career, West has been responsible for cultural movements and progressions within mainstream hip hop and popular music at large.
Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West first became known as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the early 2000s, producing hit singles for recording artists such as Jay-Z, Ludacris and Alicia Keys. Intent on pursuing a solo career as a rapper, West released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004 to widespread critical and commercial success, and founded the record label GOOD Music. He went on to experiment with a variety of musical genres on subsequent acclaimed studio albums, including Late Registration (2005), Graduation (2007), and the polarizing but influential 808s & Heartbreak (2008). He released his fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010 to further rave reviews, and has since succeeded it with Yeezus (2013) , The Life of Pablo (2016) and Ye (2018), as well as full-length collaborations Watch the Throne (2011) and Kids See Ghosts (2018) with Jay-Z and Kid Cudi respectively.
West's outspoken views and life outside of music have received significant media attention. He has been a frequent source of controversy for his conduct at award shows, on social media, and in other public settings, as well as his comments on the music and fashion industries, U.S. politics, and race. His marriage to television personality Kim Kardashian has also been a source of substantial media attention. As a fashion designer, he has collaborated with Nike, Louis Vuitton, and A.P.C. on both clothing and footwear, and have most prominently resulted in the Yeezy collaboration with Adidas beginning in 2013. He is the founder and head of the creative content company Donda.
West is among the most critically acclaimed musicians of the 21st century and one of the best-selling music artists of all time with over 135 million records sold worldwide. He has won a total of 21 Grammy Awards, making him one of the most awarded artists of all time and the most Grammy-awarded artist of his generation. Three of his albums have been included and ranked on Rolling Stone's 2012 update of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list and he ties with Bob Dylan for having topped the annual Pazz & Jop critic poll the most number of times ever, with four number-one albums each. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005 and 2015.
Kanye Omari West was born on June 8, 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia. After his parents divorced when he was three years old he moved with his mother to Chicago, Illinois. His father, Ray West, is a former Black Panther and was one of the first black photojournalists at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Ray West was later a Christian counselor, and in 2006, opened the Good Water Store and Café in Lexington Park, Maryland with startup capital from his son. West's mother, Dr. Donda C. (Williams) West, was a professor of English at Clark Atlanta University, and the Chair of the English Department at Chicago State University, before retiring to serve as his manager. West was raised in a middle-class background, attending Polaris High School in suburban Oak Lawn, Illinois, after living in Chicago. At the age of 10, West moved with his mother to Nanjing, China, where she was teaching at Nanjing University as part of an exchange program. According to his mother, West was the only foreigner in his class, but settled in well and quickly picked up the language, although he has since forgotten most of it. When asked about his grades in high school, West replied, "I got A's and B's. And I'm not even front-in'."
West demonstrated an affinity for the arts at an early age; he began writing poetry when he was five years old. His mother recalled that she first took notice of West's passion for drawing and music when he was in the third grade. West started rapping in the third grade and began making musical compositions in the seventh grade, eventually selling them to other artists. At age thirteen, West wrote a rap song called "Green Eggs and Ham" and persuaded his mother to pay for time in a recording studio. Accompanying him to the studio and despite discovering it being "a little basement studio" where a microphone hung from the ceiling by a wire clothes hanger, West's mother nonetheless supported and encouraged him. West crossed paths with producer/DJ No I.D., with whom he quickly formed a close friendship. No I.D. soon became West's mentor, and it was from him that West learned how to sample and program beats after he received his first sampler at age 15. After graduating from high school, West received a scholarship to attend Chicago's American Academy of Art in 1997 and began taking painting classes, but shortly after transferred to Chicago State University to study English. He soon realized that his busy class schedule was detrimental to his musical work, and at 20 he dropped out of college to pursue his musical dreams. This action greatly displeased his mother, who was also a professor at the university. She later commented, "It was drummed into my head that college is the ticket to a good life... but some career goals don't require college. For Kanye to make an album called College Dropout it was more about having the guts to embrace who you are, rather than following the path society has carved out for you."Latest directed music video:
2018 | Kanye West & Lil Pump ft. Adele Givens - I Love It
https://twitter.com/kanyewest- Producer
- Director
- Writer
David Fincher was born in 1962 in Denver, Colorado, and was raised in Marin County, California. When he was 18 years old he went to work for John Korty at Korty Films in Mill Valley. He subsequently worked at ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) from 1981-1983. Fincher left ILM to direct TV commercials and music videos after signing with N. Lee Lacy in Hollywood. He went on to found Propaganda in 1987 with fellow directors Dominic Sena, Greg Gold and Nigel Dick. Fincher has directed TV commercials for clients that include Nike, Coca-Cola, Budweiser, Heineken, Pepsi, Levi's, Converse, AT&T and Chanel. He has directed music videos for Madonna, Sting, The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Aerosmith, George Michael, Iggy Pop, The Wallflowers, Billy Idol, Steve Winwood, The Motels and, most recently, A Perfect Circle.
