Music video directors

There are so many noted music video directors but i can only look at a few and so for my first study i have choosen a director who suits my tastes. Chris Applebaum has done over 100 music videos most of which are completely Mainstream, All American, Pop music. An area in which I am hoping my research and music video will go in. In order to study Chris I will provide a short bio that shows his transistion into pop music video and the look at a few of his more memorable projects.

BIO

Chris Applebaum studied film at hampshire university in amhurst massacusetts and began his career directing videos for alternative new rock bands. One of his early videos was seen by an MTV exsecutive and he was signed up at the young age of 19. Following this he became the youngest director to ever sign with a division of The Legendary Properganda. since this he has created 2 videos that have been inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame; semisonic's 'closing time' and fountains of wayne's 'stacys mom.' he has also helped establish many artists music careers such as Kelly Osborne and Hillary Duff and has continued the success of some mega star artists such as Britany Spears. His most recent award was the 2007 MTV Video of the year award for Rihannas Record breaking number 1 'Umbrella' and though still directing music videos Applebaum has also moved onto to comercial adverisments for high profile companys Covergirl, John Freda and Hugo Boss.

Here are some of Applebaum Fantastic videos.

Rihanna's UMBRELLA




This particular video of Chris Applebaum is highly stylised and shows that it was a multimillion dollar video to produce. He uses many special effects within the video to achieve this highly stylised look such as gold rain, Glossy appearance, sharp editing and blurring of shots. it is these special effects that make the music video appeal to it's audience. Rihanna is always the main focus within the frame and gives off alot of sex appeal within the outfits she had choosen to wear and choreographed dance routines. This parituclar music video is very different from her preivous ones and is very images based. It is the frist video from her 'Good Girl Gone Bad' album and trying to change her good image to an edgier one. Chris shows Rihanna's draker side by using muted colours such as grey and gold. This music video really launched Rihanna's career even though she was popular beforehand, this partiular single made her a megastar.






Another music video that he director was Natasha Bedingfield however he was asked to director the U.S version of her song Unwritten which also helped launch her career in the U.S. This partiular video is extremly different from Rihanna's music video and to Natasha's orginal version. Natasha herself appears to very much be the main focus of this video showing her close up in clear lighting. There is a small narrative within the video of the different people in the elevator but this is cut into shots of her on the grass. This video appears to be showing Natasha off to the American audience and introducing her into the U.S.

Some of his music videos include Britney Spears 'Rock and Roll' , Jessica Simspon, Vassena Hugens, Mandy Moore and Pussycat Dolls.