HYPE WILLIAMS!!!!!

Harold Hype Williams who is commonly known as Hype was born in the 70's. Hype got his nickname when he was a child as he had a 'hyper' nature.

The beginning of his work saw him tagging local billboards, storefronts and playgrounds using HYPE as his graffiti tag in order to get his work noticed! Hype commented on how 'thats probably what stimulated my interests in colour' this is evident with Beyonces video 'Check on it' which displays a high contrasts of pinks and purples in order to create a theme. 

Hype Williams graduated from Andrew Jackson High School of Art and Music in 1987, i feel that this has allowed him to expert knowledge on music and art and how to use them together in order to make successful music videos. he then went to Adelphi University. However hypes big break came when he started working with Classic Concepts Video Productions despite growing up wanting to be a painter.

After slowly building his career up he is now able to work will more successful artists or bands such as 'The Notorious B.I.G, LL Cool J, Missy Elliott, Busta rhymes, Jay Z, Christina Aguilera, coldplay etc. All of the artists he has directed for seem to have a similar genre, being RnB, Rap or hip hop. This suggests that he likes to direct videos for a set genre of artists. i find it interesting that he specified in this genre as for me i find these videos most inspiring for my own work. i also feel that i would choose a song within this genre for my own A2 media coursework. 



i have chosen to use this video in which Hype Williams directed as i feel it is a very well known song and artist in which will allow people to realise his success within this business. He is able to make videos for the likes of beyonce a massive hit and headliner at Glastonbury Festival. Beyonces video was shot with a pink theme due to the background of the song being for the pink panther film. this meant that hype Williams didn't have the control over this, i feel that this is significant as he didn't have the freedom with the colours etc. Check on it was filmed in 12hours and had beyonce in 12 different set-ups and outfits. Hype commented on how 'the concept was to make everything pink to brand the relationship with the pink panther. the pink sails reflect the wind instrument sound of the string section'.
at 4.3 there are black bars which normally appear on a television showing a wide screen production, footage is displayed of curtains moving in the background. this was a trend in Hypes work during that year with a similar effect being used in Ne-Yos 'so sick'. Beyonces video 'check on it' won the best R&B video at the 2006 MTV video music awards, i feel that this is a good success for hype as he specified in this genre.  Hype also uses a signature style within this video where he places shots in a wide screen ratio, while a second shot is split and placed in the upper and lower bars.

Another key video that hype directed was 'gimme some more' by busta rhymes.




i found it interesting to look at this video and the background story to it. The narrative of the video is recalling how busta rhymes once bumped his head as a child. i find that this video is very interesting as i feel it is quite unconventional for this genre as it starts with a looney tunes like intro. this video also shows another signature style in which Hype has adopted, this being the use of a fish eye lens. this was shown in slow motion and is largely absurdest in nature. Hype Williams has however dropped this style as he experienced his lowest level of production activity since the beginning of his career  as a music director. 

one further style hype is know for is combining a center camera focus on the artist's body from the torso upward and a solid colour background with a soft different-colour like being shown in the center of the background, as to give a sense of illumination of the background by the foreground subject. An example of this is in the music video by 'kanye west', 'Gold Digger'. 





Personally i really enjoyed looking at Hype Williams work due to his signature style. It was interesting to see how he applied this to his videos and how he altered it to that artists. i feel that looking at this specific director was interesting as he works with some very famous artists within the RnB genre.

Mark Romanek :)

Mark Romanek.. born September 18, 1959.

  <<<  Here he is! Mark Romanek is an American director.

His music videos have won 19 MTV Video Music Awards including  Best Direction for Jay-Z's "99 problems" in 2004, but the more notable ones are:

Scream - Michael and Janet Jackson.

this was his first music video that won a Grammy Award for Best Short Form Video in 1996. It also was seen as one of the most expensive ever made, costing $7 million.

and...

Nine inch nails - Closer.

The good reviews were only seen by its critical controversy. One of the reasons why the video was popular is that many people accused it of being disturbing, which made people talk about the video more, and then go and watch it.

He's also worked with:

Madonna;

David Bowie;

Johnny Cash;

Red Hot Chilli Peppers;

Linkin Park;

Jay-Z;

Coldplay.