As a film director, he has achieved huge success with Se7en (1995), Fight Club (1999) and, Panic Room (2002).https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Fincher- Music Artist
- Actress
- Composer
Lady Gaga, born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, is an American songwriter, singer, actress, philanthropist, dancer and fashion designer.
Gaga was born on March 28, 1986 in Manhattan, New York City, to Cynthia Louise (Bissett), a philanthropist and business executive, and Joseph Anthony Germanotta, Jr., an internet entrepreneur. Her father is of Italian descent; and her mother, who is from West Virginia, is of half Italian and half French, English, German, and Scottish ancestry. Gaga was able to sing and play the piano from a young age. She attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart from age 11 where was bullied for her appearance (she was small and plumper than other girls with large front teeth) and eccentric habits.
By the age of 14, Gaga was performing at open mike nights in clubs and bars. By age 17, she had gained early admission to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. In addition to sharpening her songwriting skills, she composed essays and analytical papers on art, religion, social issues and politics. At the age of 19 Gaga withdrew from her studies and moved out of her parents' home in order to pursue a musical career. During this time she started a band which began to gain local attention.
After a brief partnership with talent scout Rob Fusari, which resulted in the creation of her stage name, Gaga was signed to Def Jam Records in 2006; however she was dropped from the label after just three months. Devastated, Gaga returned home, and became increasingly experimental: fascinating herself with emerging neo-burlesque shows, go-go dancing at bars dressed in little more than a bikini in addition to experimenting with drugs.
Gaga met performance artist Lady Starlight during this time; after a performance at Lollapalooza Festival in 2007 Gaga was signed by Vince Herbert to Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records. Having served as an apprentice songwriter under an internship at Famous Music Publishing, which was later acquired by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Gaga subsequently struck a music publishing deal with Sony/ATV. As a result, she was hired to write songs for Britney Spears and labelmates New Kids on the Block, Fergie, and the Pussycat Dolls. At Interscope, singer-songwriter Akon recognized her vocal abilities when she sang a reference vocal for one of his tracks in studio; Akon then convinced Interscope-Geffen-A&M Chairman and CEO Jimmy Iovine to form a joint deal by having her also sign with his own label Kon Live, making her his "franchise player."
In 2008 Gaga released her first album 'The Fame' to lukewarm radio play; Gaga toured around Europe and in gay clubs in the US to promote the album - however it was not until her first hit 'Just Dance' came to mainstream attention in 2009 that Gaga exploded onto the music scene.
Since then Gaga has gained numerous awards and nominations for a string of hits; her first album spawned several more smash hits 'Paparazzi', 'Loveame' and 'Poker Face'); while touring the album Gaga wrote 'The Fame Monster', an EP examining the darker side to her new-found fame. The Fame Monster was released in 2009 and won multiple awards, spawning her most iconic single 'Bad Romance' as well as 'Telephone' and 'Alejandro'. During this time Gaga came under increased public and critical scrutiny for her eccentric and often bizarre style choices. Gaga embarked on her second tour, The Monster Ball; upon finishing in May 2011, the critically acclaimed and commercially accomplished tour ran for over one and a half years and grossed $227.4 million, making it one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time and the highest-grossing for a debut headlining artist. Concerts performed at Madison Square Garden in New York City were filmed for an HBO television special. The special accrued one of its five Emmy Award nominations and has since been released on DVD and Blu-ray.
In 2011 Gaga released her second full-length album 'Born this Way'; the album was received vastly more critically than her previous two for touching on themes of politics, sexuality, and religion. Despite this, the album's songs were praised critically, and Born This Way sold 1.108 million copies in its first week in the US, debuting atop the Billboard 200, and topping the charts in more than 20 other countries. In addition to exceeding 8 million copies in worldwide sales, Born This Way received 3 Grammy Award nominations, including her third consecutive for Album of the Year. In March 2012, Gaga was ranked fourth on Billboard's list of top moneymakers of 2011, grossing $25,353,039 dollars, which included sales from Born This Way and her Monster Ball Tour.
