Influential Music Video Directors.

After researching some of the history behind music videos, I decided to look up some of the directors. I found a few directors that were commonly mentioned. The music video directors I found were:

• Michael Gondry
• Spike Jonze
• Hype Williams
• and Lars Sven "Lasse" Hallstrom

All the directors listed above were known for their unique style.

Michael Gondry

He is a French music video director and has also directed films and commercials. He has been a director from 1988- present day. He is well known for his visual style and use of Mise-en-scene. Below is a music video Hyperballad which he made for Bjork.

Amazingly, no post-production or editing was used on the video, except for colour correction transfer to video.

He also directed a music video called Dance Tonight for Paul McCartney in 2007 (shown below).




The song was also used for iPod and iTunes advertisements.




The video shows a black and white Paul Mccartney walking down a street which is animated and coulourful whilst performing the song.

Spike Jonze


He is an American music director of music videos, commercials and advertisements. He has co-founded Directors Label with Chris Cunningham and Michael Gondry. He has directed a music video for the rapper Biggie Smalls, Puff Daddy, Lil Kim and Faith Evans (shown below). It was shot in a mansion in the U.S.



Hype Williams

He is an American music and film director. He displayed his work by tagging billboards, the fronts of shops and playgrounds using the name HYPE. Many of his videos he has directed use multi - coloured settings due to his artistic roots. He has worked with artists such as:

• The Notorios B.I.G
• Craig Mack
• LL Cool J
• Nas
• Missy Elliott
• Busta Rhymes
• TLC
• Kelis
• and Jay-z

Williams style which is icluded in some videos but not all, is shots placed in regular widescreen frame whilst spaces which are usually left blank are filled of other shots.

He has won numerous awards for his work. These include:

MTV Music Award in the Best Rap video for Will Smiths Getting Jiggy With It in 1998.

He has also gone on to win a BET for Best Director for Kanye Wests Gold Digger in 2006. He was also awarded with a Video Vanguard Award for his acheivements. He has also directed:






Lars Sven "Lasse" Hallstrom

He is a Swedish film director. He made many music videos for the group Abba. After the international success of My Life as a Dog he has been working on American movies. Almost all of Abbas music videos were directed and shot by him.