Best Music Video Directors- Anthony Mandler

Anthony Mandler

Anthony Mandler (born April 18, 1973) is an American film director, music video director, television commercial director and photographer. As a music video director, his most notable and frequent collaborator is Rihanna. The two have worked on 16 music videos together throughout her career, beginning with "Unfaithful" in 2006 and most recently "Diamonds" in 2012. He has also written and directed music videos for many other well known artists including Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Eminem, Usher, Shakira, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, 50 Cent, Ne-Yo, Nicki Minaj, Drake, Snoop Dogg, Cheryl Cole, M.I.A., Mary J Blige, fun. and Lana Del Rey.

Beginning his career as a photographer, Mandler's work has been featured on the covers of major magazines such as Entertainment Weekly, GQ, Esquire, Men's Health, and ESPN The Magazine. His celebrity portraits include, among others, David Beckham, Colin Farrell, James Franco, Heath Ledger, Ryan Phillippe, Eva Mendes, Lebron James, Taylor Lautner, Andrew Garfield, Kiefer Sutherland and Katie Holmes.
 

This is one of his music videos that he has directed.

Genres Of Music

Here are 5 Genres that I am going to talk about to help me decide which genre I will chose for my music video;

- Pop
- House
- Rock
- Country
- Rap

Types of Music Videos

There are 3 types of Music Videos:

Narrative
Performance
Spectacle

Narrative Music Videos

Narrative Music Videos are music videos that have a storyline that relate to the lyrics. Most of these music videos  have only little or no performance. Most of these music videos are a based around some sort of love story between a man and a women.They may use a complex narrative story and structure.

Performance

Within these Music Videos  mainly focus just on the artist, we are shown the artist performing either to the camera or to an audience. They rarely have any sort of narrative within the music video. These are mainly used in Rock Music Video's and also Indie Bands that aren't famous enough to make a music video so they use their concerts to promote themselves.

Most of the camera shots within these videos are jumping from one band member to the other to help promote them, they look into the camera to also catch the audience's attention.

Spectacle

History of Music Videos

20's
The earliest music video were filmed in the mid 1950's however, before then as early as the 1920's, films by animators such as Oskar Fischinger were accompanied by musical score labeled 'visual music;

The early animated efforts of Walt  Disney his Silly Symphonies, were built around music. The Warner Brothers cartoons, even today billed as Merrie Melodies, were intially fashioned around the specific sings from upcoming Warner Brothers musical films. Live Action musical distrubed to theatres.

50's
In the 1950's Tony Bennett was filmed walking along The Serpentine in Hyde Park, London  as his recording of 'Stranger in Paraside; played; the film was disturbed to and played by UK and US television stations, leading Bennett to later claming he made the first music video

According to the Interent Accuract Project, disk-jockey sinder J.P 'The Big Bopper' Richardson was the first to coin the phrase 'rock video;

60's
Around the 1960's the Scopitone, a visual jukebox, was intended in France and short films were produced by many French artists, such as Serge Gainsbourg and Jacques Dutronc to accompnay their songs. Its use to spread to other countries and similar machined such as Cinebox in Italy and Colour-Sonic in the USA were patented.

The defining work in the development of the modern music videos was 'The Beatles' first major motions picture. A Hard Days Night in 1964 directer by Richard Lester. The musical segments in the film arguably set out the basic visual vocabulary of today's music videos, influencing a vast number of comtemporary musicians, and countless subsequent pop and rock group music videos.

In 1966 the clip of Bob Dyan performing 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' filmed by DA Pennebaker was much used. The clip's ironic portrayal of a performance and the semmingly random inclusion of a celebrity.




 70's
In 1970's the music industry realises that TV shows is a great opportunity to promote. In the UK Top Of The Pops was a TV programme that used to help promote bands and record labels which means, that if the music video was good it would increase a song's sales and viewers would hope that they would be the video the following week.

 

80's
In 1981 MTC was launched, the first video to be aired was Buggles 'Video Killed The Radio Star'. David Bowie also scored his first UK number one in nearly a decade which gives thanks to the director David Mallet's eye catching promo for 'Ashes to Ashes'. In the early to mid 1980s artists started to use more effects within their videos and added a storyline or plot to the music video.

One of the first Artists to do this was Micheal Jackson who created a short film. He did this music video to 'Billie Jean' which was directed by Steve Barron. And then soon after Thriller was realised which was a mind blowing music video, which took music video format to another level.

90's 
In 1991, the dance segment of Michael Jackson's "Black or White" was cut because it showed Michael Jackson "inappropriately" touching himself in it. Michael Jackson's most controversial video, "They Don't Care About Us" was banned from MTV, VH1, and BBC because of the alleged and falsely accused anti-Semitic messages in the song and the visuals in the background of the "Prison Version" of the video.

Madonna is the artist most associated with music video censorship. Controversy surrounding Madonna's marketing of her sexuality began with the video for "Lucky Star", and amplified over time due to clips such as "Like a Virgin". Outcry occurred over the subject matter (relating to teenage pregnancy) discussed in the video for the song "Papa Don't Preach". "Like a Prayer" courted heavy criticism due to its religious, sexual, and racially-oriented imagery. In 1990, Madonna's music video for the song "Justify My Love" was banned by MTV due to its depiction of sadomasochism, homosexuality, cross-dressing, and group sex which generated a media firestorm.