At the end of April 2012, Gaga's Born This Way kicked off in Korea - the tour would last 2 years and take the singer to every continent of the globe. However in February 2012 the tour was abruptly canceled; Gaga had a labral tear in her right hip which she had been nursing secretly for several weeks in the hopes that she would be able to continue the tour. After a performance in Toronto left her unable to walk and in considerable pain, she was taken to hospital for surgery and the tour was canceled. Through to Jan. 17, the tour had grossed $168.2 million and moved 1.6 million tickets to 85 shows, according to Billboard Boxscore, with the Asian, European, and South American legs already completed in 2012. The North American leg, which was to wrap the tour and was almost completely sold out, would have likely put the tour at more than $200 million gross, easily in the top 20 tours of all time and probably in the top 15, according to Billboard. As it stands, Gaga finished sixth among all touring artists in 2012, with a gross of $125 million and attendance of more than 1.1 million, according to Boxscore.
Gaga wrote her third album, ARTPOP, released in 2013. Gaga made her acting debut in Robert Rodriguez's Machete Kills (2013), the sequel to his 2010 film Machete, and also appeared in Rodriguez's sequel Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014). In 2018, she starred with Bradley Cooper, who also directed, in A Star Is Born (2018). Gaga received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for the role.https://www.instagram.com/ladygaga/- Director
- Producer
- Editor
Hype Williams was born in July 1970 in Queens, New York, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Belly (1998), Coldplay: Viva La Vida (2008) and Jay-Z Feat. Alicia Keys: Empire State of Mind (2009).https://twitter.com/hypewilliams- Music Artist
- Actor
- Producer
Aubrey Drake Graham was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Dennis Graham, an African-American musician born in Memphis, Tennessee, and Sandi (Sher) Graham, a Canadian Jewish educator. As a young man, Drake appeared in several commercials, for such retailers as Sears and GMC. In 2001, Drake rose to fame playing the role of "Jimmy Brooks", a character on Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001), a basketball star who is confined to a wheelchair after being shot by a classmate. In 2006, Drake launched his music career by releasing his first mix tape, "Room for Improvement". Three years later, his third mix tape, "So Far Gone", garnered him critical and commercial success, and, the following year, he released his official debut album, "Thank Me Later", to generally positive reviews. Aubrey Drake Graham has established himself as a multi-talented young Canadian, and the entertainment industry has great expectations for him.https://www.instagram.com/champagnepapi/- Music Artist
- Actor
- Composer
Kendrick Lamar is a hip-hop artist from Compton, California. He's signed with Dr. Dre's label, Aftermath. Kendrick also has his own label, known as 'Top Dawg Entertainment', with includes artists such as Jay Rock, ScHoolboy Q and Ab Soul. Kendrick's major label debut album, 'good kid m.A.A.d city' is already known as a classic and was only released in late 2012. His Music is influenced by the great artists such as Snoop Dogg, 2 pac, Lil wayne and many more.https://www.instagram.com/kendricklamar/- Music Artist
- Actress
- Music Department
Britney Jean Spears was born on December 2, 1981 in McComb, Mississippi & raised in Kentwood, Louisiana. As a child, Britney attended dance classes, and she was great at gymnastics, winning many competitions and the like. But, most of all, Britney loved to sing. At age 8, Britney tried out for The All New Mickey Mouse Club (1989), but was turned down due to her young age. This directed her to an off-Broadway show, "Ruthless", for a 2-year run as the title character. At age 11, she again tried for The All New Mickey Mouse Club (1989) and, this time, made it as a mouseketeer alongside many stars of today (Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez of *NSYNC and Ryan Gosling). Her big break, however, came when she was signed as a Jive Recording Artist in the late 90s. With the release of her debut album, "...Baby One More Time" in early 1999, Britney became an international success, selling 13 million copies of "Baby" and 9 million (as of July 2001) of her sophomore album, "Oops!...I Did It Again", released in May of 2000.https://www.instagram.com/britneyspears/- Producer
- Director
- Actor
A graduate of Wesleyan University, Michael Bay spent his 20s working on advertisements and music videos. His first projects after film school were in the music video business. He created music videos for Tina Turner, Meat Loaf, Lionel Richie, Wilson Phillips, Donny Osmond and Divinyls. His work won him recognition and a number of MTV award nominations. He also filmed advertisements for Nike, Reebok, Coca-Cola, Budweiser and Miller Lite. He won the Grand Prix Clio for Commercial of the Year for his "Got Milk/Aaron Burr" commercial. At Cannes, he has won the Gold Lion for The Best Beer campaign for Miller Lite, as well as the Silver for "Got Milk". In 1995, Bay was honored by the Directors Guild of America as Commercial Director of the Year. That same year, he also directed his first feature film, Bad Boys (1995), starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, which grossed more than $160 million, worldwide. His follow-up film, The Rock (1996), starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage, was also hugely successful, making Bay the director du jour.https://www.instagram.com/michaelbay/- Music Artist
- Actor
- Composer
George Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in Finchley, north London, in the United Kingdom, to Lesley Angold (Harrison), a dancer, and Kyriacos Panayiotou, a restaurateur. His father was a Greek Cypriot, and his mother was of English background. He first discovered fame as a musician when he and school friend, Andrew Ridgeley, formed the pop group Wham!. Success came fast and furious with their first album, 'Fantastic' (1983) hitting the UK number one spot. Wham! survived for five years and during that time the group notched up four number one singles and two number one albums. Most of their other releases made top three. George also contributed to the Band Aid Single 'Do They Know It's Christmas' (1984), and scored two further solo number one hits with 'Careless Whisper' and 'A Different Corner'.
