Deadlines/Brief

Music videos are so 80s/90s, right? They belong with the era when MTV screened wall-to-wall vids instead of 'reality' TV? Try telling that to the millions who bought Gangnam Style; were they really simply loving the music? 1.6bn (and still climbing) have viewed the video on YT, not to mention the many re-makes (school eg, eg2), viral ads + celeb link-ups (even political protest in Seoul) - and it doesn't matter how legit it is, this nightmare for daydream Beliebers is making a lot of money, even from the parodies + dislikes. All this for a simple dance track that wouldn't have sounded out of place in 1990 ... but had a fun vid. This meme itself was soon displaced by the Harlem Shake. Music vids even cause diseases it seems!
This blog explores every aspect of this most postmodern of media formats, including other print-based promo tools used by the industry, its fast-changing nature, + how fans/audiences create/interact. Posts are primarily written with Media students/educators in mind. Please acknowledge the blog author if using any resources from this blog - Mr Dave Burrowes

Tuesday, 10 March 2020

FEMALE music video directors

A day late for Int Women's Day, but a few links if looking for inspirational names, and maybe just a nice way to come up with videos to research when exploring the format's conventions/media language. Some of these (Claudia Mate) are foremost pioneers of the new technologies that will surely be basic elements of the promo video format by the time you're your parents age...

Of course, be mindful that some of their work might be fairly explicit, especially within hiphop and 'R&B'. Female directors are no more of a 'type' in music video than they are in film.

My main touchstones for auteur brilliance in the field are male - Antoin Corbijn and Spike Jonze. I'm always happy to learn from student work...

https://www.vibe.com/2018/05/karena-evans-nine-other-female-music-video-directors-you-should-know-list
Some interesting videos mentioned in this article - Christina Aguilera's Fighter video is a classic example of the very contrasting readings likely from a feminist as opposed to post-feminist viewpoint. Blurred Lines is another one; ill-judged?

Sophie Muller directed for One Direction, but also Annie Lennox - who I've blogged on before. Lennox is an inspirational figure, attracting tabloid fury for her shaven headed look a decade before Sinead O'Connor would likewise refuse to play the expected glamour game. Hannah Lux-Davis is associated with even bigger names, but I note she's worked with Halsey, whose electropop visuals tend to be interesting!

Sanaa Hamri is known for her intense colour pops, something we've been discussing recently in GCSE!

The number one on the list above also appears in this list...
https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/new-female-filmmakers-2019/

Want more? Well, 51 is a good start...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Female_music_video_directors

I'd like to think there will be a name from StG on there one of these days, whether an Evie, a Sophie or someone of a more recent/current vintage!

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