Mark Romanek graduated from Roy H. Park School of Communications, Ithaca College with a degree in Cinema and Photography. Usually he directs and produces music videos, commercials and feature films but he has also spent some time in the commercial business directing things for Calvin Klein and Nike. Romanek has received many awards for his work - including more than a dozen MTV awards, two Grammys, and three Billboard Music Awards.

Romanek's style.

The image of his music videos are seen as gritty, unique and weird.

Also, he never really makes his videos follow a story but they can be relevant to the song.

Example:

In the video 'Closer' has a beating heart strapped to an electric chair which goes along with the beat.

In the video 99 problems by Jay-Z, it fits in with the genre characteristics, with the edgy pieces to the video like most rap videos, but also put Romanek's twist to it.

Romanek uses some CGI in his music videos, but it is not known as his style to use it. In some videos he doesn't use it, for example, in Linkin Park's 'Faint'.. the video consists of them performing, with just their silouette's showing, whereas in other music videos of his, he places images inside another image, such as putting a piece of the action into a TV in the original part of the video.

He is not known as using a lot of CGI in his music videos.

Homework 80's Video

ZZ Top- Gimme all your lovin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi_ser2_Xm4

"Gimme All Your Lovin'" is a song by ZZ Top from their 1983 album Eliminator. The song was released as the album's first single in 1983. I chose this video as it was very unique at its time, as many videos were all focused on stage performance where as this video is different which does focus on the singers but the red car plays a big part in the video. Also, the girls which now in the 21st century in 'Rap' videos are represented as 'slags' and the camera focus on their body features i.e. the three B's Boobs, Butts and Bellies! The beards on all the three singers represents the fashion back in the early 1980's also. Finally I mainly chose this video as it is very different from videos from the same era such as Meatloaf- Bat Out Of Hell which mainly focuses just on stage performance.

HomeWork!!! :D :D

I feel that this music video was iconic and groundbreaking as during MTV's first few years on the air, there was very few black artists included in the rotation on the channel. The very first non-white act played on MTV in the US was this uk band 'the specials' who had a line up of white and black musicians and vocalists. The specials video Rat race was played as the 58th video on the stations first day of broadcasting. MTV rejected some other black artists viseos, such as Rick James ''Super Freak'' because they didnt fir the channels rock dominated format at the time. i think this makes this video ground breaking and helped start equality within the music channel. 

i like the simplicity of this video, its not trying to be too flashy but instead concentrates on the music itself. There is good use of close ups throughout the video whether its on the instruments, the singers or an object related to the song. I also like that there is a distinct relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, an example of this if to the line 'working for the rat race' where there is a visual aid of a rat 'racing' and someone working. 

Homework! 80's video :)

This video is by Queen - Radio Ga Ga. (1984)

I thought it was iconic because I believe it is on about music videos 'killing' the radio, just like 'Video killed the radio star'. It suggests that television and the music videos are taking over the radio and making the radio less popular.

Roger Taylor (who wrote the song) claimed he was inspired to write this after watching MTV. He noticed that lots of kids were watching the channel instead of listening to the radio. This shows that maybe it is not music videos that have entirely taken over the radio, but the amount of publicity MTV is given, and how much is has been advertised, has boosted the ratings of music videos and MTV.

There is a part of the music video that shows Queen performing infront of a group of people. Nowadays, music videos normally consist of the artist dancing throughout the song or trying to make a narrative throughout the music video, whereas, in this particular music video, it focuses on the artist's talent and their music instead of their appearence to show to an audience. I think this links in with the meaning of this song that 'radio is better than music videos' because the radio focuses on the lyrics and talent, whereas the music videos are used to portray an 'image'.

However, as this shows a difference between then and now, I still think this video is iconic because it later on was performed by Sophie Ellis Bextor and other artists. I think this shows that the thought that radio is still important, aswell as music video, still stands, which is shown through the ongoing rememberance and performance of this song. I also think this video has done well because it has given new artists inspiration, for example, Lady Gaga has said that she got her name from this song. I think this shows that this song has been iconic because it has stayed in the industry through new artists.
This music video also shows an image of the radio itself.

Although it links the picture with the lyrics, it is also contradicting itself because the image of the radio is actually in a music video.