Following the break-up of Wham!, George went on to have a hugely successful career as a solo artist, his debut album 'Faith' (1987) - and the single of the same name - both achieving instant and international success. The album has since been certified Diamond.
Over the last four decades George has notched up 8 number one albums in the and 13 number one singles in the UK (including Wham!, Band Aid, and the 'Five Live' EP). In the U.S. he has achieved 2 number one albums and 10 number one singles, with numerous other number one hits throughout the rest of the world.
He has performed duets with artists including Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Queen, and Lisa Stansfield, and actively participates in charitable causes, Live Aid and the Freddie Mercury concert for AIDS being just two of the more prominent examples. According to a BBC documentary, George donated more than five million pounds towards various charities. Whilst with Wham!, he donated all the proceeds of 'Last Christmas' (1984) to charity. The single reached number two in the UK and George also performed simultaneously on the number one charity record 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'.
George released the single 'December Song' in 2008 as a free download: his hope was that purchasers would donate money to charity.
He remained in contact with his Wham! partner and long-time friend Andrew Ridgeley until his death in 2016.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Michael- Director
- Producer
- Camera and Electrical Department
By 2011, LaChapelle had a major exhibition of new works at The Lever House in New York and went on to have retrospectives at the Museo Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico in Puerto Rico, the Hangaram Design Museum in Seoul, and Galerie Rudolfinum in Prague. In the following years, LaChapelle's works were also exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in LA (2012), the Musee de Orse in Paris(2013), and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C.(2014). His retrospective at Fotografiska Museet in Sweden (2013), was the largest solo artist show the museum had ever exhibited. In 2014, LaChapelle exhibited his series, "Land Scape" in New York, Vienna, London and Paris. Alongside his solo show at OstLicht Galerie fur Fotografie in Vienna, Austria (2014). Throughout 2015 LaChapelle had exhibitions internationally, including MAC Lima in Peru, Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome, and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Chile. In 2016 LaChapelle's work was showcased at The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, DSC Gallery in the Czech Republic, at several venues in Montevideo in Uruguay, and at The Edward Hopper House in New York. Other selected museum exhibitions include: the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C., the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Museum in Krakow, the Kestner-Gesellschaft in Hanover, Germany,Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art in Toronto, Palazzo Reale in Milan, the Kunsthaus Wien in Vienna.https://www.instagram.com/david_lachapelle/- Director
- Editor
- Writer
Jonas Åkerlund was born on 10 November 1965 in Bromma, Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden. He is a director and editor, known for Lords of Chaos (2018), Polar (2019) and Madonna: Ray of Light (1998). He is married to B. Åkerlund. He was previously married to Charlotta Palmbäck.https://twitter.com/akerlund_jonas- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Marc Webb is an American film and music video director. He directed over 100 music videos before he made his film directorial debut with 500 Days of Summer, a romantic comedy. He later directed The Amazing Spider-Man and its 2014 sequel starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. He also directed Gifted and The Only Living Boy in New York.https://twitter.com/marcw- Director
- Cinematographer
- Writer
Having photographed and directed hundreds of music videos and commercials over the last 15 years, Samuel Bayer has firmly established himself as one of the industry's most prolific and sought-after talents.
