directors' compilation focuses on music video magic

by joshua klein
special to the tribune

10.02.05

in the beginning, music videos were little more than an afterthought. now they're vital components of the promotional game, and often key to an artist's success.

for a time, though, videos offered something even more: a sense of artistic adventure that sometimes surmounted the limits of the form. that's why in 2003, director spike jonze inaugurated the director's label dvd series along with fellow music video visionaries michel gondry and chris cunningham. those three wildly creative artists were featured in the first three installments of the series. the next installment focuses on four other pioneers: mark romanek, stephane sednaoui, jonathan glazer and anton corbijn, who among them have produced mind-blowing clips for the likes of u2, radiohead, madonna, bjork, depeche mode, jamiroquai, nine inch nails, johnny cash and dozens more.

each set features commentary, interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, short films, alternate versions and any number of special features that treat the collected works with the respect they deserve. but for those unfamiliar with their achievements: just who are these guys?

available in wide distribution from palm pictures
($24.98 for each installment)

mark romanek

place of birth: chicago, il

trademark: high-production values and big names.

selected highlights: johnny cash, "hurt", 2003 (above); fiona apple, "criminal, 1998, (below); nine inch nails, "closer," 1994.

other works - romanek directed 2002's "one hour photo."

`i remember the week that mtv started putting the names of the directors on the videos," romanek recalls. "i had mixed feelings about it. i had a sense that even though i was proud of the work i had done, that i was in a service industry and that it was my job to be in the background and aggrandize the performer.

"but then when there started to be a sense of bodies of work among these different directors among the public because of these credits," he continues, "it gave us a little tiny bit of leverage to get more resources and make better videos."

looking back at romanek's work, he never appears to have been at a serious loss for resources. in gwen stefani's commentary for romanek's "hella good" video for her band no doubt, the singer says of romanek: "he's very selective about who he wants to work with, and he's very expensive."

"i guess if you have to write the check, that will be on your mind," romanek says with a quiet chuckle. "i don't like having that reputation, particularly. i've done videos for a whole range of budgets. but it's because i did that one 'scream' video [for janet and michael jackson]. the cost of that was somewhat out of my hands, in a way. the expense of that video came because they gave me about three weeks to prepare for something they wanted to be enormous. we just had to throw money at the problems."


jonathan glazer

place of birth: london

trademark: neo-futuristic imagery and moody bands.

selected highlights: radiohead, "karma police," 1998, jamiroquai, "virtual insanity, " 1997, unkle, "rabbit in your headlights," 1998.

other works - glazer directed 2000's "sexy beast" and 2004's "birth."

`i think we've all grown up with videos as our opportunities," says glazer of himself and fellow directors represented in the directors label series. "if we were 10 years older, we might have come through television, but the styles, lessons learned and rules of engagement would have been different."

while glazer appreciates the opportunities afforded by music videos and commercials (many of which are included in his collection), he admits they do pose particular challenges.

"what they don't offer is drama, so you're using a different part of your brain," he says. "you're learning about form before you're learning about content. you're also working with something that is already complete. you're working with a band or an artist, say someone like radiohead, who is already the finished article.

there's nothing to add there, so you're really just contextualizing, finding a world they can occupy or inhabit."


stephane sednaoui

place of birth: paris

trademark: surreal funhouse manipulations of film and the human form.

selected highlights: bjork, "big time sensuality," 1993, alanis morissette, "ironic", 1996, red hot chili peppers, "give it away", 1992

other works: sednaoui is an in-demand photographer and is working on a script for his first film.

`i want to be 90-100 percent satisfied when i finish [a video]," says sednaoui of why only about 50 percent of the clips he has directed wound up on his installment in the directors label series, "and those are the ones i put in.

"michel gondry's and spike jonze's dvds, they just put on everything!" he exclaims, surprised. "but . . . i wanted them to be all at the same level. they would have loved a little bit more, but i prefer the quality over the quantity. . . . if i'm going to have my own dvd, i want it to be the best."

to that end, sednaoui took the opportunity to fix a few things that had been bugging him over the years. "in the beginning of u2's "discotheque," you could see in a few frames the strings holding the [disco] ball, so we removed that."

but the biggest change to the "discotheque" video was actually an addition.

"i asked bono, when he was in new york a few months ago, to come to my studio so that i could finally do the one shot that we had no time to do eight years ago," sednaoui says. "so he came, i did it, and i was finally able to insert it exactly where it was supposed to be eight years ago."


anton corbijn

place of birth: strijen, netherlands

trademark: grainy black-and-white images mixed with bursts of hypersaturated color.

selected highlights: depeche mode, "enjoy the silence," 1991 (above); nirvana, "heart shaped box," 1994 (below); u2, "one" 1992.

other works: "u2 and i: photographs 1982-2004" and "control," an upcoming film about joy division.

"they were still in school when i did my first videos," jokes corbijn about the directors he has been included with in the series. even beyond that, corbijn's perhaps best known as a photographer.

"i've always presented myself as a photographer who sometimes steps sideways and designs something or films something,"
corbijn says. "but it's been going like that for quite a few years, so i guess it's amounted to something in the end."

to that end, corbijn will always be associated with his iconic work with u2 and depeche mode in particular. "i feel like we had a parallel development and connect every now and then," corbijn observes of the frequent collaborations. "it is quite strange, because you don't always realize it yourself, but i can't think of any other band that has this kind of relationship with a photographer."

originally, corbijn admits, he wasn't even a fan of either band (u2 and depeche mode). "the first photo shoot i did with u2 was in new orleans, only because i had never been there before!" he says, laughing. "it's funny, because these are the two bands i ended up being associated with. next time i don't like something i'll maybe have to think again!"


click here to visit the metromix article
click here to visit the official directors label website


back to press