In 1992, The Shamen's video for the song "Ebeneezer Goode" was banned by the BBC due to its perceived subliminal endorsement of the recreational drug Ecstasy. The Prodigy's 1997 video for "Smack My Bitch Up" was banned in some countries due to depictions of drug use and nudity. The Prodigy's video for "Firestarter" was banned by the BBC because of its references to arson.
In 1993, Australian rock band INXS' song "The Gift" was banned by MTV because of its use of Holocaust and Gulf War footage, among images of famine, pollution, war and terrorism. As well as this, metal band Tool's music video for Prison Sex was banned from MTV, as the video and lyrics touch on the sensitive matter of child abuse.

                                                                                    00's 
In 2000, the music video for "Rock DJ" by Robbie Williams caused controversy due to the graphic nature of the video which features Williams stripping naked then peeling off his skin to reveal bloody flesh, followed by ripping off his muscles and organs until he is nothing but a blood-soaked skeleton. The video was censored in the UK during daytime hours, and was broadcast unedited after 10pm. The video was banned in Dominican Republic due to allegations of satanism.
In 2001, Björk's video for "Pagan Poetry" was banned from MTV for depictions of sexual intercourse, fellatio, and body piercings. Her next single, "Cocoon", was also banned by MTV as it featured a nude Björk (which the nude body was actually a fitted body suit rigged with red string).

In 2002, the video for "All the Things She Said" by Russian duo t.A.T.u. caused controversy as it featured the young girls, Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova, embracing and eventually kissing. UK TV presenters Richard and Judy campaigned to have the video banned claiming it pandered to pedophiles with the use of school uniforms and young girls kissing, although the campaign failed. Capitalizing on the controversy, the kiss was choreographed into their live performances. Top of the Pops aired the girls' performance with the kiss replaced by audience footage. NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno cut away from the girls' kiss to shots of the band. Throughout their promotional tour, t.A.T.u. protested by appearing in shirts reading "censored".

In 2004, Maroon 5's video for "This Love" generated controversy due to intimate scenes between frontman Adam Levine and his then-girlfriend. Despite those particular scenes being shot at strategic angles, a censored version was released with a stream of computer-generated flowers added in to cover up more. The video for "(s)AINT" by Marilyn Manson was banned by that artist's label due to its violence and sexual content. The following year, Eminem's video for "Just Lose It" caused controversy over its parody of Michael Jackson's 2005 child molestation trial, plastic surgery, and hair catching fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial. The video was banned from BET, and Jackson spoke out against the video, calling it "inappropriate and disrespectful to me, my children, my family and the community at large."

As of 2005, the Egyptian state censorship committee banned at least 20 music videos which featured sexual connotations due to Muslim moral viewpoints. In 2004, many family groups and politicians lobbied for the banning of the Eric Prydz video "Call on Me" for containing women dancing in a sexually suggestive way, however, the video was not banned. In 2008, Justice's video for their song "Stress" was boycotted by several major music television channels due to allegations of racism and violence; the video depicts several youths committing various crimes throughout the streets of Paris, with the youths mainly being of North African descent.

While country music has largely avoided controversy surrounding video content, it has not been immune. The music video for the 2003 Rascal Flatts' song "I Melt," is a case in point, gaining notoriety for clips featuring guitarist Joe Don Rooney's bare buttocks, and model Christina Auria taking a shower in the nude.The video was the first aired on CMT to show nudity,and eventually reached No. 1 on the network's "Top Twenty Countdown" program.However, Great American Country banned the video when the group refused to release an edited version.

10's

In 2010, Thirty Seconds to Mars video "Hurricane" was censored because of its major elements of violence, nudity and sex. The short film was later released with a clean version that can air on television.The explicit version is available on the band's official website with a viewing certificate of 18+.

In 2010, a rumour circulated that Lady Gaga's video "Telephone" was banned by MTV, a rumour which reached some press outlets. The rumour claimed that MTV had banned the video because the content could not be shown within their programming. MTV denied the ban and showed the video frequently on European MTV programming. Lady Gaga's previous videos have also attracted criticism for their sexually suggestive content; the video for "LoveGame" was refused play on the Australian video music program Video Hits; however, other Australian programs aired the video uncensored. The video for Alejandro was criticized by the Catholic League, for showing the singer dressed in a red latex fetish version of a nun's habit, simulating rape, and appearing to swallow a rosary.

Ciara's video for "Ride" was banned by BET, with the network citing that the video was too sexually charged. The video was also subsequently banned by all UK television channels.

Rihanna's video "S&M", which features the singer whipping a tied-up man, taking hostages and indulging in a lesbian kiss, was banned in 11 countries and was flagged as inappropriate for viewers that are under 18 on YouTube.
 
Miley Cyrus's video for "Wrecking Ball" featured the former teen star swinging naked on top of a wrecking ball and licking a sledgehammer. The video became the fastest video to reach 100 million views, in six days. A scene featuring a naked Cyrus was fully censored when it was aired on MTV.

In 2014, Katy Perry's video for "Dark Horse" caused offense to some Muslims, over Perry's character turning a man wearing a pendant that says Allah, the Arabic word for God, into sand, with the necklace burned by lightning shot from Perry’s fingers. A petition accused Perry of "representing an opposition of God" and demanded that the video should be taken down from YouTube. The petition reached over 65,000 signatures and as a response, the pendant was digitally removed from the video on February 26, 2014, after which the petition was closed. However, as of March 2014, MTV Greece still shows the unedited version of the video.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_video#1990s

What is a Music Video?

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and visual imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes to help their marketing. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Prior to the 1980s, these works were described by various phrases including "illustrated song", "filmed insert", "promotional film", "promotional clip", "promotional video", "song video", "song clip" or "film clip".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_video