A 1987 graduate of New York City's School of Visual Arts, Bayer was a painter who saw film and video as the perfect medium to deliver his art to a greater audience. He launched his career with Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," a landmark video that MTV has consistently rated as one of the most influential music videos ever made. His decision to photograph the Nirvana video himself infused it with a distinct style and attitude that started him on a path he's blazed ever since. His hands-on approach to filmmaking so clearly imprinted on his work, Bayer chooses to light, photograph and operate the camera on all his work. On the heels of his work with Nirvana, he went on to create countless videos for artists as diverse as The Rolling Stones, Sheryl Crow, John Lee Hooker, Marilyn Manson, Metallica, The Smashing Pumpkins, 'David Bowie (I)', Aerosmith, Lenny Kravitz and Blink-182.
In 1995 he hit the commercial scene with the same results--one of his first spots, the revolutionary spot for Nike "If You Let Me Play", won the AICP award for Best Direction. In 1997 his Packard-Bell "Home" spot won the AICP for Cinematography, Direction, and Production Design. His work on Mountain Dew "Showstopper" collected the 2001 Clio Awards for Best Direction and Best Cinematography. His other commercial work includes campaigns for Nike, Coke, Pepsi, Nissan, Lexus and Mountain Dew and has cemented his reputation as a visual revolutionary. Bayer's commercials are showcased in the permanent film/video collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
His video for Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" swept the MTV music awards, garnering seven Moon Men including Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Rock Video as well as the coveted Viewer's Choice Award. In 2005 Bayer was the recipient of the Kodak Lifetime Achievement Award for his work and cinematography in music videos and was honored in 2006 by the Music Video Producers Association with his second Lifetime Achievement Award.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Bayer_videography- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Spike Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia. At a very young age, he moved from pre-civil rights Georgia, to Brooklyn, New York. Lee came from artistic, education-grounded background; his father was a jazz musician, and his mother, a schoolteacher. He attended school in Morehouse College in Atlanta and developed his film making skills at Clark Atlanta University. After graduating from Morehouse, Lee attended the Tisch School of Arts graduate film program. He made a controversial short, The Answer (1980), a reworking of D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915), a ten-minute film. Lee went on to produce a 45-minute film Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983) which won a student Academy Award. In 1986, Spike Lee made the film, She's Gotta Have It (1986), a comedy about sexual relationships. The movie was made for $175,000, and earned $7 million at the box office, which launched his career and allowed him to found his own production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks. His next movie was School Daze (1988), which was set at a historically black school, focused mostly on the conflict between the school and the Fraternities, of which he was a strong critic, portraying them as materialistic, irresponsible, and uncaring. With his School Daze (1988) profits, Lee went on to make his landmark film, Do the Right Thing (1989), a movie based specifically his own neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. The movie portrayed the racial tensions that emerge in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood on one very hot day. The movie garnered Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay, for Danny Aiello for supporting actor, and sparked a debate on racial relations. Lee went on to produce and direct the jazz biopic Mo' Better Blues (1990), the first of many Spike Lee films to feature Denzel Washington, including the biography of Malcolm X (1992), in which Washington portrayed the civil rights leader. The movie was a success, and garnered an Oscar nomination for Washington. The pair would work together again on He Got Game (1998), an excursion into the collegiate world showing the darker side of college athletic recruiting, as well as the 2006 film Inside Man (2006). Spike Lee's role as a documentarian has expanded over the years, highlighted by his participation in Lumière and Company (1995), the Oscar-nominated 4 Little Girls (1997), to his Peabody Award-winning biographical adaptation of Black Panther leader in A Huey P. Newton Story (2001), through his 2005 Emmy Award-winning examination of post-Katrina New Orleans in When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006) and its follow-up five years later If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise (2010). Through his production company 40 Acres and A Mule Filmworks, Lee continues to create and direct both independent films and projects for major studios, as well as working on story development, creating an internship program for aspiring filmmakers, releasing music, and community outreach and support. He is married to Tonya Lewis Lee, and they have two sons, Satchel and Jackson.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_Lee_filmography- Director
- Producer
- Actor
Bryan Barber was born December 20, 1970. He is a music video and motion picture director. He has directed many music videos for popular artists.
Bryan Barber takes inspiration from many sources and says his upbringing has always helped form his vision. For Barber, writing and directing began as an outlet to have a voice. Raised by a single mother in the heart of Silicon Valley, before it was a coined phrase, Barber viewed life as a teen from the streets of East Palo Alto, California. Only two miles from where Steve Jobs was building Apple, Barber was writing stories in what was at the time the murder capital of the nation.
