Profile

PROFILE: Wayne Isham, Merge @ Crossroads

Picture the glory days of music videos and MTV. An era when — for better or worse — heavy metal and hard rock ruled the airwaves. Chances are whatever videos you think of as most emblematic of that time, Wayne Isham directed them. In fact, it's no overstatement to say that Isham created the archetype of the rock performance video. The credit list is staggering: Bon Jovi "You Give Love A Bad Name," "Living On A Prayer" and nearly every other video from the band's commercial peak. Motley Crue "Home Sweet Home," and "Dr Feelgood." Def Leppard "Pour Some Sugar On Me," Skid Row "18 & Life," Metallica "Enter Sandman," and whole bunch more.

PROFILE: Chris Milk, Radical Media

Hyperbole be damned, Chris Milk may very well be the most creative director working in music video today. And, when you consider that he tends to work with much more mainstream acts than many of his cutting edge peers and still gets away with his unexpected flights of fancy, it's all the more impressive. His output over the past year or so has included a performance video for Green Day and U2 that doubled as a powerful statement about our government's priorities, a story of a randy bug for Gnarls Barkley, and an epic Evel Kneivalization of Kanye West.

PROFILE: Floria Sigismondi, Revolver Film Co.

Floria Sigismondi doesn't really require an introduction, but here's a very quick one: She's one of the most renowned and influential directors in music videos thanks to an utterly distinctive visual style. She's directed clips for Marilyn Manson, The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, Muse, David Bowie, Sigur Ros, Interpol, Christina Aguilera and many others. She's also nominated, once again, for several MVPA Awards, including Director Of The Year, Video Of The Year (for Christina Aguilera "Hurt") and a couple genre categories.

PROFILE: Christopher Probst, Sheldon Prosnit Agency

Second in a series of Profiles on nominees for the upcoming MVPA Awards — being held May 16 in Los Angeles. DP Christopher Probst of the Sheldon Prosnit Agency is up for Best Cinematography thanks to his work on director Joseph Kahn's epic Muse video "Knights Of Cydonia."

Since this profile gets a tiny bit technical, a little background info may prove useful to those who aren't in the production industry. Keep in mind that this is a very basic breakdown of some very complex and involved processes: At best, I oversimplify. At worst, I mislead. Please accept my apologies.

PROFILE: Devin Sarno, Warner Bros.

The people who oversee the music video production process for record labels are called "commissioners." Why the quotes? Because almost nobody actually has "commissioner" as their title and, more importantly, many of these folks are involved in a whole lot more than just making videos. Now that we've got that out of the way, meet Devin Sarno. He's a "commissioner" at Warner Bros, where he's steered through videos and helped plot the visual style for My Chemical Romance, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers and way too many more acts to name here.  

name: Devin Sarno company: Warner Bros. Records title/job: VP, Visual Content

PROFILE: Meiert Avis, Pusher

 There are Rock Hall Of Famers like Bruce Springsteen, U2, Patti Smith, Bob Dylan and Van Halen. Current hitmakers like Avril Lavigne, All-American Rejects, Jennifer Lopez, Damien Rice, Audioslave, Josh Groban and Macy Gray. And then there's Warrant. Meiert Avis has directed videos for them all, plus a whole lot more, over an impressive and still growing career.

PROFILE: Scott Kalvert, Uncle

If you have any interest in the history and, quite possibly, the future of music videos, Scott Kalvert is somebody you should know. Although best known as the director of the Jim Carroll biopic The Basketball Diaries — starring some kid named Leonardo DiCaprio — Kalvert directed some of the most played videos of the '80s and '90s before settling into an executive producer role at F.M. Rocks and now Uncle.

name: Scott Kalvertcompany: Unclejob/title: President/ Executive Producer

PROFILE: John Franck, Koch Records

New feature on Video Static.... Every week we'll annoy somebody in the music video world with a few quick questions and print the results. Commissioners, directors, editors, dancers, caterers. OK, maybe not dancers. Here goes...

name: John Franckcompany:  KOCH Records job/title:  Sr. Vice President of Marketing

First Video:  First real video I ever commissioned at KOCH was for Stabbing Westward "So Far Away," directed by Shawn M. Foster.