HOW CAN YOU TELL IF SOMEONE REALLY IS A “MUSIC VIDEO DIRECTOR”?
Q: "How do you become a music video director?"
A: “Well it’s a long dark path. Are you familiar with the Illuminati?”
That's a question usually posed by film students, or emails to my website from people looking to head down the music video directing road. I try my best to respond to them all. I always remember I did the same thing to Nigel Dick back in the day and he was kind enough to respond. My copy and paste standard explanation usually starts off with the Answer above, but the truth is: There is no exact answer.
Many moons ago, when I first started in the music video industry, I studied every director I worked with so I could learn from the best. But, I was curious as to how you can tell if somebody is a "music video director", as opposed to a director who happened to do music videos.
What led them into this subgenre? What distinguishes them? Were there certain attributes you could use to pick them out of a crowd? So many more questions flooded my head: Do they look like Steven Spielberg or George Lucas but in leather pants? What does a music video director talk like? Do they have a certain magical musical accent? (Note: If they have a British accent, that means lots of people in Hollywood will automatically assume they are supremely clever. If they are French, well then that accent makes those same people believe they are superiorly artistic. Note within the note: If you are British or French: Know this, embrace this, use this. It's an advantage.)
Again, the truth is there is no exact answer. There is no "typical" music video director. It’s not like becoming a doctor where the steps are laid out in front of you and if you fulfill the requirements, your guarantee is almost certain. Everyone has a different story and a different path. Just like the snowflakes that fall on Alicia Keys in “If I Aint Got You”, no two stories of how directors got to where they are, or their creative processes are exactly alike.
However, what its like when you officially have become one is similar. Once you start getting paid, get signed by a rep and or production company, the stigma of what you do begins. You are now clumped into the “music video” genre of directing. That’s not a bad thing, just know that it will happen and your work will define your career. No pressure.
You could even argue that this same type of Director classification takes place in every medium or subgenre with in the directing profession. Features, Television, Commercials, Documentaries, Horror, Comedy, Drama, Action, Reality, etc. We become labeled by “the man” (which is a label in itself I wanted to throw in for irony) into what specific division of entertainment we earn our paychecks in.
You can take that even further into music videos where the type of music becomes even more of a defining factor. Hip Hop music video director, Indie Rock music video director, Country music video director, Black Death Speed Opera Metal music video director, etc, etc. You become what you do.
This is a dilemma that has been going on since “I Want My MTV” — one in which those with the money to hire directors feel safer that money is going to someone who has effectively directed that same style of video before. It’s safe betting. Though before you cry bullshit on that, let me ask you this: If you were going to have brain surgery would you want the surgeon who had successfully performed that operation many times or your local podiatrist who was wanting to expand his body of work?
Yet, there is still no single look or style or image that you can pick people out of a crowd and without doubt say “That person is a music video director”. And that isn’t a bad thing because it’s a creative field and creativity knows no stereotypical boundaries. We’ve definitely seen the names, faces, and styles drastically change in the last few years because of technology and radical changes in budgets, however the diversity might be even greater.
Side note: if you have never seen the movie “Honey” run to your Netflix and order it. There is a music video director character in the film that was pretty spot on to a “music video director stereotype” for 2003 (when it was released). Pretty sure it was based on a director who was “hot” at the time. It’s almost comical watching it now, because there is no way this type of music video director character still exists.
All this rambling above leads me to the answer to the question I posed in the title above (yeah, I can’t believe it took me this long to get there either). The answer to: “HOW CAN YOU TELL IF SOMEONE REALLY IS A “MUSIC VIDEO DIRECTOR”? is…… Ask them their name, and then Google them, or look them up on Video Static (shameless plug).
Thanks for reading.
PS: I just got very excited at the thought of “Best Black Death Speed Opera Metal music video” as a category in this year’s MVPA Awards. I will totally start attending again if that happens.