Bryan moved to Sacramento at the age of sixteen. His early love for film led him to work for Tower Records video distribution center and Tower Video during high school. While working at Tower, Barber learned early on that storytelling would be his way to bridge the gap between economic and racial divides. His family was involved in art and activism, so it was only natural that Barber would follow suit, but it wouldn't be easy.
Barber failed out of three colleges before finally deciding to study film at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia.[1] The challenge for him was taking his studies seriously. Eventually, a short film written and directed by Barber won him a trip to the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival sponsored by the United Negro College Fund. From that experience, he knew he had a place as a filmmaker.
After graduating college, Barber worked as a production assistant (PA) on the feature Black Dog directed by Kevin Hooks. However, steady work was hard to find. Barber worked many jobs as a production assistant (PA), an assistant editor, and he worked at a telecine film- processing lab in Atlanta before finally saving enough money to buy his 16mm camera, with assistance from his grandparents. "Without the help of my grandparents, I would have been a PA forever," explains Barber.
"Back then the barrier of entry for directing was too expensive," Barber states. However, Barber was determined. Owning a camera allowed him to focus on directing. For him the timing was right. There was a boom in the music industry in Atlanta and not many music video directors. "I grew up admiring all of these guys who had cut their teeth on directing music videos, directors like John Landis, Ridley Scott, Michael Bay, David Fincher, and Spike Lee. Barber states, "I knew if I wanted to make movies the easiest way to gain experience was through following their footsteps."
Barber directed his first music video, Skew It on the Bar-B in 1998 for Outkast. Barber soon became known for his original, left of center, narrative video scripts, and visual directing style.
Early on, Barber produced his videos through his own company, Bush Harbor Filmworks, Inc. He eventually joined a major production company where his success as a director took off working with stars like Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Kelly Clarkson, Christina Aguilera, Mary J. Blige, Dr. Dre, Kanye West, Janet Jackson, and Wiz Khalifa. This led to him being a ground-breaker in the field and hailing several award-winning classic videos.
Barber has directed more than 200 music videos; 40 commercials; and wrote, directed, and produced various television and film projects.
Barber received a Grammy nomination for Best Music Video, Short Form for directing Outkast's "Hey Ya!". He is also the winner of three MTV awards; five BET awards; two Soul Train Michael Jackson Icon Awards; five MVPA awards; and two Much Music awards. His videos and artist collaborations have amassed over 100 million albums sold worldwide.
Barber has also directed numerous commercials for clients such as Pepsi, Target, CoverGirl, Chevrolet, Verizon, Shoe Carnival, Sony, and The Sugar Bowl.
After a decade of pushing the genre, Barber was inspired to move into feature films with his debut of the HBO/Universal Studios produced Idlewild written, directed, and co-produced by Barber. A 1930s musical set in the fictional Georgia town of Idlewild (inspired by the Michigan resort town that served as a safe vacation haven for middle-class blacks in the pre-Civil Rights era). The film starred OutKast (whose members include André 3000 and Big Boi), Paula Patton, Terrence Howard and Faizon Love. OutKast also produced Idlewild (album) an accompanying album.
After Idlewild, Barber had the opportunity to work on several television projects. Most notably, Barber directed episodes of the Nickelodeon sitcom, Instant Mom, starring Tia Mowry.
Barber spent "$50,000 for a presentation that included motion capture, stunts, concept art, storyboards and sound design" to try to get the job directing X-Men Origins: Wolverine from 20th Century Fox. He did not get the job but Fox was impressed enough with it that they reimbursed Barber. Barber is working on an adaptation of Gigantor after acquiring the rights from Fred Ladd.Latest directed music video:
2018 | Something New - Wiz Khalifa ft. Ty Dolla Sign
https://www.instagram.com/bryanbarber/- Joseph Khan is known for The Peak of My Heart, Black Eyed Peas: Behind the Bridge to Elephunk (2004) and E! Live from the Red Carpet (1995).Latest directed music video:
2018 | Dinero - Jennifer Lopez Feat. DJ Khaled, Cardi B
https://www.instagram.com/josephkahn/ - Director
- Producer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Filmmaker Chris Robinson is from Baltimore, Maryland. He attended Foothill College in Los Altos where he played football and studied mass communication. He discovered Spike Lee's independent film"She's Gotta Have It" and was inspired to pursue the craft. Robinson began shooting music videos for local artists and launched Robot Film Company in the year 2000.
