Research - Music Video Directors

Chris Applebaum [Website]

Chris Applebaum is a music video director from America and has worked with a lot of stars like:

• Rihanna
• Hilary Duff
• Natasha Bedingfield
• Britney Spears
• Fountains of Wayne

In the two videos I have chosen the performance is intergrated within the narrative, Fountains od Wayne are performing on the television in the video and Miley Cyrus is performing with all the people she is partying with. Also in these videos I have noticed that he uses a lot of colour to keep the videos bright and happy with the theme of the songs.

 

 

Stacy's Mom - Fountains of Wayne

This song is the story of 12 year old boy that goes out with a girl at school to get to her attractive mother, Applebaum uses the lyrics to make a narrative out of the video; the video conventionally uses performance as well.

By making the video comedic and follow a narrative that some viewers may even relate too, it is likely to make the audience want to watch the video again. Applebaum cleverly chose the model Rachel Hunter to play the mother of Stacy; the video uses a lot of voyeurism over Rachel Hunter. This is done to attract the male audience to this video, as they may want to watch it again if a hot model is in it.

Party in the USA - Miley Cyrus

Applebaum also directed the video for Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus. Just like the Fountains of Wayne track he keeps the video to a narrative, however most of the video is a performance as she is always lip syncing and singing the song.

Shane Drake [Website]

Whilst researching Shane Drake I have discovered he has stuck to indie/emo/rock type bands or artists when making music videos. He has worked with bands like:

• Paramore
• Panic! At the Disco
• Avril Lavigne
• Fall Out Boy

In the two videos I have chosen, I noticed that the performance and narrative are shared out equally for the audience to enjoy.

Paramore - Monster

Overall this video is quite simple, it involves performance of the band and also a mysterious narrative. The narrative involves all of the band members running around falling buildings as if everything is quickly falling apart. It also has scenes of the band laying in water lip syncing and looking lost. It is very strange and doesn't particularly make any sense therefore may make the audience want to go and watch the video again to try and make more sense of it. They are also performing as a whole band in a simple room to keep the element of mystery. Also part of the performance, the band are laying face up in water, holding hands and the lead singer, Hayley Williams is singing to the camera. The whole video is quite confusing and doesn't particularly make much sense.

Avril Lavigne - Smile

This video uses the conventions of narrative and performance combined. The performance is acting out well by Avril Lavigne as she sings directly to the camera and acts well, interacting with the audience and showing her emotions well when she's singing. It also has a narrative that fits well with the songs lyrics and shows in black and white, Avrils character walking around a city and picking up pieces of red glass which eventually are put together to make a complete heart.