Since the launch of MTV in 1981, music videos have become extremely popular to mainstream audiences. Even though its main purpose is to promote an artist and their music, music videos have also helped launch the careers of up-and-coming filmmakers, who have turned these promotional clips into innovative and experimental short films. Over the years, many of these filmmakers have used their experience directing music videos to pursue a career in the film industry:
David Fincher is an acclaimed auteur notable for directing Academy Award nominated films and cult classics such as Seven (1995), Fight Club (1999), The Social Network (2010) and Gone Girl (2014). But before he made the transition to making motion pictures, he began his career directing iconic music videos for established artists. One of the elements that makes his artistic oeuvre unique is the colour palette which often consists of blue and yellow filters. The music video for Madonna’s Express Yourself (1989) has an icy, blue colour filter to emphasize the setting of a dark dystopian city populated with skyscrapers and railway lines. Inspired by Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927), Express Yourself follows a group of men working in a factory on a rainy, miserable night while Madonna portrays the role of a seductive woman who is attracted to one of the workers. Fincher applies the yellow filter in the beginning of Michael Jackson’s music video for Who is it (1992), where we see Jackson sitting on his couch, singing about his partner having an affair. It could be suggested that the colour in his scenes indicates anger, accompanying the look of frustration on his face. Not only has Fincher experimented with blues and yellows, he has also produced music videos purely in black and white such as Madonna’s Vogue (1990), Justin Timberlake’s Suit and Tie (2013) and Sting’s Englishman in New York (1987).
The colour filters in Fincher’s music videos are usually combined with low-key lighting and shadows on the artists and actors to slightly hide their faces, resembling the film noir genre. An example of this is shown in George Michael’s star-studded video for Freedom 90’ (1990) where we see various shots of supermodels such as Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford and Linda Evangelista lip synching to the song in an empty house while the shadows and the low-key lighting hide portions of their faces, maintaining a sense of mystery. This leaves the audience interested and curious. Another trademark of Fincher’s is the use of fluent tracking camera, a movement using computer-generated imagery which allows the camera to move through objects as smoothly as possible. This method is exemplified in Nine Inch Nails’ music video for Only (2005) where Trent Reznor’s face appears in a Pin-Art toy which is sat on a desk next to a laptop. Throughout the video, the camera tracks around and through the Pin-Art while Reznor is singing the song. Fincher’s use of colour, lighting, shadows and fluid camera tracking in his music videos have shown that he has certainly developed his own visual style and continues to apply these traits in all his films.
Before launching a career in film, Spike Jonze was responsible for directing some of the most ground-breaking and creative music videos that received heavy rotation on MTV. However unlike Fincher, many of Jonze’s videos were shot on a low budget and usually collaborated with lesser-known artists rather than famous pop stars. Many of Jonze’s music videos often contains quirky characters as protagonists who end up in unexpected, yet comedic situations. This makes the audience focus on the narrative more than the performance or the music itself which showcases Jonze’s ability as a remarkable storyteller. Examples of this occurs in two videos Jonze directed for Fatboy Slim’s singles Praise You (1995) and Weapon of Choice (2001). In Praise You, Jonze plays a character named Richard Koufey, an energetic man who dances to the track with his dance group outside a movie theatre. This video was shot in guerrilla style (a form of low-budget filmmaking where scenes are shot on location without any permission), which allowed Jonze to capture genuine reactions from the people who were watching his over-the-top dance while standing in line outside the theatre, making the video hilarious to watch.
The Weapon of Choice video is set in an empty hotel and features Christopher Walken dancing to the music (in a series of long takes, tracking shots and wide shots). It may seem very out of character for Walken, who is known for his dark and villainous roles, to unexpectedly break into dance but it is endearing for Jonze to bring out a completely different, yet slightly bizarre side to the actor, proving that he is not afraid to surprise the viewers and keep them entertained. Jonze’s videos are also known for its intertextual references from other forms of media: the bright and colourful concept for Bjork’s music video Its Oh, So Quiet (1995) was inspired by the musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964). The video for Weezer’s Buddy Holly (1994) contains clips from the classic TV show Happy Days (1974) which are interspersed with scenes of the band performing and The Beastie Boys’ Sabotage (1994) parodies cop shows like Starsky & Hutch (1975) and Hawaii-Five-O (1968). Jonze continues to use intertextuality in his films for instance, in Adaptation. (2002), which is based on Susan Orlean’s book The Orchid Thief (1998) and contains scenes where Nicolas Cage (playing writer Charlie Kauffman) visits the set of Jonze’s debut film Being John Malkovich (1999). Although Jonze direct films and music videos on a bigger budget nowadays, he still manages to create original material by applying many of these trademarks that we recognize due to his past music videos.