Robinson created a visual style that has garnered multiple awards including the 2007 MTV Award/Best Direction for Erykah Badu's "Honey". Robinson was also nominated for a Grammy award for the iconic music video ONE MIC featuring NAS. Frequent artistic collaborators include Jay Z, Lady Gaga, Yasin Bey, Drake, Alicia Keys, Pharrell, Busta Rhymes, Eminem, Rihanna, Lenny Kravitz, Snoop Dogg, ASAP Rocky, Diddy, Usher, Mary J. Blige, Outkast and many more.
Robinson made his directorial feature film debut with Warner Bros ATL. The coming-of-age comedy drama starring Clifford "TI" Harris, Evan Ross and Lauren London was derived from an original story by Antwone Fisher.
Kevin Harts scripted comedy "Real Husbands of Hollywood" was Chris Robinsons' first foray into directing a 30 minute comedy for television. The show went for 5 seasons and garnered a true cult following.
Chris directed BETs highest-rated program in network history "The New Edition Story" which received a NAACP Image Award. The project also launched the career of Stranger Things actor Caleb McLaughlin. Robinson directed Barack Obamas White House concert "Love & Happiness" followed by the Amazon Prime pilot "The Climb", and became co-executive producer of the Fox/Lee Daniels one hour drama "STAR". Robinson has produced and directed several episodes of television including Black-ish, Grown-ish, Mixed-ish, and American Soul.
In 2018 Robinson directed the Netflix coming of age film "Beats" starring Anthony Anderson, Uzo Aduba and newcomer Khalil Everage. The film examines mental health and the effects of trauma experienced by a musical prodigy living on the Southside of Chicago. Imagine Entertainment and Hulu tapped Robinson to co-produce and direct the pilot episode of Wu Tang: An American Saga. The show has been picked up for a second season.
In the multi-cam world, Robinson directed comedy specials for Tiffany Haddish "From the Hood to Hollywood" as well as Yvonne Orji's first HBO comedy special title "Momma I Made It." Chris recently Dave Chappelle's "The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor," which was nominated for an Emmy.
Lebron James SpringHill Entertainment and Universal Pictures has partnered with Chris Robinson to produce/direct the coming of age story of Lebron James high school years called "Shooting Stars".
Robinsons Robot Film Company is currently developing several projects including a scripted series that examines the unscrupulous world of music video in the late 90's and early 2000's.Latest directed music video:
2017 | Way Back - TLC Feat. Snoop Dogg
https://www.instagram.com/mrrobotodirector/- Producer
- Director
- Actor
John Landis began his career in the mail room of 20th Century-Fox. A high-school dropout, 18-year-old Landis made his way to Yugoslavia to work as a production assistant on Kelly's Heroes (1970). Remaining in Europe, Landis found work as an actor, extra and stuntman in many of the Spanish/Italian "spaghetti" westerns. Returning to the US, he made his feature debut as a writer-director at age 21 with Schlock (1973), an affectionate tribute to monster movies. Clad in a Rick Baker-designed gorilla suit, Landis starred as "Schlockthropus", the missing link. After working as a writer, actor and production assistant, Landis made his second film, The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), in collaboration with the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrahams. Landis rose to international recognition as director of the wildly successful National Lampoon's Animal House (1978). With blockbusters such as The Blues Brothers (1980), Trading Places (1983), Spies Like Us (1985), Three Amigos! (1986) and Coming to America (1988), Landis has directed some of the most popular film comedies of all time. Other feature credits include Into the Night (1985), Innocent Blood (1992) and the comedy/horror genre classic An American Werewolf in London (1981), which he also wrote. In 1986, Landis and four others were acquitted of responsibility for the tragic accident that occurred in Landis' segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) in which actor Vic Morrow and two child actors were killed. The film also included segments directed by Joe Dante, George Miller and Steven Spielberg. In 1983 Landis wrote and directed the groundbreaking music video of Michael Jackson's Michael Jackson: Thriller (1983), created originally to play as a theatrical short. "Thriller" forever changed MTV and the concept of music videos, garnering multiple accolades including the MTV Video Music Awards for Best Overall Video, Viewer's Choice, and the Video Vanguard Award - The Greatest Video in the History of the World. In 1991 "Thriller" was inducted into the MVPA's Hall of Fame. In 1991, Landis collaborated again with Jackson (I) on Michael Jackson: Black or White (1991), which premiered simultaneously in 27 countries with an estimated audience of 500 million. Although it was not the first motion picture or music video to do so, "Black or White" popularized the use of "digital morphing", where one object appears to seamlessly metamorphoses into another; the project raised the standard for state-of-the-art special effects in music videos. Landis has also been active in television as the executive producer (and often director) of the Ace- and Emmy Award-winning HBO series Dream On (1990). Other TV shows produced by his company, St. Clare Entertainment (St. Clare is the patron saint of television), include Weird Science (1994), Sliders (1995), Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show (1997), Campus Cops (1995) and The Lost World (1998). In 2004 the Independent Film Channel broadcast his feature-length documentary about a used-car salesman, Slasher (2004). Deer Woman, an original one-hour episode written by Landis and his son Max Landis, inaugurated the Masters of Horror (2005) series in the fall of 2005 on Showtime. "Masters of Horror" also features one-hour episodes by John Carpenter, Roger Corman, Tobe Hooper, Don Coscarelli, Mick Garris, Dario Argento and Larry Cohen.
