Video Director Research

1.Michel Gondry

Michel Gondry is a  film, commercial and music video director and an Academy Award-winning screenwriter. He is noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise en scène.
His career as a filmmaker began with creating music videos for the French rock band Oui Oui, in which he also served as a drummer. The style of his videos for Oui Oui caught the attention of music artist Björk, who asked him to direct the video for her song "Human Behaviour". The collaboration proved long-lasting, with Gondry directing a total of seven music videos for Björk. Other artists who have collaborated with Gondry on more than one occasion include Daft Punk, The White Stripes, The Chemical Brothers, The Vines, Steriogram, Radiohead, and Beck.
Michel Gondry's work is very diverse, from music videos such as "The Rolling Stones - Like A Rolling Stone" to “Kylie Minogue- Come Into My World”, his work spans through different genres of music and styles. In the "Like A Rolling Stone" music video Gondry pioneered the "bullet time" technique later adapted in The "Matrix", the disorientating feeling of this technique is really effective and innovative.


Gondry records his dreams in notebooks or on scratches of paper, making links between images he remembers in one column and what's going on in his real life in another. As he's writing the visuals down, he skips lines so he can fill them in with more details that he'll remember later on. "I put them together and I find the connection that I'm missing in the dream," he said. His films are filled with those disconnected, abstract images, which often force viewers to make their own connections.


"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"(2004) -
Eternal Sunshine uses many of the image manipulation techniques that Gondry had experimented with in his music videos.




I enjoyed his creative directing in the music video "Fell in Love with a Girl" by The White Stripes-

2.Floria Sigismondi

She is an Italian photographer and director.

Apart from her art exhibitions, she is best known for writing and directing The Runaways, starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning. Sigismondi has also directed music videos for Marilyn Manson, David Bowie, Björk, The Cure, Christina Aguilera, The White Stripes, Fiona Apple, Sigur Rós, Muse, Interpol, Incubus, and commercials for Old Navy, MAC, Adidas and Eaton's. Her trademark dilating, jittery camerawork, noticeable as early as her video for Manson's "The Beautiful People", has been replicated by a great number of directors since.

She directed the music video "Fighter" by Christina Aguilera-

Some of her Photography...

3.Chris Cunningham

Chris Cunningham’s directorial work is well known in the worlds of music video, commercial, and video art. He first achieved notoriety in 1997 with the horrific and comic clip for Come to Daddy by Aphex Twin. In quick succession he created six memorable and highly individual clips, each borne of his ability to extract a song’s subtleties and pour them into a visual form. Mr. Cunningham’s commercial work have also shown a bit of his ability in developing an interesting and subtle vignette out of a small bit of script.
I like the work of Chris Cunningham, especially “Afrika Shox” and "Rubber Johnny" because it is brave, controversial and most of all, different and innovative.


4.Saam Farahmand

Saam Farahmand directs films in the context of art, music, fashion, television, performance, virals and documentaries. Farahmand’s bill of buzzworthy films include colorful and clever music videos for Klaxons, Hercules & Love Affair, Janet Jackson and Simian Mobile Disco, a documentary featuring Soulwax, and a fashion film for Alexander McQueen. The London-based artist opened his own gallery, Boyschool, in the city’s East end to support the work of emerging artists and develop his own future projects.

I think this video shows that Farahmand has an eye for detail.


5.Dougal Wilson

After studying astrophysics at Durham University, he worked as a copywriter at the Leith advertising agency in Edinburgh before moving to London to pursue a career as a director.

His music videos include "Satisfaction" for Benny Benassi, "Tribulations" for LCD Soundsystem, "Who Am I" for Will Young, "Take Me Back to Your House" for Basement Jaxx, "Don't Let Him Waste Your Time" for Jarvis Cocker, "What's a Girl To Do?" for Bat for Lashes, and "Life in Technicolor II" for Coldplay.

6.So Me

So Me is an up and coming music video director, he has directed "Barbra Streisand- Duck Sauce" and "Day 'n' Nite- Kid Cudi".
"His hand-drawn illustration style, penchant for retro typography and undeniable hipster appeal have helped So Me become a sought-after name nearly overight." (Quote from an article: motionographer.com)



(Source: Wikipedia)