A sought-after commercial director, Landis has worked for a variety of companies including Direct TV, Taco Bell, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Kellogg's and Disney. He was made a Chevalier dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 1985, awarded the Federico Fellini Prize by Rimini Cinema Festival in Italy and was named a George Eastman Scholar by The Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Both the Edinburgh Film Festival and the Torino Film Festival have held career retrospectives of his films. In 2004 Landis received the Time Machine Career Achievement Award at the Sitges Film Festival in Spain. Sent as a filmmaker/scholar by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, Landis has lectured at many film schools and universities including Yale, Harvard, NYU, UCLA, UCSB, USC, Texas A&M, The North Carolina School of the Arts, University of Miami and Indiana University. He has also acted as a teacher and advisor to aspiring filmmakers at the Sundance Institute in Utah. Additionally, he edited Best American Movie Writing 2001 (Thunder's Mouth Press, NY, 2001). Born in Chicago, Illinois, Landis moved to Los Angeles soon after his birth. He is married to Deborah Nadoolman, an Oscar-nominated costume designer, and President of the Costume Designers Guild, with whom he has two children.Know for:
1983 | Thriller - Michael Jackson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Music_videos_directed_by_John_Landis- Director
- Producer
- Writer
He grew up in Versailles with a family who was very influenced by pop music. When he was young, Gondry wanted to be a painter or an inventor. In the 80s he entered in an art school in Paris where he could develop his graphic skills and where he also met friends with whom he created a pop-rock band called Oui-Oui. The band released 2 albums ('Chacun tout le monde' and 'Formidable') and several singles until their separation in 1992. Gondry was the drummer of the band and also directed their video clips in which it was possible to see his strange world, influenced by the 60s and by his childhood. One of his videos was shown on MTV and when Björk saw it, she asked him to make her first solo video for 'Human Behaviour'. The partnership is famous: Gondry directed five other Björk's videos, benefiting by the huge budgets. This led to commissions for other artists around the world, including Massive Attack. He also made a lot of commercials for Gap, Smirnoff, Air France, Nike, Coca Cola, Adidas, Polaroid and Levi - the latter making him the most highly-awarded director for a one-off commercial.
Hollywood became interested in Gondry's success and he directed his first feature movie Human Nature (2001), adapting a Charlie Kaufman's scenario, which was shown in the 2001 Cannes Festival. Although it wasn't a big success, this film allowed him to direct Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), for which he again collaborated with Charlie Kaufman. The movie became a popular independent film and he and his co-writers won an Oscar for it.Latest directed music video:
2016 | City Lights - The White Stripes
https://twitter.com/michelgondry- Additional Crew
- Producer
- Writer
Amanda Adelson is known for Mid90s (2018), The Dirt (2019) and Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013).Latest directed music video:
2018 | I Love It - Kanye West
https://www.instagram.com/amandukah- Director
- Producer
- Actress
Zia Anger is known for I Remember Nothing (2015), My First Film (2024) and Always All Ways, Anne Marie.Latest directed music video:
2018 | Fallingwater - Maggie Rogers
https://www.instagram.com/zfoa/- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Daniel Kwan with Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels, are a duo of film directors and writers. They began their career as directors of music videos, including the popular DJ Snake promotional for the single "Turn Down for What" (2013). They have since ventured into film, having written and directed the surreal comedy-drama Swiss Army Man (2016) and the science-fiction action comedy Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), the latter became A24's highest-grossing film of all time.https://www.instagram.com/dunkwun/- Producer
- Director
- Cinematographer
Hiro Murai was born on 15 July 1983. He is a producer and director, known for Station Eleven (2021), Atlanta (2016) and The Bear (2022).Latest directed music video:
2018 | This Is America - Childish Gambino
https://www.instagram.com/muraihiro